Replies

1. 
   Dave_Arbuckle | Mar 02, 2002 07:35am | #1

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   I personally wouldn't use Briwax on any new finish at all. The point of Briwax is that the toluene is a powerful cleaning agent for grime. That's great for an antique, but a newly finished piece is probably not grimy. ;-) Once the solvent evaporates, what you are left with is wax. There is more than one category of wax, beeswax, carnauba and paraffin being the most common, I think.

   "Should wax always be the last finish, never under something else?"
   Most finishes won't stick very well to wax, so finishing over it would be a problem. I can't imagine where an advantage would be gained in finishing over a wax. When doing touch-up refinishing, a coat of shellac can be used to lock in any residual wax.

   "Is wax all by itself ever good for a finish?"

   Depends on what your expectations for a finish is. I tend to want one to last a fair while without any particular maintenance above dusting. A wax only finish does not give me this on a piece that gets any wear. I do have a couple Ebony carvings that have only wax on them. They don't get any wear, of course.

   "Drying" is pretty much solvent evaporation. When the wax stops reeking of its solvent, that would be "dry".

   Dave

1. 
   CStanford_ | Mar 02, 2002 06:42pm | #2

   *Liberon Professionals Wax - low (or no) solvent, high Carnauba content. This wax is difficult to buff out but very much worth the extra effort. Wax is always the last finish. A wax-only finish can be wonderful, especially on a project built with heavy, dense, oily, tropical woods.The Briwax would probably work o.k., but I'd let the finish cure thoroughly. Although, the best advice is to use a low solvent wax on a new project as has already been pointed out.