Wax on ... Wax off!

  WAX ON!   Nothing like a Karate Kid reference to get things going. I am excited to show you this.  This is an 18th Century English Elm Cricket Table.  Though I think the table is great- I'm going to address the finish- not the piece.  When we saw the surface for the first time I was really hopeful, but having had my hopes dashed before- I was cautiously optimistic.  You see, when a table has survived this long- many MANY bad things can happen, even with the best of intentions.  I've seen 18th Century pieces refinished, sanded, coated in poly-urethane, shellacked, varnished, lacquered, oiled, and painted to name a few.   The conservation of these surfaces can become a tricky endeavor- and usually requires us to put our best 'chemistry hats' on to discover what lies on top of and imbedded into the grain of the wood.    What we had hoped for came true.  This table had been benignly neglected through the years, so it is the perfect candidate for a good old fashioned coat of wax.  Less is usually more, and this is a great example of just that.  So here you have the before and after pictures from a dry and thirsty surface to one with a single coat of wax.