There is nothing magical about waxes or blending them into forms that are easier to use. These are the recipes I use and they are offered here for others who wish to make their own.
Making Our Own
It is easy to come to the conclusion that we should be making our own finishing and polishing waxes. Most important, THERE IS NOTHING in them that will damage any wood or finish that it is used on, regardless of how long it has or hasn't aged. If it feels dry, any of these wax recipes can be used on it. Besides it being easy to make and saving us money, there is the satisfaction of "making our own".
The only down-side to blending our own waxes is that we have to do it, rather than picking a can off the shelf.
The recipes can be as simple as wax and solvent, and as complicated as measuring several of each. The only danger is that we will be heating the wax to its melting temperature - 150F for beeswax and paraffin, and 185-190F for Carnauba, but there is no danger of fire or injury of we use a double-boiler or a controllable heater.
the Tools We Will Need
We will need a few things to measure and heat the waxes. We will already have most of them. If not, they are relatively inexpensive.
the Recipes
These are the waxes that I use. All of them are as good or better than the best of the commercial waxes. My opinion may be biased. I do use some of the commercial waxes because they are easier and are of an excellent quality.
This is the basic beeswax polish. All other waxes start from here. It is made from:
3 parts Turpentine
1 part Beeswax
The parts are measured into a graduated 1-pint wide mouth Mason jar.
Heat the beeswax in a glass container on the coffee cup warmer or a double boiler. Running the wax across a cheese grater makes it easier to measure, and it melts faster.
Add the turpentine when the wax is a liquid and stir.
Remove from the heat and allow the mixture to return to room temperature.
If the wax is too soft to your liking, leave it uncovered for a day or more to let some of the turpentine evaporate. If it is too hard, reheat and add more turpentine.
an alternative to heating
The wax and turpentine can be mixed cold by putting them together in a container and waiting several days. This is faster if the wax has been run across the cheese grater. This works for this wax recipe. All others will have to be heated, unless you want to wait several weeks.
a Creamy Beeswax Polish
This is an excellent wax over an oil or shellac finish. Use care on an open grained wood because it can leave a white residue in the open grain. A stiff bristle brush solves the problem by cleaning the wax out of the grain.
1 pint Turpentine
1 pint warm water
5 ounces Beeswax
1 Tablespoon Household Ammonia
You will need a scale to weight the wax, usless you want to guess how much to cut off of a block; and you will need a quart Mason jar to mix the ingredients, preferrable a wide-mouth jar.
Heat the Beeswax on the coffee cup warmer or a double boiler until it is liquid.
Add the Turpentine
Remove from the heat and stir.
Mix the Ammonia and Water in a separate container. Add to the beeswax/turpentine while continuing to stir.
Transfer to a clean container while it is still warm.
a High-Gloss Wax Polish
This is my favorite wax. It is easy to make, easy to apply, easy to buff out with a soft cloth or paper towel, and it gives as good a protection as the best commercial waxes. There is no need to weigh the ingredients if you grate the wax and use a measuring cup. I use a scale because I have it, and is easier to mix the odd quantities.
8 parts Beeswax
3 parts Carnauba wax
9 parts Turpentine
Heat the waxes on a coffee cup warmer or double boiler.
Remove from heat and stir in the Turpentine.
Transfer to a clean container while it is still warm.
Lionel’s Secret Hard Wax
This is a secret recipe I learned from Lionel Manning, my high school shop teacher, in 1951. It is a wonderful hard wax for furniture, and I use it for turned wood. It is better than any other wax I have made or purchased. Because it is a harder wax, it is harder to buff than the softer waxes. A buffing wheel is the better way to polish this wax.
½-pint Boiled Linseed Oil
½- pint pure Turpentine
½- pint vegetable oil (any kind and any brand will do) I have always
used Crisco because that was about all that was available in 1952
1-pound Mixed equal parts of beeswax, carnauba, and paraffin.
Grate and mix together equal parts of beeswax, Carnauba, and Paraffin to make 1- pound total. The proportions aren’t critical, but should be as close to equal as possible.
Melt the waxes with the coffee cup warmer or a double boiler
Mix the BLO, Turpentine, and veggie oil and add to the liquid waxes.
Stir until well mixed
Pour into a clean container and cool to room temperature.
directions for using Lionel’s Wax
This is a hard wax that is hard work and time consuming to polish out to a clean shine, You have been warned. This wax takes a little more work than the rub on, let it dry, and buff with a rag that works for the softer wax recipes.
Rub the wax onto the finished wood using a clean soft cloth (I use cheesecloth) and leave for about 20 minutes before polishing. A Bealle wax buffing wheel or other 100% cotton wheel will work wonders for polishing this wax.
Give it a good buffing with a clean cloth every 3 or 4 days for about
2-weeks. The wax will stay soft for about that long until it hardens into a deep high gloss wax finish.
a note About Turpentine
All of these wax recipes use real 100% Pure Gum Spirits Of Turpentine as the solvent.
DO NOT use a substitute or other solvent such as Mineral Spirits or Naptha. Nothing else works with wax like real Turpentine. It will take longer to evaporate than the Toluene in the commercial paste waxes, but it will not harm any other finish it is in contact with.
Beware of the many Turpentine Substitutes that are on the market. They are not the same and they don't work the same, regardless of what the guys in the paint department at Home Depot try to tell you. Some of these substitutes have names that are similar - like "Turpatine" or "Turpateen". Sometimes they use the word "Turpentine" followed by "substitute" in very small letters. Sometimes you have to read the back of the can to discover that the contents are essentially Mineral Spirits at twice the price, and sometimes there is no way to know what's in the can. Pass by these imitations and go to a ligitimate paint store, Ace Hardware, or Woodcraft where you can buy 100% Pure Gum Spirits of Turpentine, and it is labeled as such on the can.
A double-boiler or a coffee cup warmer to melt the wax.
I use a coffee-cup warmer because it never allows the wax to reach its flash-point, so there is no danger of fire
A container to heat the wax, preferrably glass.
I use wide-mouth Mason jars in 1/2-pint and pint sizes.
A measuring cup or other means of measuring the liquids.
I use graduated Mason jars whenever possible.
A scale for weighing the quantity of the waxes.
This is optional because I can guess the quantities close enough.
Sometimes a scale is easier.
A cheese grater.
Not a requirement, but it makes the solids easier to measure and the wax melts faster when it has been grated. .
A stirring stick or spoon
Storage containers
I use the lidded Tupperware clones and 1/2 pint wide-mouth Mason jars, but recycled tins and cans will also work.
Colored Wax
I do make some of my own colored waxes if I have the dyes available. These are discussed on the page titled, Colored Waxes.
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