I don't know what took us so long to do this... it is so easy and what wonderful results!
It is a wonderful activity to cut some clean rags into small squares and let your children help you polish your spoons, bowls, branch blocks, wooden toys and more.
We are using it on our matching/memory game sets to seal the water-based ink it has been working wonderfully.
This polish is non-toxic and food grade quality which means you can use it to periodically seal all of your wooden spoons, bowls, or as a furniture polish.
Gather together 1 ounce of beeswax and cut into small pieces, 8 ounces of olive oil (about 1 cup) and essential oils if desired (lemon or lavender work well).
In a double boiler (we used a can in a pot of boiling water), add the beeswax pieces and melt. To this add the 4 ounces of olive oil and turn the heat to medium-low. Continue to heat until the wax and oil are blended. If desired add 2 - 4 drops of essential oil.
Pour into a clean jar and cap. We are lucky to have these beautiful hexagon shaped 13 oz honey jars from the honey we get from our neighbor beekeeper.
It is a wonderful activity to cut some clean rags into small squares and let your children help you polish your spoons, bowls, branch blocks, wooden toys and more.
We make our own here too. I use 1 part beeswax to 3 parts oil. Usually coconut, jojoba, and apricot kernal.
ReplyDeleteIt turns into this lovely thick cream that can be used for polishing wood, as a diaper rash cream, or a face and body lotion. :) Lovely stuff that smells divine!
Thank you for the great idea for body lotion as well and I corrected my error on the post - it should have been 4:1 ratio of oil to beeswax.
ReplyDeleteThis is amazing!
ReplyDeleteI have bought beeswax finish for a while now, and this is very exciting to be able to make my own. Thank you so much for sharing
Thank you for this...what a wonderful Christmas gift!!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much. I am slowly getting myself ready to learn to whittle. I want to make spoons, and I was just going to coat them with olive oil. This sounds more durable. Beth
ReplyDeleteI having been wanting make to make something like this for a long time now. Thank you so much for sharing!
ReplyDeleteVery interesting. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful! I love this idea for kids.
ReplyDeleteI've always LOVED beeswax...beeswax polish, candles, lipbalm, everything. Unfortunately, it's so expensive up here, I just can't find it for a good price. Where do you get yours? Do you have any ideas to where it's available for a reasonable price?
ReplyDeleteThe Girl in the Pink Dress
Ooh, that looks so yummy! I love using natural products around the house; I'll be sure to try this one.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Marqueta
I love this -- thanks for sharing this recipe with us! We had some of this polish and I loved it, but it got lost in our recent move. Can't wait to make some of my own.
ReplyDeleteI followed the link from Heather's blog, I love your pencil holder, and will use this recipe for beeswax finish. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteThat finish is so beautiful and I'm sure that it smells and feels equally as beautiful! Thanks for the recipe!
ReplyDeletelove sara
How wonderful! A perfect advent activity to do with the kids... and then we can polish up our wooden nativity set :) Thank you!
ReplyDeletei love using a homemade finish...i have never tried one like this before but i think i may just have to!! thank you for this recipe. pennie
ReplyDeleteI definitely want to do this. It looks wonderful! Thank you so much for the recipe!
ReplyDeleteHave a blessed Thanksgiving!
Linda
Prairie Flower
I was browsing the internet to find a food grade receipe, and had a very hard time finding one. This is just perfect.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much!
Oh, this is such a great idea. It would work on furniture as well, right? I have a sister in law with lots of nice wood furniture, which could really need a nice polish...
ReplyDeleteThanks for the recipe. Yours is the best one I have found. I put a glass jar straight into the low boiling water and just let it cool in same jar. Works great on wooden figures and great for hands, lips in this cold weather.
ReplyDeleteHere is my new shop on etsy -
http://www.etsy.com/shop/naturalwoodtoys
I wanted to thank you for posting this finish. I just this minute finished mixing it up and can't wait for tomorrow when the kids and I can pull out our wooden treasures and care for them. I have had this bookmarked for some time and I am glad I finally made time for it. Thank you again.
ReplyDeleteFound you via a link on Simple Kids today and I just want to say thanks! I have been looking all week for a beeswax recipe that didn't use turpentine or mineral oil...
ReplyDeleteomgosh cool!
ReplyDeleteYep. Going to try this. My brother in law is a beekeeper, so I'm going to steal wax from him and run for it. YAY!!
ReplyDeletewhen you say "Gather together 1 ounce of beeswax and cut into small pieces, 8 ounces of olive oil (about 1 cup)..." do you mean to say 4 oz of olive oil?
ReplyDeleteI know I am" johnny come lately" to the "party" but I want to thank you for sharing this recipe! We have a lovely 4 inch thick butcher's block which I use all the time but I refuse to use commercial products on... same goes for our dining room table (butcher's block also but much thinner!) Now I have something that I feel safe using on all our natural wood!! Thank you!!
ReplyDeleteHi! Thought I'd let you know I tried your recipe for this finish, and it worked great! I applied the wax a little more thickly than necessary so it took longer. I also used a 1:2 mix of beeswax: olive oil and 1 tsp of lemon essential oil. I blogged about it too if you want to read it. :)
ReplyDeletehttp://dingminty.blogspot.com/2013/06/beeswax-olive-oil-wood-finish-diy.html