How To Make Your Own Beeswax Furniture Polish

This beeswax furniture polish recipe makes a great furniture sealant. Plus it’s good for both your skin and for the earth.

I love painting furniture, I think it is one of the fastest ways to change or upcycle an old piece, plus you can mask any imperfections using paint. Most of the time I like to use beeswax on my furniture as a sealant. In fact I like it so much I make my own. Making your own beeswax furniture polish is easier than you think!

Wood box, beeswax furniture polish in a jar and on a plate.

When I started the blog I knew nothing about any of this painting and furniture stuff.  I found out that to seal in chalk paint I would need a sealant.  Beeswax was the most common.  Now many of you know I live in the boondocks and we don’t even have chalk paint here.  

​So when I had gone up to the big city I priced wax furniture polish.  It was about 12 Euros for 500 grams (that would be about $15).  This was way over my budget at the time because I didn’t know how to use it, I certainly wasn’t going to spend that much.  So I came up with a cheaper solution, I decided to make my own.  I found a recipe on the internet and proceeded.  Forgive me if I do not remember where I got it from. The cost ended up being half of that for almost twice the wax. 

Piece of beeswax and tin of olive oil placed on a plate.

2 Ingredients Needed for the Beeswax Furniture Polish:

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One part beeswax
Two parts olive oil
​

Cut up pieces of beeswax.

I like to use olive oil from my farm but you can also use Extra Virgin Olive Oil. You can even substitute mineral oil.

Olive oil in a glass cup.

How to Make Beeswax Furniture Polish

Place the beeswax in a pot and let it melt under warm medium heat.  You can also use a double boiler.

Beeswax in a pot ready to be melted.

Keep on adding the wax till it all melts.

Melting the beeswax.

Add the oil of your choice. Stir it well and then remove from the heat. At this point you can also add any essential oils that you want.

Adding olive oil to the melted beeswax.

Carefully pour it into a jar or container of your choice.  Be careful because it will be very hot.

You can see the spilled wax dries instantaneously.  The jar takes longer to solidify, about half an hour. 

And that is it. You now have a jar of homemade beeswax furniture polish!

Beeswax mixture poured into jar.

How to Use Beeswax Furniture Polish

Using a clean cotton cloth take a bit of the wax and rub it into the wood.

Beeswax furniture polish on cotton cloth.

Below you can see that the right hand side has been waxed while the left has not.

Wooden box showing the left un-waxed side and the right waxed side.

After a few minutes rub the excess wax off. Keep rubbing till you get a nice sheen. It is also very good for your hands since it is made of natural ingredients so don’t worry if you get some on your skin.

There is nothing like it for a soft, buttery smooth finish.  The only drawback is that it needs to be reapplied once a year. And it should not be used on high traffic items, such as your kitchen table.

Wooden box polished with beeswax.

The first project I ever used it on was my table made from a stool and drawer. And this ancient tray which was painted in black.
​

Black tray polished with beeswax.

I’ve even used it on metal painted with chalk paint in this vintage suitcase makeover.

Polished wooden box placed with books, a chess set, chess pieces and empty wine bottles.

It goes without saying that you can also use it on unpainted wood.  But it is especially good for chalk painted wood because it seals in the chalk paint.

Close up of the polished wooden box.

Not only is this good for your pocketbook and for your skin, but it is also green and good for our earth.  I can’t see any reasons not to try this great recipe for making your own beeswax furniture polish. 

Give it a try and let me know what you think, and if you’ve already tried tell me what your recipe is.

Close up of the polished wooden box with text overlay saying "how to make your own beeswax furniture polish"

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76 Comments

  2. oh wow, this is great! I can’t wait to make some. I love beeswax and it’s wonderful to make your own especially for furniture projects! Thank you!

    1. The best part is that it acts as a sealant for chalk paint. That is what I use it for primarily

  3. At first I thought was avacados and then candy. I would say I must be hungry but I had dinner. Anyway the wax does bring out the beauty in anything that you apply it on. I will have to look for a beeswax supplier. I think it is very special that you also have your own olive oil.

    1. Thanks Debra. I discovered this when I saw the price tag on this stuff and I was not willing to pay that. With this recipe you can get twice for half the price. Also Amazon sells the beeswax. As for the olive oil you can also substitute mineral oil.

  4. This is marvelous Mary. I typically use lemon oil and never the spray on waxes. Lemon oil can be hard to find so this is a great solution for me. I also love the idea of only needing to apply it annually. Pinning.

    1. I use oil for cleaning Leanna but this is to seal in the chalk paint. What do you use for that? And of course it can be used on raw wood.

  5. I am thrilled to have this recipe Mary! I love using chalk paint and the wax is very pricey here. I have a brick of beeswax that I bought years ago for candles and never got them made. Thanks for sharing with SYC.
    hugs,
    Jann

    1. I am so glad to hear that Jann. I too feel that some of these basic items should not have to be so expensive.

  6. Fantastic tutorial Mary! I love it when I can make a cheaper, cleaner version of a product I use all the time – I’ll definitely give this one a go. (P.S. I’ll be featuring your DIY furniture wax at this week’s link party.) xx

    1. Thanks Kate. I so agree with you, no need to spend money on toxic stuff when we can spend less to go green. Thank you for the feature.

  10. I’ve never seen anything like this before, I love it! I have never made my own furniture polish before, I think it sounds like a wonderful (and budget friendly) idea.
    Thank you for linking up with us at the #HomeMattersParty – please stop by and link up at this week’s party (opens Friday!)

    1. It is budget friendly and green and even good for your hands. You can;t go wrong with that.

  12. Oh Mary, thanks so much for sharing your recipe at #FridaysFurnitureFix, I am definitely pinning this for later, I love using furniture wax on my projects now I can come up with my own scent, I can’t wait to try this!

  13. Mary, thanks for sharing your recipe!! The beeswax furniture sealer sounds awesome! Love that it is natural and it makes everything look great.

    1. Thanks so much Maisy! I am always looking for practical and thrifty solutions to my everyday problems. I’ll be linking up.

  16. I am looking for something that,will clean my kitchen cabinets.they are wood ( oak ).
    Some of the Finnish is warn off.

  20. arent’ you worrried that someone will eat a piece of the beeswax. I am always thinking of food but that certainly looks like caramel, dulce de leche!
    you are adventurous to move to Greece!

    1. It may look like food but when you get close up it smells very different Gail. I would never mistake it for caramel.

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