Removing furniture wax?

[John Hollander]

I am building a toy for my nephew for christmas. Since he is only about 10 months I am assuming he will be putting it in his mouth more than anything else. That being said I am finishing the wood with shellac and using a non toxic wax for finish. While buffing out some of the wax I got some lint off my fleece stuck in the wax. Id really like to remove the lint from the wax, and the only way I can see doing that is to remove some of the wax. Does anybody have any suggestions for removing the wax? Will it come off with denatured alcohol?

I am using howards citrus shield wax if that matters.

[John TenEyck]

Mineral Spirits or Naptha will remove most waxes. But if lint got stuck in the wax I think you applied way too much of it. Are you sure it's not stuck in the wood itself? I guess you'll know one way or the other after you wipe it with one of the above solvents. DO NOT use DNA - it will dissolve the shellac and you'll have a giant mess.

John

[Peter Quinn]

Dont rub anything destined for a childs mouth with DNA. Just don't do it. What kind of wax are you using? Some waxes can be melted with a heat gun and wiped off. Not all solvents flash off to a food finish fit for young mouths, so take caution.

[Alan Rutherford]

Dont rub anything destined for a childs mouth with DNA. Just don't do it... .

Pardon me for jumping in, but why not? It will evaporate quickly and completely leaving no residue. It will even kill germs (although "killing germs on environmental surfaces" is marketing hooey). In this case it would, as mentioned, make a mess of the shellac but even that is repairable with more alcohol followed by more shellac. So why not?

Edit: I think I found my answer. It's not the alcohol, it's the denaturing agent. I use 91% isopropyl alcohol (i.e. not DNA) from the drugstore for a lot of purposes and although it's 9% water, the other 91% behaves as I described and I believe it could be safely used instead of denatured alcohol.

[Steve Schoene]

Naphtha is a good solvent for wax, and will leave very very little residue. You can then rinse with water containing a few drops of Dawn. Just damp not wet.

[Prashun Patel]

Any hydrocarbon-based solvent will work (mineral spirits, naphtha, orange oil). None of these will not affect the shellac. DNA is not a good solvent for wax.

However, your fleece may have gotten snagged in sanding imperfections - not the wax. You might try moistening a fine abrasive (400-600) with mineral spirits and gently rubbing the affected area, then rewaxing the area as needed.

[John Hollander]

Thanks for all the replys. I think their was a bit too much wax where the fleece lint became embedded. I ended up carefully using a razor blade and scraped off the excess wax and lint. Does anybody have any good guidelines for waxing? How much wax do you apply?

[Prashun Patel]

Less than you think. I usually moisten the rag with mineral spirits a tad is all that's needed, then take the wax on the rag. Moistening with ms will make the film wipe slicker and thinner. Let it dry and buff. The key for me is then repeating this. The second waxing brings the shine up better than the first. I cannot explain why, but it does for me.