Product Review

From the manufacturer: OSMO Polyx-Oil (the original Hardwax Oil) is our favorite floor finish and is made from natural oils and waxes. Key ingredients in Hardwax Oil include sunflower, soybean and thistle oil, plus two hard, natural waxes-carnauba and candelilla. A Brazilian palm tree, Copernica cerifera, produces the carnauba in its leaves, berries and stalks. Villagers cut down fronds, dry them for several days, and then beat off the wax. The candelilla comes from the outer coating on a desert shrub, Euphorbia antisyphiliti, that grows in northern Mexico. Farmers boil the leaves and stems with water and acid to release the wax. This is an oil-based product. Like most finishes-even water-based ones-it needs a solvent to perform properly. OSMO uses the safest one that works with oil-based finishes: benzene-free, low-odor mineral spirits. This is an aliphatic petroleum distillate, which means it is a petroleum product that has its carbon atoms arranged in open chains instead of rings. The more toxic, aromatic or ring hydrocarbons have been removed, resulting in a milder odor.