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Thread: Getting rid of wax on table top

  1. #1

    Getting rid of wax on table top

    I know this has been asked and answered in various different forms before but I believe there are some specifics in my situation below that might warrant a different approach, so I'm asking this again.

    I finished a large (11 feet long) walnut dining table that I made with 2 coats of Osmo Polyx Oil and one coat of Osmo Top Oil. Then, about 4 months ago in my infinite wisdom, I decided to put some Minwax Paste Finishing Wax on top of it. Not sure what the heck I was thinking...maybe I didn't have enough sleep or was just a period of temporary insanity on my part, but I should not have touched it (I think I was just trying to add an extra layer of protection or something).

    The wax did not go on well, event though I "thinned" it with some mineral spirits on the #0000 steel wool that I applied it with and rubbed it out with a soft cloth after. Anyways, now the table top looks horrible with blotches of wax. I'd like to get rid of it once and for all and just maybe add a coat or two of the Osmo Polyx and maybe Top Oil.

    What's the best course of action here? I've read suggestions ranging from using rags with mineral spirit (or naphtha) to down right stripping the whole thing and sanding it down.

  2. #2
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    You "should" be able to clean the product off with multiple applications of mineral spirits/naphtha and constantly clean/new rags. It takes patience, but you should be able to do that. That said, be sure to check with the Osmo folks to confirm that these solvents will not affect their hard-wax oil product or at least what to expect.
    --

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  3. #3
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    Jim's advice is spot on. The thing I'll add is that if the top looks terrible there's nothing to lose by removing the wax. I don't think it will harm the Polyox but even if it does it's better than leaving it looking like it now does. The wax has to come off either way in order to make it right. If it damages the Polyox then you can always sand it down to bare wood again, knowing that the wax is gone.

    And yeah, temporary insanity.

    John

  4. #4
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    This thread is surprising to me — not in terms of the advice on removing the wax but the fact that the wax caused such issues. I have not used Osmo, but I use Odies all the time, and I regularly put a coat of Renaissance wax over it, as opposed to the Odies finishing wax. It has always worked great. And I thought that wax is one of those things that pretty much can go over any finish….why was the OP insane to try this? Something in particular about Osmo?

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dan Gaylin View Post
    This thread is surprising to me — not in terms of the advice on removing the wax but the fact that the wax caused such issues. I have not used Osmo, but I use Odies all the time, and I regularly put a coat of Renaissance wax over it, as opposed to the Odies finishing wax. It has always worked great. And I thought that wax is one of those things that pretty much can go over any finish….why was the OP insane to try this? Something in particular about Osmo?

    Because wax adds no real protection, often attracts fingerprints and dirt, and can turn hazy when applied too heavily. Osmo is an in the wood finish. If you apply wax on top you likely will apply too much and not be able to buff it off completely. Then wipe it off a few times with a damp cloth, like one might do with a dining room table, and the wax turns hazy.

    John

  6. #6
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    Thanks John,

    I don’t necessarily disagree with what you say about wax. But Odies is an “in the wood” hardwax oil and they specifically recommend using wax as a final polishing step to add luster. Of course they want you to use their wax which is expensive, and being carnuba based, can be a bit hard to work with. That is why I use Ren wax. But then again it is very easy to apply just a thin layer of microcrystalline wax and also easy to buff it off.

  7. #7
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    Oh, I've finished lots of things with Danish oil and similar products, followed by paste wax. They look and feel great. None of them were a dining table, however, or a piece that would get wiped off regularly. That's where the trouble starts.

    John

  8. #8
    Thank you all for the suggestions. I'm going to try the mineral spirits route. Just for reference, here's a picture of the table top. You can see how badly the wax is blotched.
    IMG_3841.jpg

  9. #9
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    Geez, that doesn't look near as bad as I had envisioned from your first post. Have you tried buffing it with a power buffer or buffing pad on your ROS?

    John

  10. #10
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    Jim's suggestion is on the money. When my cast iron shop machines need a refreshed wax treatment, I use mineral spirits to remove the wax. It takes several wipes with fresh towels to get it all off.
    I had to use this method to remove a blotched stain job and it worked well.

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by John TenEyck View Post
    Geez, that doesn't look near as bad as I had envisioned from your first post. Have you tried buffing it with a power buffer or buffing pad on your ROS?

    John
    No, it is much worse. The picture doesn't really show it well enough because I couldn't get the lighting right.

  12. #12
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    I think you are going to need to get hold of the nice folks at Osmo for both removal advice and surface treatment advice. When you have them on the phone, ask specifically about clay bars and zaino, aka zainobros dot com , a synthetic wax company.

    I owned, back in the day a 2004 Holden VY, also know as the 2004 Pontiac GTO. Mine was black, it was all three of the black cars I will ever own; first, last and only. I did run through a tub of Renaissance carnuba on that car. Renaissance makes a very high quality carnuba product, but surface prep before the wax goes on is fundamental and I still was not happy with the wax performance when the car got rained on.

    I ended up stripping the wax off with a product that was safe for the clear coat on my vehicle, than clay barring the clear coat, and then Zaino. I hadn't really thought of a dining table as facing the same challenges as a vehicle until this thread, but if you got a window nearby to let in some UV you are pretty darn close.

    The thing about Zaino is that Zaino is not an organic wax, it is a synthetic sealant. For a show car at concours de elegance level you would want many many coats of Zaino on well prepped paint a couple weeks before the show and well cured, and then carnuba on top of the zaino, 3-6 coats in the last few days before the judging. Between shows, strip the carnuba off the car, then wash and re-apply carnuba in the two weeks before the next show. The car looks good with just Zaino, but carnuba above will really pop.

    I did talk to a Mercedes body guy while I was in LA back in the day. To bring my goat up to Mercedes S class black he thought I would need to spend about $30k, with the vast majority of that going to prep work before the paint went on. The whole car was only about $32k, so I didn't pull the trigger on that. If the products are compatible you will probably need to wet sand at 1-2-4k grit between the last coat of osmo oil and the first coat of Zaino. Orange peel on the goat averaged about 1/8 diameter and less than 1/32 inches deep all over the car.

    There is a husband/wife team in LA that handles west coast distribution of Zaino. Usually the phone is answered by wife Robin. If you call, just tell her some nutcase in Alaska suggested you give her a jingle. Robin is very knowledgeable, and knows who to ask when she gets stumped.

    If I can find it, attached pic is 2004 goat with many many coats of Zaino and 3-4 top coats of carnuba. Might be the look you are going for, but surface prep remains fundamental.

    HPIM1169.jpg

  13. #13
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    I do recall Zaino is not compatible with oil. Those folks really like blue Dawn detergent as a surfactant to get ALL of the oil off the surface you hope to hope to apply Zaino to.

  14. #14
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    John thanks for the clarification. With a big surface like a table top I can see how that could be problematic

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