Rejuvenating Hampshire Sheen Embellishing Wax

[Bill Boehme]

I recently "discovered" a sampler box of Hampshire Sheen Embellishing and Finishing wax that I bought in 2019 shortly before my woodturning life was interrupted by open-heart surgery and a long recovery. I had completely forgotten about the embellishing wax until I recently decided to do some housekeeping. The box contained eight tiny 1-ounce cups and all of them had completely dried up because of poorly fitting lids. Using a mortar and pestle, I was able to pulverize one of the hard cakes of wax and then used naphtha which is a fairly fast drying wax solvent to make a soft paste. I haven't tried it out yet to see if my experiment worked, but I was wondering if anybody else has any experience with reviving dried-out embellishing wax.

 

[Bill Blasic]

Bill that kind of stuff is made generally with mineral oil, just wondering if that oil heated and your dried wax melted in would fix it. I make it with mineral oil, bees wax and Diatomaceous earth.

 

[Tim Tucker]

Interesting....And the findings of those that have tried this is something I want to remember. I have bought WAY too much those wax type products, and want to be able to use them when I feel I have a project that that calls for them. Following......

 

[Mark Jundanian]

Bill, we bought some of another brand (don't remember). We were told to (and did) add mineral spirits. I think that will work better than mineral oil, that does not evaporate, and naptha, that evaporates too quickly.

 

[Tim Rand]

You might reach out to Jeff Hornung
https://www.aawforum.org/community/threads/jeff-hornung.13419/
who is a distributor of the product.

 

[Bill Boehme]

Thanks for the suggestions, guys. Bill, the containers were stored in my air-conditioned shop which I usually keep around 68° F. I think the problem is that the screw-on caps are very soft plastic with shallow threads. The caps also seem to be slightly too large for the container, so before the cap feels snug when screwing it on the container, the threads jump track and I’m back where I started.

I debated with myself whether I should use mineral spirits or naphtha. I think that my preference for using naphtha dates back to my flat woodworking days several decades ago. I preferred using naphtha when making wiping varnish using a 50-50 blend of solvent and Varathane varnish because mineral spirits slowed the drying too much.

A few years ago I bought several tins of Baroque Art Gilders Paste from Craft Supplies. When I opened the tins I found that the wax in several of the containers had dried out. When I called them, Kirk DeHeer said it could be rejuvenated with solvent, but I don’t remember if he recommended mineral spirits or naphtha. I will try using mineral spirits to rejuvenate one of the Hampshire Sheen embellishing waxes. Looking at the embellishing wax where I used naphtha, I think that I thinned it too much so a little evaporation might be a good thing at this point.

Tim Rand, Jeff Hornung will be at our club in early April for a week of hands-on classes> I might get an opportunity to talk to him while he is here.

 

[Gerald Lawrence]

A few years ago I bought several tins of Baroque Art Gilders Paste from Craft Supplies. When I opened the tins I found that the wax in several of the containers had dried out.

I ordered the same "paste" recently . It came in with a oily substance around the seal. When opened it looked like dried out shoe polish and the cake was cracked. It still works as I tested it but it is not a "paste". Will probably call when I am once more able to get into the shop.

 

[Donna Banfield]

I have a couple dozen tins of Gilders Paste, and they will dry out after a couple years. To rejuvenate, I use a painters palette knife (either plastic or metal, they are both very flexible) to crush and mash the dry cakes. I do this on the inside lid of the tin and apply a drop or two of mineral spirits to create a soft paste again. I don't recall where I read that tip, but it works quite well.

 

[Tom Gall]

I also have a bunch of BA Gilders Paste. Some were very dry when purchased. Others were cracked and looked like a dry river bed. One was so bad I added enough mineral spirits to fill the tin - a month or more later it was still chunky and unusable.

 

[Seth Belcher]

I'm a member of the Woodturning 360 club, as are some others here, which is administered by Martin Saban-Smith, creator of Hampshire Sheen products. This question has come up more than once with regard to the Hampshire Sheen High Gloss wax; what to do if they dry out and if they could be reconstituted. Martin's response has always been that the waxes would technically need to be melted and mixed with a solvent of some kind, which he can't recommend because of the safety issues involved with heating a flammable solvent.
What he usually recommends is that, because the waxes don't require a thick application (less is more), if it is pliable at all, then you should try to still use it. If it's not, then you can try to use the wax almost like a hard wax bar.

Once again, this is probably more applicable with the high gloss wax than the embellishing waxes but, the theory should still apply.

I'm interested to know whether your experiment is successful though!

 

[Bill Boehme]

I asked Jeff Hornung about rejuvenating the HS embellishing wax when he was here last wee and his answer was mineral spirits. I will try mineral spirits on one container and compare it to the one that I rejuvenated with naphtha.