6 Best DIY Natural Wood Polish Recipes

DIY natural wood polish will not only save you money, but also help keep your home looking great without the use of caustic chemicals.

Did you know that the vast majority of commercial furniture polish products on the market not only release a haze of aerosol fumes but also aren’t always safe to use around kids and pets? Let’s skip that, shall we?

These DIY recipes will work wonders on your wooden furniture and floors and some even have natural disinfectant properties.

You only need a small amount to make them work wonders. Plus, most if not all of the ingredients needed to make these natural wood cleaner recipes are likely already sitting in a cabinet on your homestead.

I have used just straight mineral oil to clean wood for years, since making the switch from Pledge and Murphy’s Oil type products. It works really well, but the surface of the wood remains tacky for quite a while after an application – no matter how hard you rub it in.

During my quest to find a better, yet still natural wood polish, I came across three recipes that work really well on any type of wood – and cost only a few dimes to make.

Spray the above mixture onto the wood and rub the mixture in with a cotton cloth – or dip a cloth into the mixture and rub into the grain of the wood.

DIY Wood Polish Recipe #4

If you’re looking for a homemade furniture polish that polishes while adding a natural protective coating to the wood surface, using jojoba oil is the way to go.

Unlike using a cup of olive oil, using jojoba oil instead is better because it is a wax, not an oil. So you won’t have that greasy residue when you wipe and you definitely won’t have any residue or an excess layer of gunk left behind.

Here’s how to make it.

DIY Wood Polish Recipe #5

Apple cider vinegar is another helpful ingredient when you’re making your own furniture police. It cuts through all kinds of grease and grime and also serves as a mild disinfectant.

It’s ideal for dark wood finishes and contains no synthetic fragrances. ACV is just as effective as your favorite commercial polish – but with no harmful chemicals.

Here’s an original recipe to try.

DIY Wood Polish Recipe #5

In this DIY furniture polish, you’ll use whole lemons (you can also use an equal part lemon juice, but I find that whole lemons are more effective) to give your furniture the luster you’ve been looking for!

Here’s the recipe to follow.

DIY Wood Polish Recipe #6

This natural homemade polish reminds me so much of Pine Sol it’s not even funny! If you’re looking for something that delivers all the bang for your store bought buck – but without having to actually buy wood polish at the store – I recommend this recipe that has sweet scents of pine. You can also sub out cedar oil if you’d like instead.

One note though – if you have pets, avoid using this essential oil recipe, since pine (along with other essential oils like eucalyptus, sweet birch, peppermint, and orange oil aren’t always safe for them when consumed).

Here’s a recipe.

DIY Wood Polish Recipe #7

Beeswax is another great ingredient to consider using when it comes to making homemade cleaning products and wood furniture polish recipes.

This one has just two ingredients and takes less than 15 minutes to make.

Here is one of my favorite natural furniture polish recipes to use. It is also great on wood floors!

Let’s Put the Wood Polish to the Test!

I made a half batch of natural wood polish recipe #1 and #2 for the test. The amount I made would fill a red SOLO cup about half way full.

The screen left side of the liquor cabinet door was naturally polished with the distilled white vinegar, olive oil, and lemon essential oil (Recipe #1). It gave a wonderful shine that it still holds, but took longer to dry than the screen right door panel.

The right side of the liquor cabinet was polished with the distilled white vinegar, coconut oil, and lemon essential oil recipe (Recipe #2).

Personally, I prefer the screen on the right panel. Even though it is not as glossy as the left, a lot more of the wood grain is now highlighted. I believe I get better results when I leave the coconut oil in a state halfway between a solid and a liquid instead of using a pure liquid version of the oil as the recipe recommends.

Once the liquor cabinet door dried completely, the screen left side was still more shiny, but a bit more of the wood grain was picked up.

The bottom portion of the liquor cabinet doors did not receive any of the DIY natural wood polish.

To show you how far that little bit of DIY natural wood polish went (took me less than 2 minutes to mix up) I will share some photos of my kitchen.

I used the coconut oil based natural wood polish on this section of my kitchen – the bottom and top cabinet doors, the counter top, backsplash, the small window, the microwave stand countertop, my kitchen table and chair tops, the rest of the liquor cabinet, as well as a small wood table in the living room.

I used the olive oil based natural wood polish on the smaller section of cabinets and countertops on the other side of my kitchen.

Even though this part of the kitchen provided a smaller surface to polish, the olive oil based recipe was all gone by the time I was done.

Because I like the results of the coconut oil based natural wood polish slightly more than the olive oil and it goes more than twice as far, I believe it is what I will be mixing up to clean my woodwork, cabinetry, and furniture from now on.

You can also use this natural wood polish on cutting boards, wood decor, and even real hardwood floors. Because it contains vinegar, you get the added bonus of naturally disinfecting the wood in your home you polish.

Depending on what brand of essential oils you purchase, each of these three wood polish recipes should only cost about $1.5 to make, enough to do a typical living room full of furniture.