What is your favorite wood polish and conditioner?

[Rot 911]

Mine is Howard Feed n Wax. A friend that restores antique furniture turned me onto this year’s ago. Has orange oil, beeswax and carnuba wax. A little goes a long ways. Really soaks into the wood and leaves a nice satin finish when buffed out. And it’s only $10 on Amazon! Definitely more work than spray polish, but it’s worth the small extra effort. Makes me feel like a real woodworker as opposed to a rank amateur.

[LWJ]

Cool! Thanks.

[stevej37]

Yes...I've use it also and it's great stuff.
Menard's also carries it along with Howards 'Restor a Finish'

[Ayles]

Been using it for years! Great stuff.

Their restore a finish product works miracles too.

Before:


After:

[mjohnson]

Johnson's paste wax, of course. A tin comes with your birth certificate if you picked the right family into which to be born.

Honestly I've never been disappointed with it, though we don't really have many interesting/precious/delicate wood pieces. It's also been handy for non-wood stuff on the patio that get that weathered "dusty" look - and I actually love the odor (genetics probably, I know...)

Now for leather, I've got opinions.

[CurtEgerer]

I recently built a bar and was originally planning to use that thick epoxy finish everyone seems to use. Then I decided maybe a few coats of polyurethane would be better. Then I read about the virtues of good old furniture wax. Glad I did. Used Minwax Soft Touch (because that was what was available locally) and it turned out beautiful. Big fan of wax now.

[MBAtarga]

My 2 cents - if the wood surface has a finish on it - lacquer, varnish, shellac, etc. - the products above aren't doing anything with respect to the wood. They sit on the surface and evaporate. The finish is doing what it is meant to do - protect the wood structure underneath. Applying these products might make the furniture etc look nice (temporary) - but that's all it is doing.

Exceptions to the above - true "oil" finishes - such as mineral oil on a butcher block for example. "Tung oil" products typically have a hardening agent of some sort so it's not truly only oil. The wax mentioned above likely has some solvent and component that truly does soak in the surface.

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by MBAtarga

My 2 cents - if the wood surface has a finish on it - lacquer, varnish, shellac, etc. - the products above aren't doing anything with respect to the wood. They sit on the surface and evaporate. The finish is doing what it is meant to do - protect the wood structure underneath. Applying these products might make the furniture etc look nice (temporary) - but that's all it is doing.

Exceptions to the above - true "oil" finishes - such as mineral oil on a butcher block for example. "Tung oil" products typically have a hardening agent of some sort so it's not truly only oil. The wax mentioned above likely has some solvent and component that truly does soak in the surface.

If the finish is intact, you are correct. However, the wax, oil, solvent compound will protect the finish just as car wax does for your paint.

To use Howard's, or any other similar compounds, as an original finish also works, just differently until the surface becomes sealed. Then you're right back at protection and renewal.

I do this professionally and adding a bit of shellac makes it trickier, but fantastic results. The ultimate endeavor here is called French polishing. That's about 30 coats of shellac, oil, wax and a LOT of alcohol.

I make my own 'Howards' from turpentine, wax, and tung oil or BLO. The ratio varies with each restorer. The good wax has toluene in it. Non in CA. Get it from the UK.

I make my own shellac from flakes. I have a few colors. It's non waxed so it will stick to anything and anything will stick to it.