Hard wax oil

[MattF]

Not oft I'll say this, but I'm with @gaz1 on this one. IMHO, you can't beat plain old beeswax polish for simplicity & maintainability.

 

[angellonewolf]

The problem with wire wool is its tendency to leave tiny fragments everywhere. Not something I'd personally ever use on wood.

the bits that come off are taken off with a buffing every coat

try it comes up realy well and smooth i only started with wax as varnish takes way longer to get a nice smooth finsh varish wait to dry then light sand or and x amount of coats takes ages you can do a few coats of wax in a few hours inc drying times

 

[jo1010]

The problem with wire wool is its tendency to leave tiny fragments everywhere. Not something I'd personally ever use on wood.

Would a stainless steel brush do better at getting deeper into the wood (I need something to get into deeper distressed pores in this surface previously varnished)..