Coloring With Wax

[David Delo]

I've done numerous pieces following Russ Fairfield's video instructions from his video Coloring With Wax and have had great results. Granted, all of my experience has been with oak. Recently did a couple small bowls from the same maple log piece, 1 traditional & 1 NE. Wanted to create a set call brother & sister to honor our first grandson in blue and one for his sister in pink or red. Used Kiwi cordovan and was pleased with the pinkish color it produced. Couldn't find a blue color from Kiwi so I tried this Angelus navy blue but it just didn't take at all. 99+% of it came back off with the teak oil finish. Just wondering, is there that much difference in shoe polish formulation? Same wood, same sanding, same lacquer, same stiff brush ruff up, same polish & drying time...….anyone have an idea what went wrong? If I decide to pursue this, I'm thinking of maybe dying some liming wax blue. If I do that do I need to sand back to bare wood again? I think so but any suggestions. Thanks in advance.
shoe polish 1.jpg

[robert baccus]

After finishing wood for 6 decades--of all kinds of finish--I can hardly think of a worse use of wax on a finish.. Nothing sticks to it--used as a release agent in any type of fiberglass work or casting. Glad you had sucess in the past. Coloring agents should be used on the bare wood or mixed in a clear lacquer ect. The solvert in all non-water base finishes will eat it alive, such as your teak oil.

[David Delo]

Robert,

Here's example of what this process does in a open grain piece such as oak. I was a little skeptical how it might work on a closed grain piece like maple but it actually captured the pink/red color close to what I was looking for. Just a little miffed the navy blue didn't take. Perhaps you don't understand the process but it's a nice or different way to finish off a piece. Google coloring with wax by Russ Fairfield for enlightening video.
Oak Bowl 6.jpg

[Eugene Dixon]

Maybe stain/die and come back with a gilding wax which will accentuate the pores. Jimmy Clewes has a video where he chars a tool handle and comes back with the gilding wax. He seals it with lacquer. I've done a bowl using this method using India ink. The ink really acted as a sealer and the effect was not at dramatic as the charring piece. I think the handle Clewes used was Ash. My bowl was post oak. Gilding wax comes in many colors.

[tom lucas]

There are also grain fillers to which you can add different colorants/powders to achieve really cool results in the grain. These are applied like glazes on top of seal coats. And if you want a blue bowl, why not just use blue dye?

[David Delo]

And if you want a blue bowl, why not just use blue dye?

I was thinking of doing that from the get go but have gotten the results I've been looking for every other time I've done the show polish thing, just gravitated that way. Thanks for the advice.