Best way to remove new wax finish ?

[WoodMangler]

I've just got myself a Chestnut Buffing Wheel kit, so I'm still in the learning-zone. I'm working on a dovetailed lime box at the moment, sanded and nyweb'd to a smooth finish, sealed with cellulose sanding sealer, and then buffed with the 'B' wheel (white compound) and the 'C' wheel (with the supplied Carnuba, or microcrystalline wax). The finish isn't as I'd wish, the 'polished areas' are patchy, with perfectly smooth but not shiny patches in between. I want to thin/remove the wax finish without sanding back so I can try again, what would be an appropriate solvent for the existing wax ?

 

[Terry Smart]

You can buy 'dewaxing/degreasing' solvent which would do the job very well, but it's evil stuff and not always easy to obtain.
A slower and probably messy way of doing this would be with white spirit, this will soften the wax but it will still need some encouragement to come off.
Are you sure you need to remove the wax though? You may well find that another go with the C Wheel will give a more even finish (assuming I've understood your description properly).

 

[WoodMangler]

Thanks Terry. I'll try another go at buffing a layer of microcrystalline wax with the C-wheel - will it matter that there are traces of Carnuba wax still on the wheel ?

 

[Terry Smart]

No, the two are perfectly compatible or as Nick Agar put it, they're mates and don't mind sharing the same wheel!

 

[WoodMangler]

That didn't work, so I went off at a tangent... somewhere along the way I'd managed to put a shallow dent in the wood, so I used a wet cloth and a hot iron to get rid of it (works really well on lime). This had the side-effect of removing the finish (I assume it soaked into the cloth) so I went back to Wheel B and got a sheen, followed by Wheel C and Carnuba, which finally gave me a nice even polish - all's well that ends well, thanks