Applied Too Much Wax

[Randy Collord]

I just completed a cherry coffee table and padded several coats of shellac on it as the finish. I then applied a coat of Briwax to it but I used too much (don't know what I was thinking). Now I can't get rid of smudges from the wax. According to the manufacturer it can be removed with mineral spirits. Will mineral spirits affect the shellac? Are there any other options?

-Randy

[Dale Cruea]

It can also be softened using more wax. Take a cloth with the same wax on it and rub a small area. before it dries wipe off the excess.
Let it dry and buff with a clean cloth. You can use this method for spot clean up of wax also.

MS will work but I think it makes a big mess and makes the wax harder to remove when dried.

[Scott Holmes]

Which Briwax are you using? The original has toluene; which is very aggressive. Their newer product, I think it's called 2000, has mineral spirits instead of toluene. I would cleean with mineral spirirs regardless of which product was used.

[John TenEyck]

To answer your question, MS will not harm shellac.

[Howard Acheson]

As John said, mineral spirits will not have a shellac. However, the process to use is to first wipe the surface with a rag well wetted with mineral spirits and then, before it evaporates, wipe with a clean rag using a fresh face for each wipe. Change rags often. If you just keep using the same rag, you will end up just smearing the wax around.

As also said, use Briwax 2000, not the Briwax Original. The Original is intended as a cleaner wax for restoration of antiques. It has a very aggressive solvent that can damage newly applied finishes.

[Randy Collord]

I'm using the toluene free Briwax. I'll give the mineral spirits a try.

Thanks, all.

[Rich Engelhardt]

I'm using the toluene free Briwax.
The toluene free material isn't any less aggressive than the original. They substitute xylene in the formula for toluene.
A bit of naptha is added to speed up the dry.
Briwax changed the name of the 2000 to Tolulene Free - but - the formulation is the same.
That particular Briwax product does not and never did have mineral spirits in it that I'm aware of.

The Briwax product that has mineral spirits as it's solvent is the Sheradale Wax.
That product also contains parafin wax & isn't the same as the other two (original & toluene free).

Just wanted to clear that bit of info up.....

BTW, Howie's advice of how to remove the wax (either formula) is spot on text-book.
Flood, wipe and change faces w/each wipe.

[Pete McMahon]

Rich, As usual your advice, as with Howie's, is always solid and to the point. You both show your experience with finishing in an easy to understand way. I really liked the advice you gave recently about using paint that was past it's time. Great job.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Pete - thanks - however,,,,,a lot of my knowledge, like Matt's paint - is way past it's prime.
So much has changed since I was close to the industry that a lot of what I knew went the way of the wind.

I'm relying more and more all the time on up to date advice/information that people that work with the (new) stuff day in and day out have to say about it.
Folks like Howie and Scott and Sheldon and Jason are way more current with the way the industry is dealing with VOC regulations, the decline of paintable surfaces, the growth of newer paintable surfaces (PVC and composite, etc.).
So much has stayed the same - but - so much has changed.

I'm just glad I can help out once in a while.

[Pete McMahon]

Rich, now all you have to do is embrace shellac. I agree there is a lot of good knowledge out there. Some advice given though reminds me of a well known writer on finishing books. If you've ever spoken with him, you'll know who it is I speak of.

"You Can't Do This!!!!" "You Cant' Do That!!!" It's the advice that filters down over time and gets repeated as gospel. Often it's just a personal opinion that reaches a fervent stage. Then you see a lot of the admitted amateurs repeating word for word some of the info written here. On the other end of the scale, it does take time to learn what you like from experience. You just have to dive in and try.

[Ryan Hellmer]

Naphtha works extremely well for wax removal and doesn't hurt shellac. I recently did pretty much the same thing (except the wax was over oil) and it stripped very nicely. I found the key was using lots of paper towels, otherwise you just rub the wax around.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Naphtha works extremely well for wax removal and doesn't hurt shellac.
+1 - yes - Naptha does work well. Maybe a little better than MS because it's not as oily & it's a sharper solvent.

[Prashun Patel]

MS is actually a better solvent for wax than naptha because it is marginally closer in density to wax than is naphtha.

Wax (paraffin wax), MS, and naphtha are all extremely similar molecularly. Therefore, they will all solubilize each other. However, they have greatly different densities, which also affects solubility adversely.

The only reason (IMHO) that naptha might be preferable is because it evaporates quicker.

[Howard Acheson]

Yes, naphtha will evaporate faster than mineral spirits but I would think that is a benefit when trying to remove wax. I want a little more time to wipe off the dissolved wax. There is little mineral spirits left on the surface after wiping off the gunk anyway.

All in all, probably makes no real difference which of the two is used.