beeswax & oil polish.

[Phil Pascoe]

I was recently in hospital for a while, and I found the next bed occupied by a turner. We started chatting, eventually getting to polishes, and he said that for years he had only used rapeseed oil and beeswax. He melted about one cubic inch of wax to 500ml of oil and used it as a slurry with 1000 grit wet and dry. I'd not heard of this one - I'd always used turps with beeswax -so I thought I'd give it a go.
What a lovely quick polish - the only difference between mine and his was that I used a little carnauba and slightly more wax, so my polish was denser, and also(haveing kept bees) I suspect the wax he was buying was rather impure: he was buying it from a beekeeper, and it was reddish brown and also very cheap. It probably contained propolis (bee glue) which I imagine may have made the finish harder. Has anyone else tried or modified this?
As an afterthought, most veg. oil sold now is rapeseed anyway, so it's cheap!

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Bump - I think I'm trawling the dead sea.

 

[Grahamshed]

OK, I have no experience but I will get in your net
I fancy having a go at turning so I was watching some youtube videos yesterday. the guy doing it ( over several different videos ) was using a wax paste mixed with an unspecified oil ( about half a cupful of wax with maybe a tablespoon full of oil ) with wet and dry from 150 down to 600 grit to sand and polish what he made. It looked good after it, a deep satin finish, but he said his main reason for doing it was that it cut down the sanding dust to make it healthier. It left me with the impression that I will do the same when I get a lathe. It looked great.

 

[Chrips]

This is interesting. I was thinking of finishing a magazine holder i'm making with beeswax, 'cos that's what I have in the cupboard. My stock is ash, and I'm wondering if it will take the oil as well as a turning might. Perhaps olove oil might be a worthwhile alternative being thinner, if i'm not mistaken. I think I'm gonna have to find a beekeeper locally, how exciting.

'My first post here so hello everyone!