# Rubbing And Buffing Beeswax?



## Smashtoad

I have seen you guys talking about beeswax in several places on here for a nice finishing touch. So I bought some yesterday. I couldn't find any posts about rubbing it on while hard and then buffing it, but I tried it anyway. I had thought I saw a post by Bob Fionda about doing that, but then couldn't find it.

The beeswax goes on hard, just rubbing the block against the wood. At first, it looks like nothing is happening. Then you start to see a slight milky look to the finish. Once this was done I buffed it good with the outside of a piece of scrap leather, and it looks pretty dang nice. Not sure what benefits there are to the wood, but the soft sheen is cool.


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## mrpaint

pics?


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## f00by

Beeswax protects wood from moisture and is a wood conditioner. I used to use the stuff on my snooker cue. Oh man i miss that smell









Try melting a piece in he microwave and rub it on wet









Oh, and







PICS!


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## Smashtoad

[sup]Ha...I thought about putting it on wet but was afraid I would waste it. I am getting some light tubes from Tex, once I get it tubed up, I'll take a nice shot of it.[/sup]


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## jazz

Hi Smashtoad,

what i do is to heat the fork by bringing it close to the flame and turning it around a bit in order not to burn it; then i take tha ***** of wax and rub it against the fork;

then I heat it again at different place and so on; very soon you will figure out how close to bring the fork to the flame, how long to keep turning it and how much of the wax you will be able to rub in;

if you see places that are too thin with wax, you repeat the proces;

if you see a place with lump of wax to much you just heat it again and rub it away, either with that piece of wax or with a cloth, just play around.

I guess that you can heat the fork with the microwave too but i myself do not do that.

cheers,

jazz


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## Dayhiker

4 parts raw linseed oil or mineral oil and one part chopped up beeswax. Melt them together in the microwave. Pour into a small jar and stir. Let it semi-harden into a paste. Rub on a dry fork and wait, it will sink into the wood and dry. Polish with an old tee shirt. Repeat until you start getting a sheen. Repeat once or twice more.

Also you can heat the fork @ 200 deg. F for 5 to 10 minutes depending on the size of the fork, then apply the paste thickly. It will absorb quicker into the wood. But only do that on the first application.


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## Charles

I second the suggestion of heating the wood before applying the wax. There are a number of ways to do that ... microwave, oven, flame (as suggested above), or even a warming tray for hors d'oeuvres. You might also try a hair dryer or a heat gun, both before applying the wax and after applying the wax. The heat will help the wax penetrate better.

Cheers ..... Charles


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## Berkshire bred

i have tried rubbing it on to the fork and then buffing it with a cloth but with little to no success?


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## Dayhiker

Berkshire bred said:


> i have tried rubbing it on to the fork and then buffing it with a cloth but with little to no success?


I do not understand. What do you mean by "success"?


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## Sofreto

I use the same mixture froom Dayhiker and I do 4 or 5 coats....works well


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## Jakerock

Thanks to Smashtoad for asking this question, and for all the answers...
I have been wondering if beeswax might make a sanded, slippery fork a bit more grippy.


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## Smashtoad

I did some waxing tonight on a few naturals I'm making now. I am having luck just rubbing the block on an area until I see a slight haze, and then buffing the crap out of it for a few seconds with a tshirt. I think the rubbing heats it up enough to melt the thin layer in a sense, shining the wood in that nice, very subtle beeswax finish.

I am doing this after three coats of teak oil, and yes, it does add some grip. I am having fun using plasti-dip for even more grip in specific contact locations. I'll have some pics of that soon. Plasti-dip is some cool stuff.


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## Hrawk

Lately I've been going with the hot dip method.

I have an old 20cm fry pan which I melted half a kilo of pure beeswax in.

Simply heat the pan up till it all melts and goes clear. Soak the slingshot in for a minute or two, turning once to ensure even coverage. Take out and hang to dry. Once dry, buff like a madman till it glows. Maximum effect for minimum effort.

Let the wax harden in the pan and put it away till next use.


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## Rapier

Applying it with no heat works well as a finish but to get more penitration for lasting protection and conditioning I use liquid bees wax and heat the fork with a heat gun being careful not to burn it. Hrawks method sounds like a good one. I'll have to try that Hrawk


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## Smashtoad

The wax penetrating into the wood sounds sweet, but once I sand my forks down hard with five grits of sandpaper, it's almost as if the surface has been rendered less penetrable. The big Simboo I made was a hard, old piece of driftwood, and wasn't sanded real well. When I hit it with teak oil, it inhaled the first two coats; the third sat on the surface even after an hour, so I wiped it down well and was done.

Now that I am sanding to a much higher degree, the teak oil seems to sit there after only a first heavy coat. I still put at least two on it, not sure why if the first is still sitting there.

The main point being that I am very skeptical about how deeply liquid beeswax will actually penetrate wood finished with a penetrating oil. Mixing linseed oil and beeswax like someone suggested earlier might remedy this. I am liking the effects of teak oil, but I may make the switch to the linseed / beeswax mix, as my guess is (again, as the pros have suggested) it will be the nicest finish you can get.


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## Dayhiker

Here's something I've been wondering about...

Has anybody ever left their bees-waxed slingshot out in the sun -- the hot sun? I wonder if the wax will soften and make the fork icky to the touch?


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## Smashtoad

Dayhiker said:


> Here's something I've been wondering about...
> 
> Has anybody ever left their bees-waxed slingshot out in the sun -- the hot sun? I wonder if the wax will soften and make the fork icky to the touch?


Ahhhh....nice. Did not think of that.


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## Metropolicity

I've seen this work out too, rubbing it on till it's hazy and using a low heat gun to melt the wax until it liquifies on the surface. The liquid wax will penetrate the wood fibres (after soaking in some polymerizing oils) and the result is a impregnated layer of wax.

This can be buffed with a cotton wheel or a cloth run back and forth to shine it up a bit.


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## phil7

Dayhiker said:


> 4 parts raw linseed oil or mineral oil and one part chopped up beeswax. Melt them together in the microwave. Pour into a small jar and stir. Let it semi-harden into a paste. Rub on a dry fork and wait, it will sink into the wood and dry. Polish with an old tee shirt. Repeat until you start getting a sheen. Repeat once or twice more.
> 
> Also you can heat the fork @ 200 deg. F for 5 to 10 minutes depending on the size of the fork, then apply the paste thickly. It will absorb quicker into the wood. But only do that on the first application.


do you do this after a coat of true oil or just use your mix on the wood

cheers


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## AZshooter

If you live in a place like ARIZONA the SUN will do everything you need for heating wood and melting wax...I`m working on a small SOLAR OVEN ( made with a cardboard box ) that will help with various projects...PHIL


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