It was somewhere outside Barstow when Ryan wrote:

Wouldn't you know it, I was looking through a magazine a couple of weeks
ago that had something in it about using automotive wax finishes on wood
but now I can't find it in the store.

Good. It's a bad idea anyway.

Waxes come in three flavours; finishing waxes, maintenance waxes and
waxes for use over paint.

Finishing waxes are hard. They contain carnauba or candelilla wax to
make them hard, and solvents to make this workable. Applying them
needs considerable buffing and this mechanical buffing is what gives
the wax its shine (wax is full of little flat plates - buffing aligns
them). These are the waxes to use on unfinished wood to build up the
initial surface.

Maintenance waxes are what your maids use to polish the furniture.
They're soft, so don't require much buffing. They have a small solvent
content and emollients as well (oily components that soften the wax
but don't evaporate). Beeswax and turpentine mixes, possibly with a
little ammonia, are a good example. These waxes will restore a sheen
on a polished waxed surface, they'll hide minor wear and scratches in
the surface, but they won't put a shine on that wasn't there before.

Waxes for use over hard paint surfaces are typically car waxes, which
also need to cope with the great outdoors. They should repel water (as
water carries dusty dirt, which otherwise builds up on the surface),
they should resist sunlight and they should provide a good shine.
Polishing is done by "spit and polish", a wet polishing process where
the wash water acts as a co-solvent, rather than by mechanical
buffing. Good ingredients to use for a wax under these conditions are
silicones.

If you're finishing new wood, go with the hard finish waxes. Avoid
silicones around any other finishing treatment that isn't actively
using them. What they enhance in one technique, they screw up in
another.