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Homemade Furniture Polish Recipe | How to Make DIY Wood Polish at Home

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Cleaning Tips· Essential Oils

16 Oct

Learn how to make homemade furniture polish with this easy, 3 ingredient recipe that restores wood furniture in seconds.

Homemade Furniture Polish in bowl with towel and bottle of essential oil
 

I have tried quite a few DIY cleaning recipes over the past decade. While most turn out well, only a handful rise to the description of “jaw-dropper”, and this homemade furniture polish is one of them. You can whip up a batch is less than a minute and the results are stunning; as you will see below.

What You Need to Make Homemade Furniture Polish

Items needed to make DIY Wood Polish: jojoba oil, vinegar and lemon essential oil
 

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Ingredients Needed to Make DIY Wood Polish

  • Olive Oil or Jojoba Oil– Oil moisturizes dry wood, which keeps it from cracking. While I have used olive oil when making this wood polish in the past, I recently learned that jojoba oil has a much longer shelf-life, so we’re going with that for this post
  • Vinegar– Vinegar will actually help clean the wood as you polish it
  • Lemon Essential Oil-There’s a reason lemon oil is often added to furniture polish; not only does it smell good, it also helps clean and shine dull surfaces.

Supplies Needed for Homemade Furniture Polish

  • Cleaning Cloth– Flour Sack Cloths also work really well. That’s what I used.

How to Make Your Own DIY Wood Polish

The following recipe makes 1 cup of furniture polish, using a ratio of 3 parts oil to 1 part vinegar. Feel free to adjust the amount for your specific needs, making sure to keep the 3:1 ratio of oil to vinegar.

Start by mixing together 3/4 cup of olive oil or jojoba oil with 15 drops lemon essential oil.

Adding lemon essential oil to DIY Furniture Polish
 

Once combined, stir in 1/4 cup vinegar.

Adding Vinegar to Homemade Furniture Polish
 

How to Use DIY Furniture Polish

Prior to using any cleaning product, whether homemade or store-bought, test a small amount in an inconspicuous area to make sure there are no unwanted changes. Please see our disclaimer for more information.

To use homemade wood polish, simply dip a cleaning cloth into the mixture and apply it to your wood furniture. If you notice the surface is a bit oily, take a clean, dry towel and wipe off any excess polish.

Applying Homemade Wood Polish to wood hutch
 

Results of Using Homemade Wood Polish: Before & After

To be honest, I don’t have a ton of wood furniture in my house, however, I have an old hutch out in our garage that’s awaiting a makeover. It was the perfect piece to try out this homemade furniture polish recipe.

Here is what the hutch looked like after I cleaned off the dust, but before using the polish.

Wood Hutch prior to applying DIY Furniture Polish
 

And here’s a picture in the middle of the process. It shows how dry the wood was prior to applying the DIY wood polish.

Wood drawer showing how well DIY Wood Polish works
 

Here’s the side by side of the before and after.

Results of homemade furniture polish before and after
 

Years ago, I took some pictures of an old table I had inherited from my grandfather. I tried this furniture polish recipe back then (using olive oil) and I couldn’t believe the difference!

Wood Table Before and After using Homemade Furniture Polish
 

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Common Questions About Homemade Furniture Polish

Does Homemade Wood Polish Expire?

Homemade furniture polish will go bad over time if it contains olive oil, which is perishable. The shelf-life of olive oil (once opened) is about 6 months. I would strongly suggest using up any wood polish you have made within that timeframe (even less if you are using an already-opened bottle of olive oil). I have found the best thing to do is make the amount of DIY Furniture Polish you intend to use to avoid leftovers. As mentioned above, you can substitute the olive oil with jojoba oil as it has a much longer shelf life, ranging from 2-5 years.

Can I Use This Wood Polish Recipe on Cutting Boards?

Whether using jojoba oil or olive oil in your furniture polish recipe, it is not recommended for use on cutting boards. Jojoba oil is typically not a food-grade oil and olive oil can go rancid over time, affecting the flavor of your food. According to Better Homes & Gardens, it is best to apply a mineral oil designed specifically for use on cutting boards.

Homemade Furniture Polish in bowl with towel and bottle of essential oil

Homemade Furniture Polish Recipe

This DIY Wood Polish is made with 3 natural ingredients to restore wood furniture in seconds
Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Ingredients
  

  • ¾ Cup Jojoba Oil Or Olive Oil
  • ¼ Cup Vinegar
  • 15 Drops Lemon Essential Oil

Supplies

  • Mixing Bowl & Spoon
  • Cleaning Cloth or Towel

Instructions
 

  • Mix ¾ Cup Jojoba Oil (or Olive Oil) with 15 drops Lemon Essential Oil
  • Stir in ¼ cup vinegar
  • Apply to wood furniture with a cleaning cloth and wipe excess polish off after application
 

Love it? Pin it!

Results of homemade furniture polish before and after
 
Before and after of wood drawer clean with a DIY Wood Furniture Polish

11 Comments

« Fox 9 Good Day | Fall Cleaning Tips
How to Clean A Wood Cutting Board »

Comments

  1. y2MATE says

    December 13, 2024 at 3:52 AM

    I love this homemade furniture polish recipe! It’s great to see a natural alternative to commercial products. Can’t wait to try it out with my old wooden furniture. Thanks for sharing such a simple and effective solution!

    Reply
  2. Furniture Polish says

    November 18, 2024 at 1:02 PM

    It was very helpful I really appreciated .

    Reply
  3. Vicki says

    May 18, 2021 at 7:25 PM

    Since olive oil is perishable and can turn rancid, I would think it would eventually cause the wood to smell bad. Have you experienced this?

    Reply
  4. Becky says

    May 11, 2021 at 7:54 PM

    Since Olive Oil is a perishable food substance, why would you not use mineral oil, since this is considered a wood treatment? Just curious

    Reply
  5. Deb says

    February 25, 2021 at 6:46 PM

    Tried this today on my oak kitchen cabinet doors. It worked well on the knicks and steam marks. As you said, it darkened down the marks, but with oak it doesn’t matter a bit. Thanks for the tip!

    Reply
  6. Sandy says

    April 16, 2016 at 6:29 PM

    I have tried this myself – using lemon oil instead of olive oil. Unfortunately the drier areas and water marks came back. Did you have this problem too? What did you do to solve it?

    Reply
    • Erin says

      April 18, 2016 at 1:41 PM

      Hi Sandy!
      Thanks for the question. While I can certainly can see where the stains had been, they never came back looking a terrible as before, so I left them as is. If they are truly watermarks (white rings from moisture) my mom used to use toothpaste on them. I know, sounds so weird that I actually googled it before leaving this comment. Turns out, it actually can work… here’s a website with several ideas you could try: http://www.bobvila.com/articles/how-to-remove-water-stains-from-wood/#.VxUqDPkrLtQ

      Good luck!

      Reply
  7. Karen says

    March 15, 2016 at 8:52 AM

    I’ve tried rubbing the stains and scratches with the meat of a walnut. Disappears those marks and doesn’t leave them darker. Just like new

    Reply
  8. Ellen from Ask Away says

    October 7, 2015 at 7:12 AM

    Definitely gonna try this! Thank you!
    XO Ellen from Ask Away
    http://www.askawayblog.com

    Reply
    • Erin says

      October 8, 2015 at 7:26 AM

      You’re welcome Ellen!

      Reply
      • Nancy says

        January 23, 2021 at 7:09 PM

        Someone said to place an old light colored towel over the stains and use a steam iron.

        Reply

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Hi there! I'm Erin. Welcome to Lemons, Lavender & Laundry, where we believe that creating a clean home should be done as simply and naturally as possible. [Read More...]

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