Removing excess Wax

[Yorkie]

Aha, thanks Mark,
I had heard something about using white spirit. Am I right that the trick is to put it on in small doses and polish off quickly to avoid wetting the wood? I think I saw it described in a programme about restoring Petworth House and removing grime from 200 year old banisters!
thanks
Jeremy

Much depends on how the table was originally finished. Depending on its age, it may have been oiled, or French polished, or sprayed with lacquer. It's unlikely that mass produced furniture was French polished, which is a time consuming skilled task, not really lending itself to mass production. Fashions change over time, and certainly in the 50s and 60s, people liked to see highly polished surfaces until teak furniture came into vogue in the early 60s, which - being an oily wood, was generally oiled. The best way to achieve a high gloss finish on oak furniture in mass produced items such as tables, chairs and sideboards is by spraying with lacquer. Any wax polish applied over the lifetime of the furniture is of course then being applied to the lacquer. To digress a little, lacquer does not penetrate the surface of wood, which is why we see flaking on old 'woody' radios. If they are stripped back to the bare wood, the timber appears lighter. Some restorers then decide that the simplest way to get a good finish is to apply Danish oil, but that of course does penetrate the veneer, then cures (doesn't just 'dry' but a chemical change takes place), which means that the cabinet can't be brought back to its original finsh. That siad, many find the less glossy apperance more pleasing to the eye.

If your table was originally just oiled and wax polished rather than lacquered, that will have penetrated the wood, and the aim should be to get it back to more or less that stage - not to 'strip' it, and having reached that point, to lightly polish it and buff off the polish to a shine. It's most unlikely that you will 'wet' the wood because unless it originally had a lacquer finish, and you cut that right back, the wood will have become impregnated with oill and wax. White spirit would, in any event, quickly evaporate. Actually, wood doesn't absorb liquids too well in its long grain - only in end grain. The structure of timber can be likened to a bundle of straws, which when a tree, drew water up them by capiliary attraction - gallons of it every day during the growing season. Hence, any liquids applied to the long grain surface of wood, passes not into the 'straws' but between them. Sure, it will wet the wood, but not to anything like the wood taking up fluids through its end grain.

As has been said, there are two ways to remove the build up of wax - by dissolving it, or by gentle heat. You can actually by products which are designed to remove old wax, but I think most are simply light oils. (One is called 'orange oil'). I think that you need to apply such products several times over time - not just a one-off 'blitz. I wouldn't attempt to use a scraper and certainly not sandpaper, whch would risk leaving scratches and would quickly clog, but if theres' an inconspicuos area, you could try using a small pad of 0000 grade steel wool dipped in white spirit.

The aim should be to get the white spirit to dissolve the way, and it's unlikely to do that unless you wet the surface liberally and leave it for at least 20 minutes at a time, then if 0000 grade wire wool dipped in white spirit is gently used - always with the grain - never across it or in a circular motion, you should get the table back to the finish you desire. White sprit will make it look dull, but polish will bring it back. As Mark said above, burnishing cream will also be very beneficial.

Sorry it's a bit wordy, but I hope that helps.

David.