Waxing Woodies

[MIke Sherck]

I also use Renaissance Wax on my Zone VI. I have no idea whether or not it's better than Turtle Wax or anything else, but I do have one pretty, sexy 4x5 that works smooth as silk!

Mike

[Preston]

A fine wood camera is akin to a fine wood musical intrument, like a guitar or mandolin. A high quality polish will remove finger oils and other gunk, and will also fill minute cracks in a laquer finish, which protects the wood against moisture absorption. I have used either Martin or Gibson guitar polish on my Tachihara with nice results.

--P

[Drew Wiley]

Renaissance Wax is a pure microcrystalline parafin which layers very thin. Things like Turtle Wax contain a blend with Carnauba etc which are going to yellow or attract dust etc. It all depends on how the camera was finished in the first place.
Traditional oil/wax finishes were often used, but you gotta be damn careful what you pick up in a typical hardware of paint
store, because most of these things are highly adulterated with cheap linseed etc which will break down in a matter of months. I personally use some pretty high-tech marine oils which aren't widely distributed, and are now themselves in danger
of commercial extinction due to air quality restrictions etc (yeah, a few drops on the camera every six months is going to
spoil the climate, and all those gigantic cargo ships belching into the port every day get an exemption!) Then you've got the
possibility of lacquers being used on newer cameras, or even true shellacs on old ones. So you need to figure out what you've
got before you mess with it. And getting wax out of pores in wood can be a potential headache if you ever need to actually
refinish a piece. In other words, do your homework before you mess with a wooden camera!

[Drew Wiley]

Let me follow up with that ... (having just sent someone out the door with some fancy imported wood finishing products)...
What one has to be esp cautious about in conventional funiture polishes as well as general wood oils is the presence of
added silicone - a popular adulterant which makes the finish temporarily act as if it's actually doing something worthwhile,
like repelling moisture and figermarks, but which actually attacks and weakens wood fiber. Another dirt cheap adulterant is
ordinary paraffin which just gums things up and attracts crud when it gets warm. Sometimes an MSDS sheet will inform
you of the presence of such things, sometimes not. Or like Preston, get the opinion of a good musical instrument maker.

[Alan Gales]

A fine wood camera is akin to a fine wood musical intrument, like a guitar or mandolin. A high quality polish will remove finger oils and other gunk, and will also fill minute cracks in a laquer finish, which protects the wood against moisture absorption. I have used either Martin or Gibson guitar polish on my Tachihara with nice results.

--P

I own a Tachihara. Guitar polish sounds like a great idea!

[Preston]

I have two acoustic guitars and use either polish I mentioned above. The nice thing about them is that they don't build up to any great degree and the feel of the finish after using them is nice and smooth. Be sure to shake the container really well and then spray the polish on a soft cloth. Any decent music store that sells acoustic instruments should have it. If not, check Musician's Friend.com.

--P

[Alan Gales]

Thanks Preston. I'm definitely taking your advice. We have plenty of guitar stores locally so the polish should be easy to find.