Wax won't harden, help needed

[Mike Tidd]

I have been trying to make my own Beeswax finish for some recent projects. I've read and followed plenty of recipes from books and online, using various ratios of beeswax, (in sheet form) Turps and sometimes carnauba flakes( 50/50 wax to turps up to 70/30% with 10% carnuaba in the mix hoping to get something that would harden some more) which have produced both soft to hard paste waxes.

The problem I'm having, is that after leaving the wax to dry anywhere from ten minutes up to a couple of hours then giving it a polish ( I am getting a good sheen) the finish then never seems to go as hard as I've had experience with when using commercial wax finishes in the past. It does'nt seem to matter how thin a layer I apply, even days or weeks later, its still possible to rub a finger hard over the surface and see a slight smudging.:confused: Believe me, if I was able to buy a wax finish where I live to make life easier, I would, but that's not available here.

Does anyone know about beeswax sheets?, do they perhaps add other stuff to these sheets which makes them unsuitable as a polish? My other choice would be to import pure beeswax flakes and try that out, so I thought I'd pass this by some that have more experience with these things first.Before having to make another experimental and time consuming purchase.
Any help or suggestions would be really appreciated, thanks.


Mike

[Howard Acheson]

There are a lot of good pre-mixed waxes available. Why not just use one of those?

What are you looking for in making your own?

[Mike Tidd]

Howie

I wish it was that easy but I live on an Island that has no supplies like a good wax finish:(, and I don't know of any suppliers or carriers that will send the pre- mixed stuff abroad, due to flammable materials. My only choice is to make my own.

[george wilson]

I'd advise using less beeswax. It is a soft sticky wax,while carnuba is as hard as a block of plastic in its pure form.Beeswax is never going to harden.

[Jarrod McGehee]

well I've used some beeswax for turning and I burnish it while it's on the lathe and it "turns" out alright (pun intended) but I also bought beeswax from a craft store like Michael's and it seems alright for me. I made a paste wax with that and walnut oil and I'll use that soon on my foodware so i'll let you know how it gets then. but beeswax isn't flammable so it should be able to ship to your island. good luck on it though.