Cleaning off Bees Wax in order to paint

[Geoff P]

Hi all,
Built a side table out of 60 year old hard wood for my wife about 10 years ago. When dressed the timber gave up a gorgeous pale pink hue. Really beautiful. I bees waxed the whole piece.
Now she wants to paint it white. Something to do with French Provincial
How do I clean off the bees wax?

Geoff

[Master Splinter]

Turps and plenty of clean rags....and maybe finish off with some wax and grease remover from a car paint store.

[Master Splinter]

Oh, and maybe put some shellac on before the white paint, to make it easier to strip off in another ten years time when the trend is back towards unpainted!

[son_of_bluegras]

I'd use a scraper to remove the top layer of wood. Sanding could work but the wax may clog the sand paper.

ron

[Cliff Rogers]

Hot water will remove bees wax.

[Robson Valley]

I used my oven-baked process to waterproof a carved wooden dish with straight bees wax.
Boiling water, turps, you name it, the clean up of the spatter was a soul-destroying task.
Never again.

You want my serious advice? Build another table out of second-rate wood and let her paint it.