RIP Johnsons Paste Wax

[Dan_Shade]

What's poisonous in the minwax wax? 

[SwampDonkey]

Not sure Dan, but the can is labelled with the skull and cross bones symbol and poisonous marked on it.

[SwampDonkey]

Picture for clarity.

[Dan_Shade]

The msds lists hydrocarbons.

[21incher]

I checked the suppler at work.
Item has been discontinued.
None of the other 9 stores have ever sold it.

Thanks for checking  ray. It's sold out everywhere I checked around here.  Time to move on.

Picture for clarity.

That must be so people don't use it on their toast like butter 😮.  They keep outlawing my favorite  things but do nothing about fentanyl that is a real killer. Just think in 13 years we won't  be able to buy anything with internal combustion engines. They will all have been discontinued 😟.  

[DMcCoy]

I saw the title and thought you must be joking.
When will .gov be listed as hazardous to your health, they seem to cause a lot more problems than paste wax.
<Trying hard to NOT be a grumpy old man>

[Don P]

The msds lists hydrocarbons.

My guess would be naptha.
If you're trying a homebrew, somebody was asking about limonene yesterday for a finish solvent, basically its the equivalent of turpentine from citrus peels. 
Back when our sammiches were wrapped in wax paper it got used on the saw or whatever after lunch, plastic probably wasn't an improvement there. 

[Old saw fixer]

The msds lists hydrocarbons.

My guess would be naptha.
If you're trying a homebrew, somebody was asking about limonene yesterday for a finish solvent, basically its the equivalent of turpentine from citrus peels.
Back when our sammiches were wrapped in wax paper it got used on the saw or whatever after lunch, plastic probably wasn't an improvement there.

We used to sit on the wax paper to go faster down the sliding board at recess!

[SwampDonkey]

Years ago, you could get waxed cardboard. It was used at butcher shops. My mother and uncle used that to slide on, in snow conditions.

[YellowHammer]

Times have changed.  Paste wax with a skull and crossbones.  

My motor oil doesn't have a skull and crossbones on it and neither does my spray can of WD40.  I guess they are not fire hazards.....

[petefrom bearswamp]

No luck here at Lowes or another building supply.
Got a couple of smaller ones I may try that may have some left.
The guy at lowes put it in his inventory gadget and it came up on line only.
Tried that and no luck.
Another site said you could get it directly from Johnson's no luck there either
Im thinking maybe it is not the nanny state's doing but perhaps simple economics,
Maybe even if 1 percent of the population is woodworkers, which I doubt,and used it which I doubt.
3,300,000 cans at 6 or 7 bucks retail is a drop in the bucket in the scheme of things today.
I'm sitting here fat dumb and happy with 3/4 of a can thank goodness, and at my age it will probably outlast me.
Im going to read the Johnson's  label tomorrow just for kicks.

[melezefarmer]

Looks like it was discontinued by SC Johnson due to its high volatile organic content (voc) which are carcinogens (I had to look it up).

My sawmill bed is made of galvanized metal. The edge areas have a bit of surface rust. Would applying a paste wax be a good way to prevent or slow down rust or will I was to apply it ever few days?

[tule peak timber]

Naphtha component. We can still buy bricks of beeswax. Sometimes we heat and mix with food grade mineral oil for cutting boards. You might try hardwax oil or even tung oil on metal surfaces. LPS 3 was my favorite on my boats. Boesheild T 9 also very good. I also sell an aqueous solution of Carnauba for wood maintenance over hardwax oils but I wouldn't use it on metal.

I will add that paraffin is still readily available along with surfboard wax (Zogg's sex wax) car waxes (blue coral Meguires, turtle,) Bowling Lane wax and on and on. Every time the government steps in there is an opportunity for business to counter. There are wood guys bottling their own label of waxes using simple formulas and making money. Opportunity knocks ........ ;D

[Larry]

The edge areas have a bit of surface rust. Would applying a paste wax be a good way to prevent or slow down rust or will I was to apply it ever few days?

After a day of sawing, if I wasn't going to use the mill for a few days I would wipe on a coat of Johnson's using a Scotchbrite pad on the rails.  Don't wipe it off or buff.  This would keep the rails from rusting for maybe a month....don't think I've ever went longer than that of not using my mill.  The wax also helped to keep the rails clean when sawing.

SwampDonkey, we can't get that good stuff here.  No skulls and cross bones.  Standard California warning on the back, something about you might grow horns iffen you eat to much. ???

[metalspinner]

But did anyone else notice the "natural" tag on Swampdonkey's picture? Right next to the skull and crossbones? :D :D

[teakwood]

This is news to me.  I used to get it for $6 and I just checked on Amazon, now it's at $36 and only 1 left.  I've been using this for years and it's been available for decades.  If course its being discontinued, even paste wax isn't safe.  

Does anybody know why?  I am also interested in alternatives.

Ahhhh, that must be the one I bought, I wondered why I had to pay 37$ and 15$ to ship to Costa rica .
The can lasts me about 3 years and I do wax the tables alot.

[teakwood]

SwampDonkey, we can't get that good stuff here.  No skulls and cross bones.  Standard California warning on the back, something about you might grow horns iffen you eat to much.


:D :D :D I almost woke up my GF who is sleeping beside me because I had a good laugh with this comment,  lol. I'm in Switzerland with a jetlag

[doc henderson]

none at ace.  you can get it on amazon and Walmart.  have to order it, and it is 35 bucks +.  how bad do you want it. 

[Dan_Shade]

Do the car waxes have silicone? 

[doc henderson]

I think some do.  may have to read or make your own.  look for the basic stuff.  

[Ed]

Butchers bowling alley wax is the same dang thing.....

Ed

[SwampDonkey]

CDN$83 a 1 lb can on Amazon. :D

[SwampDonkey]

Some waxes are food grade, others not. Thus the poison label. I don't really see it as some kind of a joke. What about the fellow that doesn't bother to distinguish or get informed because he heard it 3rd hand that it's all good, but all he really heard was a brand name that offers 2 or more formulations with only one of them food grade. :

[21incher]

Butchers bowling alley wax is the same dang thing.....

Ed

I tried that once and it has a turpentine  smell that takes days to go away.  The Johnson's wax odor is gone in a couple  hours. Definitely not the same. I think they use turpentine instead of naphtha.  

[YellowHammer]

Here's the issue I have with it....Johnson's Paste Wax was used on this bench that's been in our showroom for years.  I put a couple coats of Boiled Linseed Oil (probably illegal now), a few coats of Johnson Paste Wax and had this piece finished and ready in one afternoon, from start to finish.  I have been offered several thousand dollar for it (would not sell) because it is a fundamental illustrative point for me when I tell people the differences between real high quality hardwood and crappy box store lumber.  

"Look, with a little oil, a couple coats of wax, and done.  Let the beauty of the wood do it's thing, don't use all those modern finishes on that are designed to make ugly wood look good, use a simple finish that makes a great piece of wood look better."  This bench has had a thousand butts sit on it, we use it for a workbench, my dog sits on it, and it still looks brand new after about 5 years.

In contrast, right next to it, is a bench finished with modern Minwax Poly.  It has had the same number of butts sit on it, and the finish looks absolutly terrible.  It's scratched, gouged, milky in some place and when compared to the Johnson Wax finish, looks like it should be tossed into the fire pit.  Two different styles of finishes, two completely different long tern durability results.

I use both these benches as an illustrative lesson to furniture making newbies that come to our showroom to purchase wood to teach them that old school methods in many way beats modern methods of wood finishing and tell them "When using old school wood, use old school techniques and finishes, it's cheaper, it's easier, and looks way better and lasts longer."  Many people are also intimidated by the complexity of modern finishes and and tell me they are nervous about the complication and preparation necessary, whereas when I tell them how easy a wax coat is, they visibly relax and spend a few hundered to thousand bucks on my wood, knowing that they will be able to make it look exceptional, using very easy techniques.  End of lesson to them.  Then they ask where to get the stuff and I say "Lowes, linseed oil is $6 and Johnson Paste Was is $6, so for under $15 you can get a finish like this, and it will last for years."  

So now I have to add "Oh yeah, this wax that has been around for generations has now been canceled because it a fire hazard, unlike the wood that it's been applied to.  I wonder when they will outlaw wood because it's a fire hazard and put me out of business?"

I understand high VOC's but any solvent based formula will have those, and those flash off during cure, which happens very quickly.  So when will they outlaw gasoline?  Not only does it have very high VOC's but also trace Benzene, which a proven carcinogen.  I haven't seen any skull and crossbones on my local fuel pumps.

I have tried alternative "easy to get" wax finishes and haven't seen anything as effective or  durable.  I need to be able to tell people to go to Lowes or Home Depot and get an equivalent.  I haven't found one yet.  

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