If you are one of the many people going green with cleaning products, you may be interested in using beeswax and olive oil for your furniture polish.
My husband is a very handy man. He has furnished our home with many wooden creations. He also has tried his hand at wood turning, making beautiful bowls and vases for me. This means I have a lot of wood to polish.
I do not like the commercial furniture polishes available so I started looking for natural products to use. Being a beekeeper, I have access to beeswax so I focused on wood polishes that used beeswax. I found several recipes using beeswax mixed with oil. You can use most any cooking oil you happen to have in the cabinet; just be aware some oils will turn rancid faster than others and other oils may not be “all natural”.
- Olive oil
- Coconut oil
- Sunflower oil
- Jojoba oil
- Vegetable oil
- Food grade mineral oil
- Linseed oil and turpentine
The ratio is 1:3. One part beeswax to three parts oil. To make a batch you will need:
What I used to make my wood polish.
- 1/4 cup shredded or chopped or pellet type beeswax
- 3/4 cup oil of choice
- Optional: Essential oil
- Double-boiler
- Glass measuring cup
- Jar or other vessel for mixing wax and oil
- Jars for finished product
- Stirring utensil
Measure the beeswax and melt it using your double boiler. (Do not boil it.) As soon as it is melted, remove from heat source and pour in your mixing vessel. Add oil and stir to combine. Pour the mixture into your storage jars and allow to cool; this may take a couple of hours.
Wood polish after mixing
You may use the finished product as soon as you like. Simply dip a clean cotton cloth into the mixture and wipe your wood with it, then buff to a shine.
If at some point you decide the consistency of your mixture is too hard, microwave it in 30 second bursts until it is the consistency you want.
Cedar bowl before wood polish
Inside of lid before wood polish.
Cedar bowl after applying wood polish.
Inside cedar bowl lid after applying wood polish.
9 Comments
How do you clean the double boiler?
It may be better to dedicate the double boiler to your wax melting. the outside pan, containing only water is not a problem. Removing wax can be done pretty well if while the container is hot and the wax is liquid, you use a paper towel. Go over it a couple of times. I’m talking here about removing clean wax, such as you would use when you make candles.
If you are referring to cleaning a pan in which you had all the gunk of a brood nest comb, the procedure is similar, but you need more “elbow grease”:
Remove all you can from the pan and toss in a few handfuls of sand. You may put it directly on the burner to keep it hot. With gloves so as to not burn yourself, rub the sand all over, until you feel that all the gunk is loose. Toss the sand and proceed with the paper towel as before. It may even be clean enough to put in a dishwasher.
Hello Nancy, Love your idea! Have you ever tried it on outdoor furniture? I’m in Australia and our summers are very hot. Would the furniture wax separate out with the oil soaking into the wood and the wax sitting on top of the wood?
how does this mixture work on butcherblock counters? I’m a beekeeper and would love to use my own wax plus oil on my counters.
When you say 1:3, what I’m reading is 1 part beeswax to 3 parts oil. The beeswax is a dry measure and the oil is liquid. Would it be better to use weight? 1 oz. beeswax to 3 oz. oil? I learned this while working on some recipes because a cup of flour is not always a cup of flour. It depends on the fluffiness in the flour, so a baker told me he uses weight of flour when developing recipes.
With that said, it probably doesn’t matter all that much, since the presence of both wax and oil helps protect the wood.
Thanks
As a beekeeper, I was wondering if it might be a good idea to rub this polish as a wood preserver on the inside of the hives, [before I build the boxes]?
I would think that mineral oil plus perhaps a drop of lemon grass might be really inviting?
Great job on the bees wax and oil wood finishes. Is it food safe and for how long. Thank You tweeds
Is 1/4 c solid or melted wax?
Which food safe oil would you recommend. One that is not likely to go rancid.
I would like to make a wax suitable for cutting boards as well as furniture.
Thank you