Gloss Hardwax Wood Finishing - Make Wood Look Like Polished Marble
For the last several years I have fallen in love with hardwax finishes. If you aren’t familiar, they are a less common hardwood floor finish that has recently gained a lot of popularity with North American furniture makers. A hardwax finish provides wood protection without building a film on the surface like a polyurethene, lacquer, or varnish. The result is an amazingly beautiful finish, and since you can still feel all the wood grain, it feels incredible to the touch. There are numerous advantages to hardwax finishes. Perhaps the most important one to me is that you can get an absolutely perfect finish in your dusty home shop or garage. I could go on and on about the story of hardwax, but Canadian Woodworking wrote a great article, so feel free to click here for a deeper dive into hardwax finishes.
Traditionally, hardwax finishes have been more of a matte, to maybe satin sheen at best. And if you want a low sheen finish that you can apply easily in any environment you should be able to find success with any of the main three players in hardwax, Osmo, Odie’s, or Rubio. There are advantages and disadvantages to each of these, and I am in the process of making a full comparison test video and blog. So stay tuned for that.
Much of the sheen of a hardwax finish is derived from how high you sand. 400 grit will have much more sheen than 150 grit for example. However, generally protection from stains goes down with sanding grit. 150 grit will be more durable than 400 grit for example. Therefore most manufactures limit how high you can sand and still get sufficient protection. A couple years back I sanded my Myrtle wood Blacktail sign all the way to 12,000 grit and applied Odie’s Oil to see what it would look like. Unlike most manufactures, Odie’s advertises you can apply it to wood sanded to any grit. I found the results to be kind of cool, but probably not something I would use on a table. Feel free to watch that video to see what Odie’s on 12,000 grit looks like.
I had used the Osmo gloss on a few small pieces and really loved the sheen I was able to achieve with only sanding to 240 grit. So I decided to see if I could get more sheen from Osmo gloss and 240 grit, than Odie’s Oil and 12,000 grit on the same Myrtlewood sign.
Custom Osmo brush
The first step was obviously sanding off the Odie’s oil entirely. I am pretty spoiled and have vacuum clamps and a great sander, so this job was breeze for me. I did a very thorough job of getting a perfectly prepared slab with 240 grit. If you’d like to know how to sand wood really, really well check out out my blog post on the topic.
I discussed this method with a higher-up at Osmo headquarters. I have had mixed results consulting the guys on the 800 technical support number. But I feel pretty good about the method I learned and will discuss below. He recommended I either use an Osmo brush, or make my own by cutting up an old natural bristle paint brush. I opted for making my own brush by cutting all but the last 1.5”. Which basically made a very stiff bristle brush.
The following was done with Osmo 3011, however the same process can be used with 3043. the differences are NEGLIGIBLE
Coat one:
First, mix your Osmo very very thoroughly. More than usual. Next, brush in your Osmo 3011 pretty aggressively with your bristle brush. Unlike other hardwax finishing techniques where you remove all of the excess, go ahead and leave a good amount on. About as much as if you were going to brush on thin coat of polyurethane. It won’t look great, but don’t worry too much. Let dry overnight.
When you come back, it’ll look worse than you left it. That’s ok, we’re just sealing it up with this coat. Go ahead and sand it entirely with 400 grit. Knocking all the stipple and brush strokes down to a smooth finish.
coat two:
Now we’re ready for the buffer. I use a Gem buffer and 3m white pads. Buff the 3011 in well, but don’t buff it off. There will be some streaks, but just barely. Let dry overnight.
coat three:
Sand lightly, but completely with 600 grit sandpaper and an orbital. I like the mesh sanding discs for this step. Buff in another coat like you did with coat two. Let dry overnight
coat four:
No sanding, buff in a coat like you did with coat two and three. Let dry overnight.
coat five:
If you get some texture/stipple you can sand it off with 600-1000 grit and keep building coats with your buffer. If it looks even you can just keep buffing in coats until you are satisfied. You can keep going as long as you want with more and more coats. You should get a slightly higher sheen each coat.
final coat:
Buff in a light coat of 3011, flip pad over to clean side and buff most (but not all) off. Let dry 12 hours-overnight.
Final steps:
Buff in the Osmo liquid wax cleaner with the white pad thoroughly. Then buff entire piece with a clean microfiber bonnet. This should completely even out any swirls or unevenness.