Rejuvinating EEE-Ultra Shine Polish
Peter Toch
Recently after a long turning session making pens I called it a night and forgot to put the lid back onto my jar of EEE-Ultra Shine Polish and left it opened for several days. The result was that the paste consistency had dried out to yield a hard cake which was unusable in the usual manner. By consulting the manufacturer's website I learned that the dried out paste could be restored to its usable state by adding some turpentine, heat it in a hot water bath until the product melts, and then let it cool while stirring with a non-metallic stirrer until it thickens to the point where the abrasive would not settle out. While this procedure is well within my skill set as I'm a retired research chemist, there is one thing that bothered me about doing this. As trivial as it may sound, I didn't want to destroy the paper label on the jar while heating it in the hot water bath to get the wax to melt. So to get around this I took an alternative approach. I added about 2 tablespoons of turpentine to the nearly full jar of EEE, screwed on the lid firmly, and let it sit for 3-4 days. Upon opening the jar I found that the turpentine had defused evenly throughout the wax and returned it to its original consistency. The amount of turpentine to be added will depend on how much EEE is in the jar, how dried out it is, and how "soft" do you want the paste to be. If unsure of how much turpentine to add, suggest you start with just a little and see what you get. You can always add some more to suit your needs. This method does take a bit of time, but zero effort. Just a tidbit.
Thanks, Peter Toch
