Waxing Lyrical

Well, it’s October half-term and the time has come for the new me to start buying Christmas presents. For the me of 2017 this would have been unheard of. Christmas present buying was relegated to week 2 of December after ‘School Christmas’ had taken place. 

Step-by-Step How-To Guide for restoring the worn-out finish on teak furniture. In this guide, I restore a set of Nathan nested tables.

The more Simon tells me, the more intrigued I am to find out more about these intelligent, efficient and productive creatures. It seems to me that there may be some practical applications to my own life. So begins my research and I soon discover that there are three types of honey bee...

So the time has come to dust off the jar of Gilboy's Leather Balsam which has been in the cupboard for many months. 
"Bring me back some of that shoe polish," I kept saying to Simon. 
"It's not polish, it's a balsam," would come the correction. I refrained from asking what the difference was. For many months Simon has been excitedly coming home and telling me about the new product he has been creating and how he had finally worked out that he needed to add more lanolin in order to perfect a balsam made from the highest quality of ingredients, the purest of components and that it would revolutionise the way that people cared for their leather.

I was rummaging around in the container just outside here. We have a large shipping container where we store all of our bits of old furniture that we use for repairs. And I stumbled across these two panels. Now look at these, two mahogany panels that are identical. I'm going to wax one and leave one. So we've got a before and after. People are always asking us about our polishes and why they're so good and why we as furniture restorers make them.

In this article I demonstrate how we remove an old french polish finish on a John Broadwood piano fall. It is then french polished to a high shine using entirely traditional methods taught to me as an apprentice by the Dartington Trust owned Staverton Joinery.

This procedure is very simple to follow and will give your wooden furniture a natural-looking protective waxed finish.

The complete story of our beeswax polish. Everything you ever wanted to know about Gilboy's Gold beeswax furniture polish. Including what beeswax is and how it is made by the bees.

In this presentation I am demonstrating how I was taught to make a French Polisher's rubber. If you are just starting out and looking at french polishing for the first time then this is the correct way to start.

 

Prevention is better than the cure. 

If you are placing your Apple Homepod onto a wood surface the best prevention we can recommend is using a very high quality beeswax and carnauba wax polish.

The special recipe we have developed over many years in our own furniture restoration workshop maximises the properties of these two natural waxes to create the best natural sacrificial coating for your wood.

Apple says that “It can be caused by the oils diffusing between the silicone base and the table surface.”

Our Gilboy’s Gold range of polishes are very easy to apply to all surfaces. It will create a thin barrier to help prevent such chemical reactions and protect against fine scratches, so preserving the finish of the wood beneath it.

Apple also claims that “The marks will often go away after several days when the speaker is removed from the wooden surface.”

Are you prepared to risk it? What if the marks don't go away?

If the marks do wipe away as easy as they say it might, then I would suggest wiping them away with Gilboy’s Gold. We only use pure natural pine turpentine in our polishes. It is distilled from the sap of pine trees. So why not wipe the marks away at the same time as applying a protective natural wax coating. It’s very easy to apply.

Apple's support pages suggest “If the marks persist, clean the surface with the furniture manufacturer’s recommended cleaning process.”

If you still have the recommended cleaning process paperwork? It is unlikely you will have, especially if you are fortunate enough to own any antique or mid-century furniture. And what would it say? Clean with a clean damp cloth and immediately dry it with thoroughly. Not much help there.

Gilboy’s Gold is 100% silicone free and is created by hand in our workshop using the finest natural waxes from around the world. Gilboy’s Gold also further enhances the natural colour of the wood at the same time as shielding the surface from the atmosphere outside.

Our Polishing Kits have been assembled using the exact same materials we have been using in the French Polishing workshop for decades. We believe that this is the best way to protect and preserve your wood and in all honesty; there isn't a better product available in the world right now that can compete with it.

One more thing. I know its not Homepod related, but when you do polish and protect your furniture with Gilboy’s Gold, every single purchase comes with a box of sweet pea seeds for you to plant in the garden and grow... The bees will love them too! 

In most cases one single application of Gilboy’s Gold will last for many years.

Please don't just take our word for it... Read our reviews.

Gilboy’s Gold is entirely handmade in South Devon by real French Polishers using local beeswax from Buckfast Abbey.

 

Beeswax Polish in Jars	Complete Polishing Kits	1L Tins

Why is the Apple HomePod leaving white rings?

Apple say that it may be a reaction with the silicon and the polish.

Here’s what we think it may be:

Are the HomePod white rings caused by moisture?

For white ring marks to appear on furniture there has to be moisture present. The usual way this happens is when a hot cup or plate is placed on the surface and the heat energy drives  moisture into the surface where it gets trapped leaving a white bloom of water. We see this  as a white ring mark. The same problem often also occurs when flower vases are left directly on the surface where water can either seep through the vase or when watered the spillages are unnoticed as it flows down the sides and capillary action draws the water under the vase base unseen by the person watering.

The professional way to remove white rings or blooms can be seen here:

Does the Apple HomePod have water trapped in it’s silicon base?

I very much doubt this is the case. How can a dry silicon have moisture in it? Or maybe it attracts moisture? No, I’m sure the multi billion dollar company that is apple will have tested the rubber base before launching its HomePod so I am sure we can rule out moisture rings or water blooming.

2) Does the HomePod secrete an oil or chemical from the rubber base?

Again I find this highly unlikely but from what I have seen and read it appears this may be the case. For a physical chemical reaction to happen I would normally suggest that the surface it has been placed upon would be non cured, ie. still ‘wet’. The majority of finishes applied to furniture in normal atmospheric conditions will cure within a few hours of being applied and once dry will not normally react with any other substances unless it is a strong chemical like nail polish remover, or a very powerful solvent. If there was an oil or silicone residue on the homepod base I would have thought it would have to be quite concentrated and volatile.

Oils are not known to me to be volatile and corrosive in the way we are seeing with the HomePod. I have never seen anything like this before.

We often use a mineral oil when we are french polishing and in considerable quantities when we are dulling a finish. It is wiped away at the time of application and we have not witnessed a milky white residue unlike the HomePod base which it does appear to do in some cases.


Does the Homepod leave scratches on the surface caused by the base itself?

Could this also be happening. The HomePod stands on a silicon rubber base which is attached to the speaker itself, probably in a very similar way to the Sonos speaker. If this silicon or rubber base is only just ever so slightly harder than needed then maybe the unit itself will start to vibrate. Certainly at increased volumes with enhanced bass music or sounds this will really make the unit want to vibrate.

If the vibration is not sufficiently absorbed by the rubber stand on the Homepod then the silicon stand will also start to vibrate which in turn will leave micro scratches on the surface of some finishes. These small scratches may appear as white rings or watermarks but they are really fine micro scratches in the surface.


Why does the HomePod mark some finishes and not others?

It will very much depend on the type of finish it is placed upon, Lacquer, Oil, (there are many different types of oil finishes), french polish, cellulose, wax-oil, wax, melamine, etc. and also the gloss level of the finish. The higher the gloss level the more likely you are to see the scratches, if this is the case

I have read in some cases the marks have disappeared after a few days? The only way I can make sense of this is; if the speaker was placed on a damp surface and the moisture was pressured or absorbed into the finish as I described above.

Or there is some sort of chemical reaction happening with the silicon base and the finish it is sitting on.

From the images that I have seen it very much looks like a milky moisture bloom. It will also explain why the marks disappear after a few days due to evaporation.

** Older lacquer and some french polished finishes do tend to get harder over the years which makes them more resistant to moisture and heat rings.

From other articles I’ve read, ‘rubbing the surface removed the white rings’. This may work by just wiping the surface a few times with a cloth. Again it really will depend on the finish but buffing the surface will drive a little heat into the finish accelerating the evaporation.

It also could work by doing the same rubbing action on fine scratches, similar to that of when you use your finger to wipe away a fine hedge scratch off the paintwork of your car.

The correct way to care for your wood surface and help prevent this sort of damage is by applying a really good wax polish, one with a very high content of natural waxes that will create a barrier between the finish or bare wood and the outside world.

Do not use spray polishes! It will only be successful for a few hours. Even if it says NON SILICONE. There is no magic protection or apple HomePod scratching solution going to come out of a spray can. It may even be the cause of some of the white rings, the chemicals in spray polishes reacting with the silicon rubber.

By using a really good beeswax polish it will create a sacrificial protective layer to the finish which can only help prevent this sort of damage happening again. I’m not saying that a wax polish is the cure but that is what its purpose is: To act as a sacrificial coating that enhances the natural colour and patina of the wood and to protect it or the finish it is being applied to.

If nothing seems to work and the marks are still there then I would suggest seeking professional help from a French Polisher or hiding it with a Sonos speaker!

Simon Gilboy

Managing Director
Gilboy's Professional Furniture Restorers & French Polishers

 

Beeswax Polish in Jars	Complete Polishing Kits	Tins for Professionals

Gilboy's MD, Simon explains how and why Gilboy's Gold was developed and we list the 10 reasons why it is incontestably the best beeswax wood polish that money can buy.