Wax On, Wax Off
It all started when I was bullied at school by a gang of privileged students from the Cobra Kai Karate Dojo. That is, until I met Mr Miyagi and started doing chores for him, like washing his car and painting the fence...
Oh wait...that's someone else’s story.
My story began when I decided to make candles. I like to think that eventually Selby & Leo will grow into a cool lifestyle brand. Something like Seth Rogen's HOUSEPLANT...just without the weed smoking theme...
So my idea was to make candles for men, using manly fragrances, like woody smells, mixed with whiskey, leather and cigar smoke – that kinda thing.
Equipment and supplies were purchased and I got to work; experimenting for probably about a year and a half. I never officially launched the Selby & Leo men's candle range, because although the candle fragrance additives promise a scent that will transport you to another place – no matter what I did, I never felt transported to my imaginary gentleman's den from the 1980's. Instead, everything just seemed like a different variation of Eau de toilette – or what I refer to as bathroom smell – more Glade than Old Spice.
For example, take the Camphor Wood fragrance oil. In my mind, what I wanted was that heavenly woody scent I used to get when I opened my sisters old Camphor hope chest. But instead, the Camphor Fragrance smelled more like pine needles. Great, if you're trying to make a Christmas tree candle...but you won't get a candle, that with a few extra hints of manly sounding scents, you can call Cigar Box.
I even considered purchasing some lab equipment glassware and a Bunsen burner to attempt distilling my own fragrances. But I just couldn't convince myself to pull the trigger, because it was quite pricey and it probably wouldn't suddenly turn me into an artisan perfumer from the famous French village of Grasse. There's still a jar of red cedar wood-chips sitting in my workshop, soaking in pure alcohol - this is called the steeping method of distillation. After about 2 years, guess what it smells like? Pure alcohol, without even the slightest hint of cedar. In fact one whiff of the stuff makes me feel light headed.
It's safe to say that for now, my manly candles are a bust.
However, all that experimenting was not in vein.
One day, while I was finishing one of my wood products (probably an Edison lamp) with overpriced wax. I began to wonder…”What if I could make my own wood wax?”
A bit of research made me realise, that using some of the same equipment I already had for candle making; it was possible to make a simple beeswax wood finish.
Now, some might buy beeswax pellets and some Jojoba carrier oil (this is to stop the wax reforming into a solid block) from the candle supplies place. Which is fine. But I'm not that person.
I found a beekeeper supplier that sells capping wax from beehives in big solid blocks and I used mineral oil as a carrier - this is what many woodworkers use as an oil for chopping boards. Plus I also added my own little flourish of secret ingredients.
After some trial and error, I had something that worked very nicely as a finish for my woodwork. So I decided to turn it into an official Selby & Leo product.
And the rest is history. You can get your own tin of Selby & Leo Beeswax here. It's a great product to use on all your wooden furniture and is also used by woodworkers and wood turners.
In the words of Mr Miyagi - “To make honey, young bee need young flower, not old prune.”
Perhaps not relevant to this story, but he did mention honey and bees...so I'm going to go with it - With Selby & Leo Beeswax, you can turn your wooden furniture from old prune to young flower...
