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!
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.
2 Ingredients Needed for the Beeswax Furniture Polish:
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One part beeswax
Two parts olive oil
I like to use olive oil from my farm but you can also use Extra Virgin Olive Oil. You can even substitute mineral oil.
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.
Keep on adding the wax till it all melts.
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.
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!
How to Use Beeswax Furniture Polish
Using a clean cotton cloth take a bit of the wax and rub it into the wood.
Below you can see that the right hand side has been waxed while the left has not.
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.
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.
I’ve even used it on metal painted with chalk paint in this vintage suitcase makeover.
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.
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.
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that is so cool! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you Kelleyn, hope you can try it sometime.
I love beeswax polish – the smell is amazing. Thank you for the recipe Mary
Amber this stuff is great over chalk paint too.
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
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.
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
I am so glad to hear that Jann. I too feel that some of these basic items should not have to be so expensive.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
The best part is that it acts as a sealant for chalk paint. That is what I use it for primarily
Wow, this looks wonderful, Mary! Thanks for sharing your tutorial at Vintage Charm–pinned!
Thanks Cecilia. I hope you have a chance to try it out.
That is so awesome Mary!!!
Deborah I hope you have a chance to try it sometime. It is great over chalk paint.
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!
It may look like food but when you get close up it smells very different Gail. I would never mistake it for caramel.
Natural and easy to make it ticks all the boxes…Thank you for sharing the recipe #SeniSal
Such a great idea – I’ve got some beeswax in my stash somewhere to try this! Thanks for sharing with us at The Blogger’s Pit Stop!
I’ve never used beeswax before. What a difference between it made on the wood. Brings back the old back to life. Thanks for sharing on the Classy Flamingos. http://blog.poinsettiadr.com/2019/07/classy-flamingos-blog-party-57.html
I am looking for something that,will clean my kitchen cabinets.they are wood ( oak ).
Some of the Finnish is warn off.
Mary Thank you for the recipe great combination and natural Will be making this great on the pocket too
I am so glad to hear that it will be of help to you Mary. I use it on most of my furniture.
Mary, you’ve amazed me once again with your DIY furniture/household skills! I love that this polish is natural and easy to make – awesome! So of course I’m featuring it at this week’s Friday Favorites linky party, come over to have a look if you like: https://be-alice.blogspot.de/2017/08/friday-favorites-week-387.html 🙂
All the best!
Maisy
Thanks so much Maisy! I am always looking for practical and thrifty solutions to my everyday problems. I’ll be linking up.
Mary, thanks for sharing your recipe!! The beeswax furniture sealer sounds awesome! Love that it is natural and it makes everything look great.
And it is super easy to make, but the best is that I use it to seal in the chalk paint.
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!
That is a great idea Brenda. I don’t bother with scents but maybe I should reconsider.
I am super impressed that you make your own polish.
Necessity is the mother of invention Elise.
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!)
It is budget friendly and green and even good for your hands. You can;t go wrong with that.
Wow, great DIY, Mary. I’m going to try this. Would love it with lavender essential oils. Pinning for later.
Thank you Mary. It works like a charm and of course you can add any essential oil you want.
That’s a great idea, Mary! I love to use natural products. Even better when you can make them at home easily and save some money.
Absolutely Julia. It was super easy to make and now I’ve got a jar full to work on my projects.
Pinned your recipe to my Furniture Painting Tips Board, Mary!
Thanks Marie, when we run out of the other stuff it always comes in handy!
Wow Mary. This is So, Sooo Coool
Thank You For Sharing…..
Thanks Shaun. Gotta try and save money and our hands whenever we can. But most importantly this is all natural.
This is so interesting! I never thought about making my own beeswax furniture polish, although I have used a commercial product. It gave your wooden pieces a nice luster and depth to the wood grain. I bet it really nourishes the wood, too, to keep it from drying out.
Carol (“Mimi”) from Home with Mimi
Carol I made it out of frustration. The store I went to buy it from carried it in a liter. I certainly didn’t need so much if I was trying it out for the first time. And I couldn’t return it since the store was 2 hours away. Necessity is the mother of homemade recipes!
I always love more homemade recipes for housecleaning! Enjoyed the post.
Thank you Wendy. If we are DIYers why not make our own products as well.
This recipe does look good enough to eat! It looks like pie slices in one of the earlier pics 😀 I’ve got some beeswax from when I made some lip balm a while ago and haven’t done anything with it since so I’ll have to give this a shot! Pinned
Haha When we bought it it came in the farm of a round pie. So I can see where that is coming from. Just don’t eat it!
I’m all for using natural products, and also for saving money while doing it. Extra virgin olive oil is very expensive over here, so I might try the mineral oil instead. It looks like your wood is loving it! Glad to know of this. Thanks Mary!
You don’t have to use the extra virgin since you aren’t making a salad. Any oil will do I’m sure. Let me know what you think.
Thank Mary, I always love saving money, and recipes that won’t harm the earth.. I have used beeswax in beauty recipes but did not know that it made a good furniture wax especially for chalk paint. I bought some wax when I first started using chalk paint and wow it was expensive, I won’t be buying it again. I will try your recipe.
I am so glad to hear that Linda. I went through some I had bought but when you run out you need to have a back up plan.
Great post – pinned and shared
Thanks Carol, hopefully it will come in handy in the future.
Mary,
I love this recipe for beeswax furniture polish ~ so easy! I’ll have to look for some actual beeswax from a local farmer and make some polish. Does it keep for a long time? How do you store it? Thank you.
Great idea!
Barb 🙂
I just kept it in a jar outside at room temperature. Some of the ladies said that we should use mineral oil instead because it won’t go bad. But I didn’t have any problems with the mixture and I had it for 2 years.
I love anything bee related. I use bee pollen for my drinks, I love honey I love bees wax and this is a great recipe.. I was even thinking of having a bee hive someday to make honey.. Thanks so much. Will pin
Maria you are gonna love this recipe. Easy and good for your hands too.
Wow Mary!!! I could not imagine it was so easy to make beeswax furniture polish!!! For sure you saved a tone of money plus I like to use natural projects and if I can make them by myself it is perfection! Thank you for sharing your little secret 🙂
I’m so glad you like it Christina. You know that bees wax is plentiful here in Greece so you won’t have any trouble finding it.
Mary, Thanks so much for sharing your recipe! I’ve not used wax on furniture and would like to try it on a piece or two . . if I ever get around to painting them! Wow, just look how far you’ve come and the amount you have learned since starting your blog!
It can be used to seal Chalky finish paint or just on it’s own to rejuvenate wood furniture and protect it. I’ve also used it on Milk Paint. Yes I’m becoming a regular student now. So much to learn Laurie.
I cannot WAIT until I collect enough beeswax to do something with it! Such a great idea.
🙂 gwingal
This is perfect you are going to have your own supply! Let me know what you think!
I love these natural recipes, Mary. I am off to pin this one for sure. Thanks!
Thank you Kim hope you have a chance to make it sometime.
What a great idea. I love making my own cleaning products. I bet this smells wonderful. Thanks for sharing.
Patti it certainly feels nicer than the store bought stuff.
Thank you so much for the recipe, dear Mary! Haven’t got any beeswax at home but I’m sure I’ll be able to get some somewhere…
And then you can run around waxing all your furniture. It feels so nice when it’s done.
I’d love to give this a try. We’re very lucky to have a friend who owns a bee farm, so that means we get free beeswax whenever we need it – lucky me 😉 and just like you Mary, we often struggle to find all the wonderful things people mention when they re-purpose furniture.
You certainly are lucky. You can get all the beeswax you need. I know, we have to make do with what is around us and that is really a blessing because it forces us to be a bit more creative.
It looks so good I want to give it a bite! That is an easy but very useful recipe Mary, Thank you for sharing it with us. I bought a very expensive furniture wax and had no idea. Now I know and I love how you can add essential oils and such.
Katrin I use furniture wax so much that I am always running out so this was a no brainer for me. It works wonders and it’s also great for your hands. I’m sure if you add essential oils it will smell heavenly!