Bramble-Stick wrote:
"The Medway Handyman" wrote in message
...
wrote:
S Viemeister wrote:
Samantha Booth wrote:
I have been watching "How Clean Is Your House". In the programme
they melted in the microwave some Beeswax to polish some old
furniture. It can be heated over a pan of hot water too they said.

I ordered some from eBay and have a problem.

When I do that and leave it to go cool it goes rock hard. What do I
need to add to it to make sure the beeswax stays soft so I can use
it. I am sure they added some kind of oil to it?? Maybe wrong but
they said it was the best way to polish old furniture.


My Dad used turpentine, mixed in after removing the beeswax from the
heat.

Sheila
Yup. Isnt it cheaper to buy ready mixed beeswax polish now though?
Absolutely. That programme makes me laugh. Cleaning things with vinegar
& baking soda FFS. They have absolutely no bloody idea about cleaning,
they have just jumped on the green, natural is best bollox bandwagon.
They need to pop down to Tesco & buy some decent products.

Modern polishes, hard surface cleaners & detergent sanitizers leave any of
these old wives tale cleaners in the dust. Vinegar & baking soda clean
bugger all.


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

Well, I'm as sceptical as you regarding most of the advice, but after 10
years of trying to get rid of an embarassing encrustation in the upstairs
loo with all kinds of commercial products (including the black Harpic
varient which claims to include HCL ) to no avail, I bunged 500ml of
distilled vinegar down it & it worked a treat after 24 hours (I'd left some
of the other stuff for days). All that was left was some sediment which
flushed away. I was on the verge of replacing the bowl.

Bramble-stick


I think the truth is probably somewhere in the middle. Branded products
are often just over-priced basic chemicals but it's easier to find a
kettle descaler than phosphoric acid, and small amounts of anything are
always expensive.
Keeping some basic chemicals around the house is useful, whatever your
philosophy:
Strong alkali, caustic soda (although washing soda is adequate for most
jobs).
Strong acid, sulphamic (comes in crystals, safe to handle, but still ph1)
Solvents, white spirit, meths, isopropanol.
I exclude hydrochloric acid and ammonia, both of which blow your head
off with the fumes before you've actually used them for anything, and
don't do anything the above can't. I'm going to duck now before someone
tells me brick acid is a must-have, and I must admit that I've never
tried sulphamic on cement stained brickwork.