1950's french beech head and foot board - what wax to use.

[Newbie57]

Hi all. New to this forum, and hoping someone can point me in the right direction please. I have a 1950's french beech head and foot board with two side rails from which I have stripped the upholstery. I then removed the old wax and have taken it back to bare wood. Beech is bland and without grain to speak of, so I figure it if I re-wax it, I should do so with a 'coloured' wax. Wondered what readers think? The photo shows the headboard as is currently.Thanks

[auscab]

Just a coloured wax on raw wood is not what I would do. It will change the colour of what you have and if you test and like it then do what you like .It would look pretty thin and dry and the colour of the wax is not so strong not being designed for that purpose. It may suit what you want though.

Your better off staining and sealing that in then coating up to what ever level of shine you like and finishing that. Doing that with shellac and waxing at the end is a pretty good basic description of a waxed polish job .

If you get a bit more involved and learn how to body the polish up a bit not just by brushing but giving the bed a rubber or three you could call it a waxed French polish job.
Beech takes a stain very well . You could put a new post over in the finishing section and ask there about how to get that done if you like.
http://www.woodworkforums.com/f9

Rob

[Newbie57]

Thanks Rob. I did try using a natural wax but was as you said. I do have shellac, both orange and button. I could also add spirit based tint which is what I will try. I am not that confident to try staining, so will give shellac a try first.

Cheers

[Blackout]

Totally agree with Rob :)

[Newbie57]

Thank you Rob and Blackout. I did try waxing but it wasnt right, so removed the wax and applied three coats of shellac that I had premixed with a spirit stain. To reduce the shine I then applied clear wax. The result was what I wanted.