BriWax ??

I am finishing my classic tool chest today. More like a jewlery box than "tool chest".

The carcase is flat sawn and quarter sawn Cherry. The drawers are birdseye maple.

I have applied 10 coats of thinned 50% with naptha, poly - applied with a neatly folded rag. NO brush strokes - eh!

I sanded the top "glass-flat" after 4 coats with 350. I again sanded the top after 8 coats to be flat.

After the last coat(#10) I again sanded the top with 400 then 600 then 1000 then buffed with pumice.

Now - I usually use Butchers Paste wax, but after reading a magazine article in which they said that Johnsons and Butchers are not really "furniture" grade waxes, I wanted to try something new. The article said Johnson's and Butchers are really floor waxes. There was more to the story, but that is it in a nutshell.

Sooo - I got a bucket of BriWax!!

I think I applied it wrong! It was REALLY really hard to buff it out and left tiny nibs all over the top. I know I put it on too thick. I used a razor blade, extremely lightly like a scraper to scrape them off (did not scratch). There were also smudges.

I got it all buffed out but man what a job that was. I went over it with Butchers afterwards and buffed it out real nice.

The top is now beautifully FLAT and with a beautiful sheen to it. I have acheived what I set out to do.

OK ok -- there IS a question in all of this.

BriWax --> Does anyone use it?

How do you get nice results with it?

Does anyone have any comparisons between BriWax and Johnsons of Butchers paste wax?

I know the different waxes are differant formulations.

Does indeed sound like it dried too fast. Not sure of the composition of Briwax but I avoid carnuba unless it is required. It is a very hard wax which can be good or bad depending on your desire to buff a lot. Table tops, carnuba good. Light use pieces or intricate detail areas, carnuba too much work. IMHO, of course.

carnuba

It is my understanding that the Briwax has less carnuba that the butchers wax. That was one of the points made in the article.

Leo Voisine said:

It is my understanding that the Briwax has less carnuba that the butchers wax. That was one of the points made in the article.

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Ah, so maybe it just dries too fast(?). How did it finally work out for you? Hope all is well.

P.s. It took me a couple unpleasant runs at waxing my machines (JPW) before I learned to not follow the directions and let the wax completely glaze over before buffing. I prefer two easy applications to one where I have to rub till my arm is sore ;-)

My go-to wax for finished pieces (turned stuff, primarily) is Renaissance Wax. It seems to go on lighter or thinner, and it buffs out pretty easily. Once it's buffed out, it's very resistant to fingerprints. Dunno how they do it, but it's very useful for my turned pieces, which tend to get handled when people look at them.