WAX POLISHING

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 33, 2 November 1927, Page 19

WAX POLISHING

GETTING A GOOD FINISH USEFUL HINTS Wax. like many another time-honoured antique, is just within the last few years coming into its own with the public. /is a finish for floors, woodwork, and furuture says the "American Painter and Decorator”), it. is backed bv literally centuries of use. but, like an old family heirloom hidden away in tho attic, people arc just rediscovering it. Apparently the simplest possible finish for all floors, woodwork, and furniture, a good wax in reality is one of tho most interesting and complicated products offered tho decoratine trade. With an qjer-increasing demand for this popular treatment, the modern painter should know something of what waxes are, and how and why they are used. In tho first place, with all duo respect to the old-fashioned finisher who poured melted paraffin on the floor, not one in ten thousand painters can make a satisfactory first-clns wax in his own shop. On a difference of a few pence a pound in cost, the factory "prepared" waxes, and tho very best brand at that, wil nav every time. The main reason for this statement is the fact that there are-simply millions of waxes in the world and corresponding millions of ways to' combine them. That is not an exaggeration. Every plant in the vegetable kingdom secretes some sort of wax, which it uses to protect leaves, flowers, and fruit. You will find wax noticeable to the skin of an apple or orange, or the petals of a lily, and the leaves of many a shinv-leaved tree. Tn the animal kingdom every species produces animal waxes in infinite varieties. The most homclv example is the wax in human ears. But the scientists can show it (o yon exuded from tho pores and put. to various and sundry uses in almost any animal, from a mosquito to a whale. If we add to the above classifications fats and mineral oils and such materials nnf scientifically belonging in the wax class, yet often used -in combination with true waxes, .you can readily see how real judgment, science, and skill must Ire used in the choice and combination

of materials going to make up a good wax.

Requirements of the best grade prepared waxes include: (1) A durable hard finish. (2) a pleasing, lasting lustre, (3) ease of application, (4) case of polishing, (5) ease of cleaning (non-dust collecting), (6) chemical neutrality which will allow it to ba applied over practically any material or other finish, (7) freedom from change (such as turning white when it dries), (8) agreeable colour and odour. Among the materials used in making prepared waxes, for example, are Carnauba wax, obtained from a palm tree in Brazil; Candillilla, obtained from the leaves of a Mexican bush; animal waxes of special properties; and mineral oils such as naphtha and paraffin. And after even such materials have been gathered from the four corners of the earth, you have only started. There are still practical matters of proportion, how and when to combine, melt, thin, and everything else. The painter, therefore, who is without the services of trained chemists, completely equipped laboratories, nnd special manufacturing facilities, is strongly urged to stick to good proven factory-made brands.

The first thing to consider in tho use of wax is its application. Apply wax in a thin, well-spread coat. On a floor or other surface where two or three coats of wax are necessary, you will do no'good bv applying a. doubly or triply thick eoat of wax, thinking that you are accomplishing the same results.

Allow the wax to dry thoroughly. Prepared wax is in reality your basic wax film carried in a vehicle which makes it possible to spread it out in a thin coat. After tho wax is applied this vehicle is of no further use, and must be allowed to evaporate. Of course, it does not take the length of time of a paint film, but should ordinarily bo left from fifteen minutes to half an hour, depending entirely upon the temperature and humidity of the room.

After the wax is thoroughly dry, polish it hard. Tn polishing, one point to remember is that it is the friction induced bv high speed which produces the hard polish on wax. Weight is a secondary factor. You could slide a steam roller over a waxed floor with a polishing pad underneath the roller and not obtain Ihe same finish that a child could get b,v rubbing briskly with a. cloth. It is this point in the polishing of wax that has made electric floor polishers so successful. A speed, and a burnished effect, impossible by hand, can be obtained with the machine.

After a good wax polish is once obtained on a floor, the secret of the whole thing is to keep it up and give it regular attention whenever and wherever needed. For the housewife, this is also the greatest advantage of waxed floors, in that they can be kept up with a minimum of effort nt all times, and never require finishing. Incidentally, it also means to the painter regular, easy, and profitable work in the upkeep of floors. Waxed floors, woodwork, and furniture grow more beautiful and more satisfactory with the continual polishing, the touching up of spots subject to heaviest wear, and the protection of the surface from dirt. The greatest points, however, and the point which a painter cam use to sell his customers waxed floors, or a waxed finish on anything, is the ease of cleaning. Wax is non-oily, it does not collect dust, it is immune” to finger prints, to hot dishes, and to the ordinary small surface marks which made lasting marks on other finishes. Anything in the ordinary course of housekeeping that happens to a waxed finish can simply be polished out or a slight retouching with additional wax will cover it. A good wax film oyer any material or any other finish practically eliminates wet, sloppy scrubbing with soapy water, except on kitchen and hall floors much used by children, and upon which so much dirt is tracked that frequent water scrubbing is necessary. The waxed surface can be wiped off, cleaned up, and repolished with fresh wax when necessary, and is the easiest cleaned finish known.