Finishing error

[staffie]

Good morning all,

Just in the process of finishing a kitchen counter / Breakfast Bar for the wife. Came out great after many hours of work.
Cabinet made from birch plywood with beech face-frame and beech panel doors. Adjustable shelves finished in beech.
Top made from beech strips glued together around 1.4m long and 1m wide, 45mm thick.



Unfortunately in my wisdom (Or lack thereof) I waxed the counter top with Briwax instead of oiling it. SWMBO was most Impressed until the nippers had breakfast there this morning, water rings and stains on the top. Polished them out quickly enough but now realise I made a mistake with the finish. Checked the forum and most seem to advise oiling.









How do I remove the wax to enable me to oil it? Found a product "Liberon wax remover", thought I may give this a try, but before attempting this what do you think. Will it leave any discoloration on the top, or are there other ways of getting the wax off?

All help is appreciated.

Thanks

Jock

(An Engishman, with a Scottish name from South Africa)

 

[Chris Knight]

Jock,
Unfortunately I can't make out anything from the pictures as posted. However, to answer the question about removing wax:-

It is soluble in white spirits and with a considerable amount of labour and smell, you should be able to get rid of most of it. Given that there is plenty of thickness in the wood however, I would be tempted just to plane the top surface and likewise to scrape, plane or employ some mechanical means to address the edges, leaving solvent removal as a last resort.

For a good kitchen finish I suggest you use a water-borne acrylic finish as found in any DIY place. Ronseal and the like make perfectly acceptable ones.

 

[staffie]

Pictures were bad so I have tried another set.











thanks

Jock

 

[Keith Smith]

I'd use a cabinet scraper to remove the vast majority of the wax then use pure turps, a rag and a lot of elbow grease to remove as much of the rest as humanly possible. Use a Scotchbrite type pad on the edges.

The surface will need sanding and I use wet and dry, lubricated with more turps, and keep wiping up any residue with a clean rag.

Don't be tempted to use a random orbit sander it turns it into an orbital sander, permanently #-o I know :roll:

Finally mix Danish oil or finishing oil, 50.50 with pure turps and flood the surface, leave for about 10 minutes and wipe up thoroughly. Leave for 24 hours then oil as usual.

Keith

 

[staffie]

Thanks for the replys, will get on with it this afternoon.

 

[Anonymous]

I can definitely vouch for the Liberon wax remover. It's excellent stuff. Put it on with wire wool (0000) and wipe off. You'll be fine to oil then.

Rgds
Jack

 

[Newbie_Neil]

Hi Jack

Welcome to the forum.

Cheers
Neil

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks Neil,

Seems like a friendly forum. Might just pop by again!

Jack

 

[Scrit]

Don't be tempted to use a random orbit sander it turns it into an orbital sander, permanently #-o I know :roll:

How did you manage that, Keith? I use a Festool ROS and Wolf belt sander on worktops and neither have ever managed to mutate into something else - at least not so far

Scrit

 

[Keith Smith]

How did you manage that, Keith?

Scrit that's easy :roll:

I'd fitted oak window sills to a barn conversion, they wanted to finish them and I hate finishing so once they were in I was out of there. Anyway I get a call a few weeks later that one of the sills had split. So I go back and it hadn't so much split as been rendered asunder.

Seems that before they had put any finish on they left the widow open during a downpour and it was left literally soaking in water for a few days. They then finished it with a waxoil (Sadolin exterior finish I think).

Before I could repair it I had to get all this gunk off and the room was decorated by this time so I scraped most of it off and then set to with a Bosch ROS. Worked fine and I repaired the sill and personally gave it a few coats of oil. Job done.

However when I came to use the ROS next there was no random orbit, I took it to pieces but it ultimately had to go back to Bosch, who fixed it under warranty which was nice of them.

Wax might not have the same sticking power as waxoil but I wouldn't risk it again.

Keith

 

[staffie]

Thanks, everyone for your help, used the liberon wax remover with wire wool.

Wax came off quite easily. Sanded the whole top down with the ROS and started oiling last night.

Already looks better.

Now another question, having applied the oil and left it for 10 min, wiped it off and left it overnight. This morning there is still oil residue that comes off when you wipe your hand over the surface, is this normal?

thanks

Jock