Continuing with the Traditional Finish - Making and Applying Colored Hard Wax

In the last post I had chemically stained the practice piece of mahogany with potassium dichromate.   I had also sprayed two coats of dark shellac on top to seal the color.  
Now I wanted to fill the grain.  Tim Garland has supplied me with instructions on how to apply colored hard wax to fill the grain and burnish to a great finish.

This finish was widely used in the later 1700's.  Both Roubo and Thomas Sheraton wrote about using it.  But I bet they had an apprentice to apply it so their arms would not fall off.  :-)

As you can see in the picture the color is good and consistent but the grain is open on the test board.   So this is what I want to fill.

The steps in making the colored hard wax are to mix bees wax, carnauba wax, turpentine, and earth pigments to make the material to be rubbed into  the grain.

I have the ingredients measured out here.  If you want the formula please let me know and I will send it to you.
I heated the turpentine and melted the bees wax in a double boiler and then added the carnauba wax and melted it.

Then I started to add pigments until I got the color that I was looking for.  It was definitely trial and error.

It got too thick so I added more turpentine. Then I poured it into the covered dish to let it cool.

After it had cooled I was ready to apply it to the wood and rub it into the grain with cheese cloth.

 
I put on a good amount and scrapped off the excess with a plastic credit card.  I tried to get it as even as I could.

Then I let it sit over night to harden by letting the turpentine evaporate.
Now the hard work begins.  Tim Garland instructed that I burnish the wax with a cheese cloth charged with more colored wax.  Wax on wax burnishing.  Continue burnishing until you get the deep shine that you are looking for.   Working in a warm area helps get the wax soft and melting into the grain.

I thought my arm would fall off.  It is definitely hard work.

This is what I ended up with....  There are still streaks which would need to be buffed out but the grain is mostly filled and there is a shine to the surface.

I don't like the color of the hard wax in grain, it is too light.   So I need to make some darker wax.  I will start over on the back since I need that practice.

The next blog post should have a better looking finish.  There are other ways to fill grain traditionally, Plaster of Paris and linseed oil, and of course french polish.

 I am always open to learn new (old) finishing techniques. Just another tool in the workshop.

Here is today's video: