With so many choices of furniture waxes and furniture polishes available on the market today how do you know which one is right for you?

The first thing to look for is a polish that contains natural ingredients and if at all possible steer clear of anything that contains silicon,gum turps or petro-chemical by-products, these polishes are most commonly found in supermarkets and the odd hardware store.

What are the problems with these ingredients? Let me go through them one by one and i'm sure you'll see why it's best to avoid them.

Polishes containing these ingredients are hazardous, bad for your health and generally give poor results

Silicone
Silicone is put in furniture polish to make application easy and buffing off easy but if you ever need to have the piece of furniture you are polishing repaired or refinished it creates all sorts of problems for the repairer.
The repairer is unable to remove the silicone residue or film that's left on the surface which then causes the new lacquer being applied to bubble and not adhere to the surface as it is supposed to.
Long term use of silicone polishes on furniture can cause the lacquer on the surface to crack, split and break down.

Gum Turps
Gum turps is a common ingredient found in many beeswax polishes especially companies who produce old style traditional waxes.

This is an ingredient that is commonly used to keep the beeswax polish soft while still in the can and to make the wax dry when it's applied to the furniture's surface. The main problems associated with gum turps are: Toxicity, skin irritations and generally poor results.

Gum turps in wax makes it hard to apply and hard to remove and will always leave an oily, smeary finish.

To find a wax that gives excellent results and contains safe, modern ingredients go to www.furniturecareproducts.com.au

Petro-Chemicals and Tolulene
These ingredients are most commonly found in aerosol furniture polishes and oils, as with gum turps they can create toxic fumes, skin irritations and give poor results.

Because these products are oil based they tend to attract dust rather than repel it.If youv'e ever used oils,you might have noticed that after youv'e polished your furniture it looks great only to find a couple of days later that it looks like you hadn't even done it.

The reason that happens is when the dust settles on the surface again, it impregnates itself into the oily residue thats left behind after polishing.

Go to www.furniturecareproducts.com.au for a furniture polish that leaves a smear free finish.

Carnauba Wax
Carnauba wax is sometimes found in beeswax polishes but only use a polish that contains this ingredient if you are trying to get a high gloss finish on raw wood. It's not overly useful on lacquered finishes especially a satin finish, it tends to become very patchy with shiny spots all over it.
Most furniture restorers and repairers recommend using a good quality beeswax furniture polish for the proper care of wood furniture