Hmm, Ready, set, go:
- Hand rubbed shellac furniture, oil/varnish (Watco), or BLO/Danish Oil (Tried and True):
Murphy's oil soap, or Simple Green® Naturals Floor Care if severely dirty, to clean. Staples Bowling Alley wax or Renaissance Wax for 'spring cleaning'. Carnauba wax in both of them are most durable I have found.
http://www.hfstaples.com/staples-wax/
https://www.renaissancewaxes.com/
- Lacquer or Pre-cat Lacquer cabinets or furniture:
Murphy's oil soap, or Simple Green® Naturals Floor Care, Pledge furniture polish to maintain. Very low maintenance, will use Staples wax for scuff/scratch repair.
- Polyurethane Furniture:
Any old cleaner, like Fantastic or Multi-surface Windex, and wax is optional.
If gloss piece gets scuffed up, Staples Wax hides the damage very well. Poly is for kid safe furniture, and you expect it to get beat up; so using wax is rarely needed in my house.
-Oiled wood, AKA butcher block cutting boards, utensils, or serving ware: Refreshed with Howards Butcher Block Conditioner (or DIY mix of Beeswax/mineral oil) All my stuff in this group is initially finished with Tried and True Original wood Finish (Beeswax/BLO blend that helps seal wood pores). Clean with dish soap and water.
Wife uses Pledge or Endust as needed between any annual clean up/wax sessions on fixed pieces.
If any wood gets really dirty, or grease covered; the Naturals Floor Care, or one of several other 'natural' floor cleaners are used in our house on any wood with a 'light duty' finish. We use everything and anything as needed to clean heavy duty polyurethane finishes.
BTW: Most of the 'safe and natural' cleaners are diluted blend of alcohol, glycol/glycerin based soaps, maybe some terpinolene's (solvent commonly pulled from citrus fruit), with a dash of sodium hydroxide (lye), washing soda (sodium carbonate), and some weak 'fruit' acids as buffers to adjust the PH.
Undiluted these mixes will eat chrome off a steel bumper or etch steel/concrete; so be careful making your own. The only difference between natural stuff and others is the natural stuff biodegrades over time. But remember, they never tell how long it takes to return to nature!
So much joy found in chemistry. Lool
YMMV
