On 25 Apr 2006 20:02:27 -0700, "Dan-the-K" wrote:

My understanding, from the last time I finished a piece, is that you
end the finishing by putting wax or polish over the topcoat. That was
30 years ago and it seems today, paint stores and hardware stores have
never heard of this, shall we say, post finish. (BTW, the empire
dresser I finished 30 years ago still looks beautiful.)

I've got about a dozen pieces lined up for the treatment. In general,
I want to sandpaper, stain, topcoat, and then wax or polish. To avoid
incompatibility, I'll use Minwax products. That means Wood Finish for
the stain, polyurethane for the topcoat, and wax for the postfinish.
Sandpaper/steel wool when appropriate

Does this sound right?

Any recommendations on the polish or wax? I think of polish as being
something like Pledge, which is pretty useless. Are there any polishes
that actually do protect? What about wax? Are the Butcher Block and
Minwax waxes good? Any suggestions?

TIA,

Dan

I am not a finishing guy at all but I built a clock as a favor a few
months back. After posting some messages here I ended up using Poly
and the wax. I used Butchers Wax and it made a huge difference in the
look and feel of the wood (Zebra). There are probably better waxes
that BW but it worked fine for me.
Before I did anything I cut 15 -20 small pieces of the wood from scrap
and tested, tested , tested. As I learned there are so many variations
it is a good idea to run trials.

GL,
J