Thread: Wax Removal

Turps will remove the wax layer. I've never put turps over Osmo so it might affect the Osmo layer as well, but that might not matter in this case?

Just put some on the rag and rub?

As long as the turps doesn't alter the colour of the oil it shouldn't be an issue.

Those dam Geckos !!

How much of a wax are you giving it ? Straight out of the can . Just wondering . I’d imagine straight is a bit thick . Sticky and shows finger marks ? I’m playing with my first tin of Osmo . Could be my last the way things are going . There’s better ways but I’ll wait and see how it stands up to water abuse . I’ll be finishing with wax . I apply it thin , no matter what the base underneath . Most of the time . A good way of applying wax is giving it a wipe over with oil and turps and leave wet , dab a few thumbnail blobs of wax in even locations and then evenly go back and forwards over all that blending the wax in using 0000 steel wool . About ten even passes with even soft to firm Pressure. Then wipe that off straight and buff dry . Leaves a beautiful soft shine with a thin wax .

Wax removal . Straight turps and rags or 0000 steel wool if you want the dulling . After that’s done maybe two or three times , depending on how thick the wax is . Water and detergent if there’s any light oily residue . Sometimes I’ve had to do that because every bit of wax has to be off to re apply or repair the previous
finish first .

Rob

Originally Posted by auscab

Those dam Geckos !!

How much of a wax are you giving it ? Straight out of the can . Just wondering . I’d imagine straight is a bit thick . Sticky and shows finger marks ? I’m playing with my first tin of Osmo . Could be my last the way things are going . There’s better ways but I’ll wait and see how it stands up to water abuse . I’ll be finishing with wax . I apply it thin , no matter what the base underneath . Most of the time . A good way of applying wax is giving it a wipe over with oil and turps and leave wet , dab a few thumbnail blobs of wax in even locations and then evenly go back and forwards over all that blending the wax in using 0000 steel wool . About ten even passes with even soft to firm Pressure. Then wipe that off straight and buff dry . Leaves a beautiful soft shine with a thin wax .

Wax removal . Straight turps and rags or 0000 steel wool if you want the dulling . After that’s done maybe two or three times , depending on how thick the wax is . Water and detergent if there’s any light oily residue . Sometimes I’ve had to do that because every bit of wax has to be off to re apply or repair the previous
finish first .

Rob

Thanks Rob.

Yup, straight out of the can. I tend to dab a blob on the table, gently rub it in and repeat until I have covered the entire surface. I then get a towel and buff it right back until it is smooth and slippery. I've heard about using turps and steel wool to apply however I have been a little reluctant due to fear of the steel wool staining the finish.

What is 0000 steel wool? It is available at Bunnings?

I love OSMO. It is my go to choice now. so simple and fool proof. What issues are you having?

Rob, I have read often of you and other respected practitioners applying wax with 0000 steel wool and am perplexed.

I have tried it several times over shellac, and on every occasion the steel wool leaves what can best be described as steel dust embedded in the wax, leaving a dirty finish. As such I now rub the shellac down with steel wool to taste, and once dusted off, apply wax with a cotton rag and buff out.

Is this perhaps because I use SIFA brand steel wool from Bunnings? If so, what would you suggest, and where can it be sourced?

This is what i have been using.

Originally Posted by Damienol

Thanks Rob.

Yup, straight out of the can. I tend to dab a blob on the table, gently rub it in and repeat until I have covered the entire surface. I then get a towel and buff it right back until it is smooth and slippery. I've heard about using turps and steel wool to apply however I have been a little reluctant due to fear of the steel wool staining the finish.

What is 0000 steel wool? It is available at Bunnings?

I love OSMO. It is my go to choice now. so simple and fool proof. What issues are you having?

Dab blob , spread and buff is one good way of applying wax . Its better on old dry stuff than it is on newly finished surfaces though . It may not be so bad on a chair but a table top surface shows every detail and having that amount of wax on a top waiting to dry off is sometimes not the best. It looks thick , and it leaves marks when touched. When you buy a tin of wax its a thick stiff paste. I make my wax and thin it down to something like chicken soup by adding Pure turps , not Mineral turps the common stuff. Pure turpentine smells like you just put your head in a bag of strong smelling dry gum leaves, sort of .

0000 steel wool is the finest . Its in every finishers kit . Its like fairy floss almost . Its used as a step after fine sanding a finish before polishing with shellac. Its used as a rubbing back method with oil and turps before polishing . Its gentle , good on brass . Probably similar to 800 or 1000 grit paper. Yeah Bunnings have it .

My issue with Osmo is its an oil finish that needs to be applied thinly . Im doing an Oak top atm . An island benchtop 3.2 x 1.2 x .040 thick . The clients want Osmo but they also want the look I give Oak . I get the look I get by filling the grain and keeping the polish job thin as possible . I cant get that thinly applying Osmo to Oak . The grain remains open and any treatments it gets to age it after that get trapped in the open grain. Sending the open grain darker = looks Bad . So I have my ways that work well and if I can finish with Osmo over the top of them, and It seems I can, then it should be OK. The Osmo sellers also recommended a wood protector to be applied before everything else . Reading the info on it and talking with other users it seems that was not needed and I paid $80 for something that took 4 days to dry and wont do a thing for my top .

The osmo I have does come out nice straight off the brush and sets and drys nicely . It should look great with a thin wax at the end. And the clients will have a finish they will be able to touch up if they damage it . So they will be happy.

Rob

Thanks Rob, I will try turpentine tomorrow. Alternatively can I use white spirit? The only reason I ask is that I have white spirit on hand.

With the OSMO I find a cotton cloth is the best application method. I have tried quite a few method and a piece if cloth seems to work the best. Harder work, but best outcome

Originally Posted by LanceC

Rob, I have read often of you and other respected practitioners applying wax with 0000 steel wool and am perplexed.

I have tried it several times over shellac, and on every occasion the steel wool leaves what can best be described as steel dust embedded in the wax, leaving a dirty finish. As such I now rub the shellac down with steel wool to taste, and once dusted off, apply wax with a cotton rag and buff out.

Is this perhaps because I use SIFA brand steel wool from Bunnings? If so, what would you suggest, and where can it be sourced?

Not sure about that 0000 wool Lance. I don't think Ive used it . All steel wool's shed particles I think . The stuff I use is Liberon , its advertised as crumble resistant.I use the 1 kg that Looks like this .
https://www.amazon.com.au/1Kg-Libero.../dp/B001GUA82S

Ive not had problems with it . I get all my stuff like this through Graeme Brown Antiques, for good reason, He gives me a great price. For good reason .

The G Brown list of Liberon
http://www.gbrownantiques.com.au/pdf...0pricelist.pdf

I know the prices on that are way out but their better than the first link .

What I was describing above is more for a light wax and gives a nice dull soft shine . Its great on shiny table tops . Its done with the top wet down with a bit of Oil and turps put on first . Its a very good trick to use . On the rest of something like a table I just apply the wax with a rag and buff. Its the sort of thing done when reviving old stuff. A brush coat or two of shellac let dry then do that.

A mix on your bench of Oil and Turps is a must . Its the restorers or finishers version of dish washing detergent at a sink .
Mix 30 % linseed oil to 70% mineral turps . Its used when cleaning finishes , lightly sanding finishes with fine sand paper like a fine cut back with old 400 grit and a little OT . Its a great solution for applying to the raw sides of anything and rubbing back with paper . Leaves it thinly oiled and super smooth from the cut back .
Its always used pre french polishing during fine cut backs . And can be used to wet down and with a touch of wax and 0000 wool .
Its also the solution for rubbing rust from tools with sand paper or steel wool , a more coarse 000 or 00 . Removing rust from machine tops .

You have to always make sure you buff it all off . Its a washing down solution or lubricating while you scrub solution . It keeps the sand paper working by not letting it clog . If you don't wipe it all off and leave it wet and don't touch the piece for a week , It will start to go hard and set. left between coats of shellac like that it makes it crack and craze badly .

Rob

Originally Posted by Damienol

Thanks Rob, I will try turpentine tomorrow. Alternatively can I use white spirit? The only reason I ask is that I have white spirit on hand.

With the OSMO I find a cotton cloth is the best application method. I have tried quite a few method and a piece if cloth seems to work the best. Harder work, but best outcome

Just the straight mineral turps to wash off wax can dry white . I forgot to say that . If I was using straight mineral turps to wash off a wax job over a french polish job I would expect to possibly have to give it a bit of a light polish before waxing again maybe ?

Just mix an Oil and turps mix and wash it off with that . The oil stops the white effect . Buff it dry and do your wax stuff after that.

Rob

What type of oil Rob? The OSMO?


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Originally Posted by Damienol

What type of oil Rob? The OSMO?


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The Oil and turps mix I was replying to Lance about . It’s a 30 % linseed oil Boiled or raw , doesn’t matter . To 70 % mineral turps . The normal bottled stuff from BUNNINGS for both . You will have a solution you can use for lots of things . Great for cutting back between dry coats of finish with fine paper to de nib a finish . Just always dry it off thoroughly after . And keep rags well aired after . Hang to dry . Linseed oil will self combust left in a scrunched up rag .

Rob

Well, job done. The pure turps was $21 a litre!!!

The job was a lot harder than expected but I got there in the end. Took me about 80 mins to get the wax off with a combo of turps, steel wool and sandpaper.

Client has opted to no rewax


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A bit late to the party I am but I knew I had some SIFA steel wool around somewhere. SIFA 0000 is pretty fine but the Liberon 0000 is finer yet and also holds together better. It's also pretty pricey so I guess the value proposition is going to be up to the buyer. The Liberon will still shed little particles into the wax so I've got one tub of Ubeaut traditional wax that I use steel wool with. Haven't had any issues with steel wool dust on the finished pieces.


steel wool.jpg
SIFA on the left, Liberon on the right. Both marked 0000.

Good pic, Alkahestic.

I'll add my vote to avoiding the Sifa product for finishing. I have always used the Liberon product too, but I have to cut a lunch & fill a waterbag to drive to the nearest place that carries the brand. Once, in desperation I got some of the Bunnies stuff, when I ran out of the Liberon & just wanted to get on with the job. Not only is it more coarse & crumbly, as mentioned, it's also oily. I needed it to rub back a French polish job that was going very wrong. I was trying to finish a Xmas present on the 24th Dec. (as you do), with the temperature over 35 & the humidity about 110% - not what you'd call good polishing weather. The crumbs of steel and the oily residue (mixed with copious amounts of sweat!) rapidly turned a bad situation into a complete disaster. I ended up having to strip the whole thing back to bare wood and start over (when the weather cooled).

So the Sifa stuff is probably good for cleaning tablesaw or bandsaw tops, but I won't ever use it on a finishing job again!
Cheers,