How do I fix this workbench top finish?

[Alan Lightstone]

Well, searched long and hard and chose a finish for my large (74" x 32") hard maple workbench top.

Workbench Top.jpg

The finish I chose, based on that long search was made by mixing 1/3 boiled linseed oil, 1/3 beeswax, and 1/3 Watco Tung Oil in a double boiler, and then applying it to the workbench top, keeping the top wet for 15 minutes. This was from a post on Sawmill Creek a number of years ago.

24 hours later, I applied a second coat, in similar fashion.

Today, 48 hours later, I went to remove the excess wax from the top. What a nightmare. Using a blunt metal paint scraper, I scraped off loads of wax. It seemed no matter what I did, I couldn't get it all. I followed this by a variety methods.

1.) Tried buffing the wax with a polisher - did nothing.
2.) Tried 0000 steel wool - all this did was leave metal particles in the wax which I had to scrape off.
3.) Next tried 000 steel wool - same effect.
4.) A variety of colored abrasive pads - all they did was quickly get loaded up with wax, but the surface still felt awful.
5.) 400 grit sandpaper on my Festool ETS 150/3 - just loaded up quickly.
6.) Multiple passes with many sheets of Festool 320 grit Brilliant 2 sandpaper. This has been slowly removing the wax, but the surface still feels somewhat sticky tactily.

So, how do I fix this? I'm getting tempted to just rub mineral spirits on the top and remove the wax, but the point of having some wax on it was to make it easier to remove glue, but it just feels awful now. Especially on the vice faces.

[Brian Tymchak]

I think I would resort to a card scraper to take the bulk of the wax off. Then maybe a hard buffing will be good enough at that point.

I don't think a 2nd coat was necessary. I used 1 coat of Watco teak on my bench and the finish has held up for about 10 years now.

[Jim Becker]

I agree with Brian...card scraper since wax is involved.

[Rob Young]

Card scraper for the flat surfaces.

When you say "vice faces" I'm going to assume you mean the part that is going to bear against things in the vice.

For the vice face work extra hard to remove the wax. Depending on how deeply the finish penetrated, you may or may not be able to remove it. Vice faces need to be grippy and a finish is just about the last thing they need. Bare wood or a bit of leather is a good choice for a vice face.

[Alan Lightstone]

Ok. Spent some serious time with the card scraper, and have removed most of the wax on the surface. Really thinking that advice from the previous post was awful for the finish was awful. Oh well.

Can I just use mineral spirits to remove the wax from the vice faces?

It doesn't look like buffing works for this wax. Not sure why that is. Just gets sticky when I try that. The surface is now pretty smooth, and non-sticky so I think I'll leave as is. Not sure if I scraped / sanded off the surface finish. I'm sure, FWIW, the oil that penetrated will do a little for protection, and hopefully the remaining wax will help with glue.

[Rob Luter]

Use mineral spirits. The only thing wax adds is glue resistance. That is to say glue drips won’t stick. that’s overrated. Use wax paper during glue ups. Scrape drips if/when they occur. Seal the top with BLO and call it a day. It’s a worktop, not furniture.

[John TenEyck]

I use Danish oil to seal my workbench top, and glue doesn't stick. Wax makes a top too slippery IMO, but you should be able to remove what's left after scraping with mineral spirits, as mentioned, or Naptha.

John