The fog you are seeing is from the spray stuff clouding the wax on the surface of the piece.
Was the Magic red stuff" Old English" polish, put out by a furniture store? I think it was just an oil polish.
I use Weiman's furniture cream...comes in a squeeze bottle and also in a spray can.
My cleaning lady would like to use Endust or Orange Glo....if I would let her!
I really prefer just using a microfiber cloth for weekly dustings....and a polish about every 3 months.
Linda C

The magic red stuff is called "Black's" Orignial Antique Blend Furniture Polish since 1929

Blacks Products, High Point, NC

It's claims: Cleans & Waxes, No wax build up, covers scratches, no silicone, polishes, protects.

Can I have her use the Weimans Furniture cream in the spray can the way she wants to use the endust/pledge etc?

I originally tried to have her use the furniture oil on the "nice" wood and endust or whatever on the stuff I don't care about -- but that didn't work (hey at least she is better than the cleaning lady I had that used windex on everything . . . glass, wood, books didn't matter) So, it needs to be a single product recommendation.

thanks

Well...I wouldn't want her to use it on windows or glass....but I don't think it'll do much harm to any wood furniture.
It says on my can "lemon oil containing sun screens".
And she's probably better than my cleaning lady that stole $10,000 worth of my jewelry, one bracelet at a time!!!
Cheers!
Linda C

In my opinion your seeing a wax build up.
LESS IS BETTER ! There are products in the spray waxes that besides make your furiniture feel "smooth" also break down your finish.
Did you ever notice chair arms or the top back of that chair ,it feels sticky ? That's from that chair having been waxed once a week for it's entire life and the oils in our bodies having broken down the finish.
When a piece leaves my shop it's "rubbbed" with a 0000 fine steel wool and waxed with a spray wax( we use guardsman ). There is not a special wax to use, but to do it correctly you need to buff it like you would your car. Spray the wax on, rub it in with one rag and then with a dry white t-shirt buff/polish the finish. On a flat surface your shoulder should hurt when your finished. Your creating friction with that dry t-shirt and bringing up or down the sheen based on your desired look.

Stay away from all of those "snake oils" . If you have a good finish your really not doing the piece any good by rubbing a paste or liquid on the "top" of that finish.

just my 2 cents :)

That's the thing -- I do have really nice finishes -- but there is a communication issue in addition to a mindset -- so I feel like I "need" to give her a product and say "clean all wood furniture with this" I have never used pledge and other spray products (then again I don't usually clean my wood furniture every two weeks :-)

What I thought to do was have her dust with whatever she was using and then I would use the oil as needed when things looked dry. But now I am seeing this film and the wood looks dried out and I am going to scream if all these beautiful finishes are ruined in order to have a convenience in my life (and with 4 kids I would really like to have this cleaning lady convenience).

Guardsman is an oil polish. While I don't think it will cloud a real carnauba wax coating, It might....depends on the solvent.
Pledge leaves no "wax" finish...I believe it has a silicone in it which leaves a shine but clouds the wax beneath.
A good coating with a hard wax like carnauba can last for years, when properly applied and not cleaned with anything that will cloud it.
I would rather she use nothing more than a cloth on the furniture that has been waxed, but she doesn't understaht, the table gets dry cloth, the chairs get a cleaner....So I compromise with something that does no harm.
The sticky film on the chair arms is not wax but the laquer finish that has broken down due to contact with body oils.
Linda C

1. Guardsman is NOT an oil polish , it's a spray wax just like Pledge and Favor ( with Silicon in it ). Maybe you're thinking of Old English scratch cover poilish which is definately oil based.

2. Using a carnuba wax or a paste type wax is a nightmare on any "open" grain finish. The wax will dry in the lower points of the grain and eventually turn white. You'll never be able to polish it out. It's wrong for an open grain finish .

3.The sticky film on the chair arms is not wax but the laquer finish that has broken down due to contact with body oils. 4. If your finish has truely gotten cloudy,it likely has not happened "on the surface" . Short of refinishing the piece or maybe cleaning it with mineral spirits ,lightly scuffing it and then spraying a fresh finish,you're not going to remove the haze with an over the counter "snake oil" type of product.

ok -- so I want to stay with an oil (like I have always used -- maybe lemon oil?) and just convince my cleaning lady that this is what she should use on wood and forget about any spray because they are all "bad"????

Btw the finish is not ruined on anything (yet) I am just getting worried that we are heading in that direction.

thanks

Stocky....no you didn't "just say that"...you intimated that the break down was due to wax causing trhe skin oils to break down the finish.
As for Guardsman being a spray containing silicone....I rest my case....check the link.
Linda C

Here is a link that might be useful: Guardsman polish.

Rest your case somewhere else. You assumed what I was using .
http://www.thefurnitureconnoisseur.com/store/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=214

The break down of a finish is due to a number of things,major contributing factors being the chemicals that make up the wax as well as the oils in our body.
If you think that it' soley based on the oils in our body,your mistaken.

I use those dusters pledge has one.I dont use spray.Sometimnes I use endust on rag but usually the soft dusters.

I use plain lemon oil on my antique furniture, rub in and buff with a soft cloth. Then just dust in between. The woman who repairs and restores antique furniture that I go to recommends that and so far my furniture looks great year after year.

Julie