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pmacbee_gw

Fixing Wax Finish Mistake?

pmacbee
12 years ago

After stripping, sanding, painting (many coats, with many sandings), and spray poly protecting an ugly old walnut veneer dresser, I had it looking great, with a satiny level of sheen. And then I screwed up the paste wax finish--in two different ways. On the body I'm not sure what happened--I suspect I put on too thick a second coat and hand-buffed maybe before it was completely dry? In any event, it has some beautiful high gloss areas that show up in sharp relief to more matte areas--and you can clearly see that the wax in the glossy areas was applied in a circular motion. I tried going from hand buffing to a power buffer with no appreciable change, and then tried applying a very thin coat of the same Minwax over the old wax and then taking it immediately off which also made no difference to the mottled, swirl-line effect. What do I do at this point to get an even, slightly-glossier than-satin sheen? Do I need to sand/steel wool and start over? (Please say "no, of course not" :-) )

On the drawers, I had just put a first thin coat of wax on the drawer fronts when my son had a major skateboard crash and we were off to the ER. Didn't get back to the drawers for three days, when the Minwax had dried very hard and hazy. Very hard to hand-rub. Used the power buffer on it which has improved it, but still looks a little cloudy, and not much sheen.

I've only refinished two other pieces of furniture before--winging it, but pretty successfully--so feel free to tell me I was using the wrong product, tools, methods, anything, as well as any thoughts on where you think I should go from here. Thanks so much for the help!

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