WD-40 use / don't use...

Uhm, yeah.
I took the article at the OP's link at face value, too.
I've used WD on things like bike chain, box fan motors, hinges, and so on. I don't lubricate my knives, period. If I get one seriously bxtched up, I take it apart and clean with rubbing alcohol for the steel, micarta, or ABS plastic. Anything else gets dish detergent, and it all gets dried immediately, and re-assembled once dry. The work knives get blown out with air pressure. I have always been concerned about the effects of petroleum-based lubes on rubber and soft plastics, and have never used them.

I read this same line about WD and associated products in an article published by a knife magazine. I don't remember if it was KI or Blade, but the story has been around for a while.
 
I used to use WD40 a lot, before I learned more. The general public thinks the stuff is the best spray lubricant and/or spray protector around, and the truth is completely opposite. The people making/promoting/selling this stuff have worked magic in the public's perception. There are very many products available at good hardware stores or sporting goods stores that will do a much better job at lubricating and at protecting. The one thing that WD40 does well, and why I continue to have it in my garage, is that it will help to displace water from things. If you get your carbon steel gear wet, you can douse it with WD40 then wipe it off and spray it with a good protector and you will be in good shape. Granted I have used WD40 in the past as a protector and it has worked well for that in our relatively dry climate, but I use much better products now. I have also used the stuff as a lubricant and I quickly noticed that it worked well for a few days then didn't work well. I have bought better lubricants now.

I was around a machinist one time and he had gallon cans of the stuff near his milling machine, and a small cup of it setting on the machine with a little brush in it. He used the stuff to lubricate metal that was being milled or drilled. I was about to educate him about the poor lubricating qualities of the stuff but it was working for him and he was a pretty opinionated guy so I didn't want to start a war and I didn't say anything.

I do recall hearing a story about WD40 containing some chlorinated compounds and Ruger firearms company banning it from their manufacturing facility because they thought it contributed to stress corrosion fracture in some of their stainless steel barrels. I don't know how true this was but it was from a reputable source.
 
NEVER use WD40 on sliding doors. use silicon. matter of fact dont ever use a petroleum based lubricant on sliding doors. it collects gunk and very hard to come off. learned this the hard way after replacing both wheels under our sliding glass door
 
I use WD-40 for squeaky door hinges and such, don't use it for my knives, guns or other toys.

As for WD-40, the squeaky hinge noises always come back after a time.
 
CWL said:
I use WD-40 for squeaky door hinges and such, don't use it for my knives, guns or other toys.

As for WD-40, the squeaky hinge noises always come back after a time.
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use a thicker oil. WD 40 sucks. granted i keep some around the house but normally i would go for the 3 in 1 oil before the WD 40..

oh some idiot on here put WD40 on his catfish bait.. i am still baffled someone would be that damn stupid to do stuff like that
 
I've seen an old timer use a squirt of WD-40 on his bait before. He was trying to be secretive and tried to hide doing it behind his back with a mini can of the stuff. If it works, great, but there's no need to try and hide it, we could all hear it being sprayed as well as the smell afterwards.

I suppose it does cover the scent of humans, but it didn't seem to me to work any better than none at all.
 
As a locksmith, I can't tell you how many times I'd have to go out on calls where the only thing the customer used was WD-40. NEVER USE IT IN A LOCK. It'll work in a pinch, but should always be followed up with Tri-Flow or SuperLube.

Good thread though!
 
I had someone tell me that WD40 caused varnishing in firearms. He didn't know I was an M60 gunner who used huge amounts of WD40 maintaining my "pig" through tens of thousands of rounds, in smoking hot barrels with nary a sign of varnishing. I've never taken the urban legend horror stories seriously about this product, though I've never found it to be exceptional. It worked and was inexpensive. Now I use Eezox since I live in Alaska and need something that provides a weatherproof barrier.
 
I prefer Starrett M1 Tool Oil. It works wonders on pivots. One of my Spyderco Super Blue Caly 3.5's was a little rough when I got it, a single drop made it super smooth.
 
Wyszrd said:
I had someone tell me that WD40 caused varnishing in firearms. He didn't know I was an M60 gunner who used huge amounts of WD40 maintaining my "pig" through tens of thousands of rounds, in smoking hot barrels with nary a sign of varnishing. I've never taken the urban legend horror stories seriously about this product, though I've never found it to be exceptional. It worked and was inexpensive. Now I use Eezox since I live in Alaska and need something that provides a weatherproof barrier.
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I have worked for gunsmith since I retired in 1994. I have seen a lot of guns with actions so gunked up with WD-40 that they wouldn't function. The varnishing doesn't happen quickly.
It happens over time when the gun is stored.

WD-40 is cheap and does a good job of removing sticky labels. I have seen much written about what it is made of. I suspect that it's mostly kerosene and mineral oil with a perfume
of some sort.

I worked for a major office machine company for 28 years. We were issued WD-40, but we soon realized that it was a good solvent, but a very poor lubricant and preservative. We used
it to clean chains and bearings and then lubed them with something else. Most of us used Break-Free until we were issued Tri-Flow.

BTW, a popular lube for AR-15s used in competition is Mobile 1.
 
UffDa said:
I have worked for gunsmith since I retired in 1994. I have seen a lot of guns with actions so gunked up with WD-40 that they wouldn't function. The varnishing doesn't happen quickly.
It happens over time when the gun is stored.

WD-40 is cheap and does a good job of removing sticky labels. I have seen much written about what it is made of. I suspect that it's mostly kerosene and mineral oil with a perfume
of some sort.

I worked for a major office machine company for 28 years. We were issued WD-40, but we soon realized that it was a good solvent, but a very poor lubricant and preservative. We used
it to clean chains and bearings and then lubed them with something else. Most of us used Break-Free until we were issued Tri-Flow.

BTW, a popular lube for AR-15s used in competition is Mobile 1.
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Uffy! its MOBIL 1 not Mobile.. like Mobile, Alabama! just a small correction. please carry on. for the record, i prefer Penzoil Platinum. :D
 
hung-solo said:
Uffy! its MOBIL 1 not Mobile.. like Mobile, Alabama! just a small correction. please carry on. for the record, i prefer Penzoil Platinum. :D
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I blame my spellchecker. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. :D
 
It is a solvent and works fine for cleaning stuff. Label gunk is one example, and I have used it to remove permanent marker residue from a white board. Don't ask me who the genius that used the wrong marker was.
 
UffDa said:
I have worked for gunsmith since I retired in 1994. I have seen a lot of guns with actions so gunked up with WD-40 that they wouldn't function. The varnishing doesn't happen quickly.
It happens over time when the gun is stored.

WD-40 is cheap and does a good job of removing sticky labels. I have seen much written about what it is made of. I suspect that it's mostly kerosene and mineral oil with a perfume
of some sort.

I worked for a major office machine company for 28 years. We were issued WD-40, but we soon realized that it was a good solvent, but a very poor lubricant and preservative. We used
it to clean chains and bearings and then lubed them with something else. Most of us used Break-Free until we were issued Tri-Flow.

BTW, a popular lube for AR-15s used in competition is Mobile 1.
Click to expand...

I'm curious...after having been stored for so long, how did you know that it was the WD40 that was doing the gunking and not some other product or by-product? Not singing the praises of this product by any means, but having used it for decades as a cheap and expedient lube, water displacer, label remover, and adhesive dissolver (most recently when I was cutting skins for my skis, my scissors were a mess!) on items as varied as firearms, bicycles, locks, and knives I have yet to see varnish. I don't use it for much these days, but I haven't found a reason to badmouth it either.
 
I use to use it on my guns before I knew better. It softened the plastic grips on my Beretta 21 and took the impressions of my thumb print. Grrrrrr... I still use it for other stuff.
 
Can't go wrong with CLP. I use it on everything. 9 times out of ten at the gunsmith shop my work is rubbed down with good old CLP.
 
powernoodle said:
That lifehacker website just goes to show that anybody can put anything on the internet, and anybody will believe it. It might be wise to rely on Tim Leatherman's recommended usage of WD-40 on his multitools, rather than anonymous internet authors who falsely claim that its no good for anything but "creating" rust.

WD-40 contains 15%+ mineral oil, and mineral oil is a lubricant. No, its not a heavy industrial gear grease that will last forever, but is a lubricant nevertheless. So all of the claims on that website that WD-40 lacks lubricity are demonstrably false. Pour some Johnson's Baby Oil on your hand and see if it is slick. Its the same mineral oil you find in WD-40, albeit at full concentration.

It makes me question also the claim that WD-40 is hydrophilic. This is unlikely, given that it contains mineral spirits, mineral oil, and either liquified petroleum gas or carbon dioxide as a propellant.

Seems that few things on the interweb are so full of hogwash as the claims that WD-40 is the worst product ever made. Some things like this take on a life of their own and are self-perpetuating.
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I had a small surface plate ground a while back, cleaned it with WD by the end of that week it had rust spots appearing, rubed it back and wiped it with motor oil no more rust.
Wd will get under water but once it drys it isn't very good.

Richard
 
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