Wood Polish and Conditioner

We own a considerable amount of antique wooden furniture that we acquired through family and friends and auctions, etc. Yesterday's finishes are not the same as today's in many cases so they can sometimes use a bit of love. But we have learned that all wooden furniture new, old and in-between, need some extra conditioning and polish from time to time than just the polishes we see advertised on TV on a regular basis.

In the past, I turned to cans of hard paste wax. Now I mention "hard" here strictly to let you know that this wax is not sprayable. It is not difficult to use. You just run a rag into the can and coat it. After that, you apply it to the wooden surface in a circular motion. It is going to take at least 30 minutes for it to cure. Once it is dry, you use a clean, dry rag to buff it out. To me, the buffing is the hard part. It takes a considerable amount of time to get this done to perfection. My gandmother and many other ladies got down on their hands and knees and used paste wax on their hardwood floors. Each time, it took hours and HOURS to get this task completed. Because of that, you don't find many of them today who are as big a fans as us younger ones who want to live with hardwood floors today. LOL! The wax did as it was supposed to though, it kept them protected and shiny.

The younger people who have Formica countertops, including me before our kitchen renovation a couple of years ago, use this on their countertops to add a great deal of shine. It is easy to apply, but it is time-consuming to buff it out.

When I ran out of paste wax, I went to our Western Hardware to buy another can of it. (By the way, one can of paste wax goes a LONG, LONG WAY.) While I was looking over the wood care products, I came across a product that is made by HOWARD PRODUCTS. It is called Feed-N-Wax. For more information on this product and others, please go to

www.howardproducts.com

Their products are made in Paso Robles, California, not China where so many other products are made...

Anyway, Feed-N-Wax Wood Polish and Conditioner is a great mixture of beeswax, orange oil (it smeels so fresh and clean) and carnauba wax. It is a penetrating feeder and polish for ALL wooden furniture finishes and natural woods. This product conditions our finishes whether they be just a tiny bit dry or REALLY dried out.

The application is simple. You pour just a small amount of this out onto a rag and then gently work it into the wood surface. Let is sit for at least 20 minutes. After that, take a clean, soft rag and wipe it off. So easy to do.

So anyway, I decided to use this on our antique buffet and china hutch that my grandparents gave to us many years ago. Oh, my goodness, folks! I simply cannot say or write enough about the results of this simple process!!! Never before have I been able to get this shine! Paste wax has always left a great shine before but it did not compare with HOWARD. The legs on this set are very ornate. It would have taken DAYS to buff paste wac off of them!!! Once I wiped the dried wax off of them, they just had such an amazing glow and shine to them that I had not ever seen.

I discovered that Feed-N-Wax also has a product that you use BEFORE the wood polish and conditioner. It is called HOWARD Restore-A-Finish. I know nothing about it right now. I suggest that you go to the HOWARD website to learn more about when to use it, etc. I know that I would definitely give it a try!

Some of you probably want to know how much this is gonna take out of your pocket, right? Expect to pay more that you would for a can of regular spray-on furniture polish. As I recall, I paid about $12.00 for this 16 fl. ounce container. It goes a long way and does so much more for your furniture than anything else I've ever tried! I have never seen this in the large variety stores. I suspect that it is probably only found in hardware stores. You can probably order it off of their website also if your favorite hardware store does not carry it.

Anyway, I recommend this to you. Now it is on to the other furniture in our home. It'll take awhile to get it all finished but it will be well-worth it!!!

VLE-B