Howard wax/orange

[Sam Beagle]

how do you guys use this. Like I fool I went and put this on raw wood today. The result wasn’t stunning at all. I believe I should have sealed it first.

 

[Bill Boehme]

It's basically snake oil. It's purported use is furniture polish that "feeds" and cleans the wood to prevent it from cracking and preserve the finish. Furniture doesn't really need to be "fed" nor polished, although it might not be a bad idea to occasionally clean or dust it.

I'm sure that the stuff didn't soak very far into the wood so if you can still mount the piece on the lathe you could try some light shear scraping or other "one last cut" to remove the polish/wax/snake oil/manure mixture. Another possible option is to soak the piece in lacquer thinner or naphtha or acetone to dissolve most of the mixture.

 

[Mike Peace]

Wipe it down with mineral spirits and then put on several coats of Minwax Antique Oil. You can build a nice finish from a Satin to a pretty good shine if buffed.