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I had been talking to @renegade about using furniture wax as a finish on speakers (hardwood portion). After all, they aren’t really handled, so in theory it should be fine. Then today, I saw @rook_woodworks latest post in the Inspiration Gallery, where he used bees wax. What are your guys’ thoughts on this? Do you like it? Does it hold up well? What have you used?
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I used a raw beeswax, rubbed it on as a cold block then used a heatgun to turn it to a liquid to soak in, one application. it isnt a high gloss finish, but it is very nice in my opinion
With little to no handling of the speaker, the only upkeep is just wiping the dust off.
Only other product I have decent experience with is schellac (attached pic of Harp) the application is simple enough, lots of little thin coats, but the finish is so nice I couldnt stop touching it (Being an instrument that was kind of the point).
a closeup of the waxed front baffel is also attached.
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I should also add that the wax is a lot less picky about the type of wood you use it on. schellac on any pourous wood, like oak, will not give the same sheen, or uniform surface, that you see in the pic with the harp. wax will fill all those holes and make it look like one uniform surface with a lot less work.
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If you want a truly spectacular finish try French Polish. It’s a bit of work but the result is worth the effort.
https://www.wikihow.com/Apply-a-French-Polish
Once it’s dry and hard you can follow up with a coat of clear varnish to harden the surface.
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Nice! Thanks guys. I have used shellac before. But I haven’t used French polish or Besswax. I can’t imagine I would be touching them very often. It seems like it would be much faster to finish versus using a varnish, urethane or epoxy. In your experience, is there much drying time? I was watching a show, where a guy kept applying layers and polishing it with a car buffer, until it looked absolutely stunning.
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The power buffer is a cheat for French Polish… To properly apply shellac you need to rub and work it until it’s dry… about 20 minutes or so. The power buffer cuts that down to about 5 minutes but you need to be careful not to get visible swirl marks in the finish. If you do, apply a second, very light coat by hand to smooth them out.
When I did this on my living room furniture (years ago) I worked on a piece of scrap wood first, just to get the feel of it. It went well enough but there were still some minor imperfections in the coffee table, which I did first.
Another thing you can try is Car Wax … Simoniz has a hard very durable automotive wax that has to be warmed up to apply. When it cools it forms an almost lacquer like surface. Did it on my floors… didn’t need to wax again for about 2 years.
I’ve also seen shoe polish used as a stain under a coat of shellac then varnish… really brings out the detail in the wood.
There must be a hundred ways to finish wood… I’d say try some experiments on scraps and see which you like.
FWIW … if you look at the finish in that picture of me with my giant speaker, that was linseed oil and shellac.
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