Manalto wrote:Dumb question - can you paste-wax and buff it after it has cured?
Questions in themselves are inanimate and therefore it is impossible for a question to be dumb
Since the definition of dumb is "unable to speak," I submit that every question is dumb.
I like a floor finish that I can wax. I like the smell, the sheen and how it feels on my bare feet. In the past when I've waxed a floor, I had no idea what the existing finish was. I'd apply the wax (Simoniz) with fine steel wool, which cleaned and smoothed, and then buffed. Nice, smooth, mellow result.
Bonnie, I'm not suggesting that you do this, I'm just reminiscing.
and maybe you can strip wax off by washing it with the right thing. Carnuba wax can smell nice. a layer between finishing coats might cause adhesion issues. some wax has silicone and that's a nightmare for finishing. we use carnuba on saw tops, thickness planers etc to keep wood sliding ,prevent rusting. Ive used wax sticks to fill nail holes and not had issues. when you make shellac from cookies or flakes it precipitates out of the solution so there must still be some trace amounts. I guess there are different types of wax though. para wax is from petroleum I think but also plants make wax and bees and things. You might know more about that. I threw a big knot of a fir log on the fire last night. it was big chunk that I hit with the axe about 100 times and it refused to split so finally I just threw the big chunk in I could see some big sap lines in it.. oh my,, it flared up, the pitch burns like gasoline. the big chunk started burning like crazy. we looked up and realized the room was filling wiht smoke. I had to open every window. My girlfriend wanted to put it out but I know once it burned off it would settle down. I didnt; want this giant half burned log to contend with later so I wanted to let it go. Just the shape of the big chunk and all the sap in it made it horrible til we got the smoke cleared out. . I keep meaning to do a video showing how this stuff burns with lots of sap in it.. It's great for starting fires. someone not knowing could have quite a disaster on their hands if they threw too many of the sugary pieces in at once.
Im starting to run out of fir though.. I have some hardwood 3x3's from crating but I am trying to save them for porch posts, Im burning some of the bent ones.. Is sap similar to wax? I think the firewood I had was from a tree that was stressed and it made more sap to heal itself, but I dont; really know for sure. it was about 3 feet diameter so not a little tree. This load sure had lots of sap in it. it was only cut last summer but burned pretty well.. I htink I got the parts just above the stump because the others there I couldn't lift but the ones with sap I split along the sap lines without much issue.
I guess the best lumber is about 10' from the ground. If you walk in the tree'd areas you can see where the pioneers cut a lot of them about 10' up. in those days the trees were so plentiful they just wanted the primo lumber and they dragged it out with horses.. the sap lines cause weak lines through the lumber. I find very little of it in my flooring, probably because they were high grading the lumber.. it's different today.
around where I live back 100 years ago it was all fir, the lumber industry blossomed and rail came, maybe a little earlier than 100 years.. here we have lots of fir and cedar. back then it was so plentiful and beautiful lumber. I suspect that further east the nice trees were already harvested more so maybe we supplied a lot of the flooring.
being in the city I can often find cut trees for the taking so Im heating more with that, why not save money? I keep seeing cedar too and Ive been wondering how it is to for burning. I know its easy to split and if its dry it should burn well , maybe mor crackling? I made the mistake of bringing home a load of a city tree. Juniper? that was the worst firewood. it was so hard to split and it did not want to burn well. I inow if I get fir what to expect. we have lots of alder but I know it isnt; the greatest firewood, of course any wood will burn in a pinch. I remember as a kid we got a load of cottonwood.. that was not a good firewood but we used it up. Im thinking the cedar would be ok but I might have to close the screen up more because If I remember right it crackles a lot.
I guess I should have been more considerate than to post in the floor finishing thread about firewood,, sorry I just got on a tangent thinking about wax and sap.. but at the same time thinking about where the flooring comes from.. most around here was from these big fir trees, the portion from about 10' up. very few knots, nice long straight boards and tight grain because they grew right up close to each other competing for light. we will never recreate those circumstances which is why we appreciate the old growth flooring.
