Salut Christophe,

The finishing technique you describe for your lathe-turned bowls clearly produces a very nice finish, as shown in your photos. I must try that on my next wood project. I didn't realize (until you explained your approach) that (just as with other types of wood finishing), the wood pores must be sealed first before applying the final wax coating.

By the way, the Carnauba paste wax that I apply to the frames of my woodworking machine tools is a product called 'Mothers California Gold' - This is advertised as a 'natural formula' consisting of no.1 Brazilian yellow carnauba wax without any added ingredients. After buffing off the haze it is quite hard.

Apparently this wax can be a pure product because it is applied as the third step in the Mothers Inc. automobile paint protection system i.e. after the pre-wax cleaner and sealer-glaze steps. It is, of course, especially important that this product not have any added silicon so as to avoid contaminating any unfinished wood in my shop. Consequently I have avoided the use of other auto or furniture waxes since I don't trust the contents. I still wonder if, given the purity of the Mothers carnauba wax, it could be used for wood finishing? Yet you obviously add other ingredients to your wax formulation - Is the purpose of the bees wax to function as a stabilizer?

I also regularly apply a fluorocarbon sealant to the way tubes, table surfaces and blades of my woodworking machine tools to reduce sliding friction and provide corrosion protection - Topcote is my current favourite.

Jusqu'à la prochaine fois,

Gary Kingsep (kngtek)
Calgary AB Canada