Painting over exposed beams that we're waxed

[smithgt]

Twenty five years ago I used beeswax on the exposed beams in a couple of room in my house. They've not been touched since, but now I want to paint them (Matt) white along with the entire ceiling.
I'm planning on using some Zinsser 1-2-3 to prime them first - will this be sufficient?

They are still the original sawn timber joists, so not the smoothest of surfaces.

Thanks

 

[Tigercubrider]

I would have thought that perhaps a rag with solvent would remove the wax?

 

[opps]

No paint will not pass the fingernail test.

The Zinsser will "adhere" to the wax though. I assume that no one is going to be touching them so you should be OK.

I recently misdiagnosed some wooden furniture as being varnished (well, the customer told me that they were varnished). I sanded first, applied WB primer and sprayed with 2K paint. Then noticed that nothing passed the fingernail test, so I sanded the whole lot back to the bare wood and washed it down with meths before repainting again.