More on use of WD-40
- Thread starter Pahoo
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We do our best, in our own best ways and move on.
Be Safe !!!
Folks, my apologies as it was not my intent to open up a can of worms or even provide "my" opinion; At at any given moment in time, we really only have two choices and we do our best, in our own best ways and move on. .....
Be Safe !!!
Bill DeShivs
New member
No tribology lab experience, sorry.
Just 55 years of using the stuff in a myriad of environments. I have used it as a steam/refrigeration engineer, jeweler, gunsmith, cutler, and musician.
I'm sure it could be made to gum in a laboratory, if that were the desired effect.
More anecdotal experience-an old friend asked me to clean up his .22 rifle. It was clogged, gummed, crudded to the point of inoperation. I asked him what he used for lubrication, and he replied "Only Rem-oil." Hmmm.
I use it to lubricate my gravers when hand engraving. Cotton balls in little containers soaked in WD 40 for years.
I use it for cleaning and water displacing in my cutlery business. Some knives actually "prefer" it for lubrication. I use it on grinding belts to make them cut better, and on polishing buffs to make them cut smoother.
As a gunsmith, I use it for everything it says on the can. There are heavier, better lubricants.
And, as a professional musician, I use it on my guitar strings-as do many pros. I keep a WD 40 soaked rag on my amplifier and wipe my strings and neck often. No gumming-hmmm. If it did, it certainly would impair both the sound and the mechanics of playing.
So for 60 years, people have been using WD 40 and most have been happy with it. A few people say it gums up. Some even make it gum in tribology labs. I can say that I have never seen it happen in the real world. Those that have seen it could be mistaken as to the causes.
Just 55 years of using the stuff in a myriad of environments. I have used it as a steam/refrigeration engineer, jeweler, gunsmith, cutler, and musician.
I'm sure it could be made to gum in a laboratory, if that were the desired effect.
More anecdotal experience-an old friend asked me to clean up his .22 rifle. It was clogged, gummed, crudded to the point of inoperation. I asked him what he used for lubrication, and he replied "Only Rem-oil." Hmmm.
I use it to lubricate my gravers when hand engraving. Cotton balls in little containers soaked in WD 40 for years.
I use it for cleaning and water displacing in my cutlery business. Some knives actually "prefer" it for lubrication. I use it on grinding belts to make them cut better, and on polishing buffs to make them cut smoother.
As a gunsmith, I use it for everything it says on the can. There are heavier, better lubricants.
And, as a professional musician, I use it on my guitar strings-as do many pros. I keep a WD 40 soaked rag on my amplifier and wipe my strings and neck often. No gumming-hmmm. If it did, it certainly would impair both the sound and the mechanics of playing.
So for 60 years, people have been using WD 40 and most have been happy with it. A few people say it gums up. Some even make it gum in tribology labs. I can say that I have never seen it happen in the real world. Those that have seen it could be mistaken as to the causes.
FrankenMauser
New member
Things that gum (or lock) up actions and make "broken" guns cheap for me to buy, clean, and enjoy:
WD-40
Rem Oil (especially the formulation in the wipes)
Hoppes #9
Fireclean
Shellac
Paint
White lithium grease
Unknown mixtures, from Bubba grabbing whatever was close and pouring it into the action.
But, above all else: Lack of maintenance.
You can get away with using almost anything, as long as you have a regular maintenance schedule. But let things sit - especially the above list sprayed into the action with no actual cleaning - and the story may have a different ending.
WD-40
Rem Oil (especially the formulation in the wipes)
Hoppes #9
Fireclean
Shellac
Paint
White lithium grease
Unknown mixtures, from Bubba grabbing whatever was close and pouring it into the action.
But, above all else: Lack of maintenance.
You can get away with using almost anything, as long as you have a regular maintenance schedule. But let things sit - especially the above list sprayed into the action with no actual cleaning - and the story may have a different ending.
Yep. Fireclean, Rem Oil and WD40 might be the three worst on the list.
The thing you are grossly missing Bill, is that in your "other" uses, there is not heat, nor combustion products. Pretty obvious.
I have a few cans of WD40. For some things, it is a good choice, just not guns.
The whole business of getting thick and tacky has to do with the carbon chain length distribution in the mineral oils. As Bill said, they all have the potential to do this. The shorter chains gradually evaporate, leaving the less volatile longer chain molecules behind. These are more viscous, so they feel like hard grease or even wax.
WD-40's MSDS says around 10% of the product is a mixture of mineral oils. Since one of its original functions was as a corrosion inhibitor, I wouldn't be surprised to find the mix intentionally included something with long, high-viscosity molecules. But the other thing that will affect how WD-40 seems to do in comparison with the drying out of other mineral oil products is that the spray has enough carrier in it that when it evaporates, the oil film left behind is very thin, so the process of drying down to longer molecules can go faster than it does with conventional oil if you leave the item uncovered.
Years ago, I used to repair machine tools with a friend of mine when engineering work was slow. He found a machine shop in the south end of town that had the habit of spraying down their machine ways with WD-40 every morning, stating that it loosened them right up. They were also having to ship their machine tools out every six months for rebuilding. My friend pointed out that spraying them with something as light as WD-40 was like putting cutting oil on them and that they should be using proper way oil. So, on his advice, they switched. He visited them to repair a control a few years later, and in the meantime, they hadn't needed to have any of their machines rebuilt.
Right lube for the right job matters.
WD-40's MSDS says around 10% of the product is a mixture of mineral oils. Since one of its original functions was as a corrosion inhibitor, I wouldn't be surprised to find the mix intentionally included something with long, high-viscosity molecules. But the other thing that will affect how WD-40 seems to do in comparison with the drying out of other mineral oil products is that the spray has enough carrier in it that when it evaporates, the oil film left behind is very thin, so the process of drying down to longer molecules can go faster than it does with conventional oil if you leave the item uncovered.
Years ago, I used to repair machine tools with a friend of mine when engineering work was slow. He found a machine shop in the south end of town that had the habit of spraying down their machine ways with WD-40 every morning, stating that it loosened them right up. They were also having to ship their machine tools out every six months for rebuilding. My friend pointed out that spraying them with something as light as WD-40 was like putting cutting oil on them and that they should be using proper way oil. So, on his advice, they switched. He visited them to repair a control a few years later, and in the meantime, they hadn't needed to have any of their machines rebuilt.
Right lube for the right job matters.
It is pretty entertaining, or even comical, to read posts on wd-40. They remind me of brass headspace discussions that we used to have on forum.
But seriously, we all believe what we believe. No need to convince the others. Water displacement (WD) is to push out water trapped in very narrowly confined spaces, probably some sort surface tension tricks. I don't have many of such applications, so I don't use the said product. I have better products for other intended purposes.
-TL
Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
But seriously, we all believe what we believe. No need to convince the others. Water displacement (WD) is to push out water trapped in very narrowly confined spaces, probably some sort surface tension tricks. I don't have many of such applications, so I don't use the said product. I have better products for other intended purposes.
-TL
Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
haha, that's what I was thinking.
I use WD40 a lot, has it's place. But honestly if you have a machine, or a gun or what ever in a dusty dirty environment and you keep squirting oil on it without actually cleaning it time after time it will keep accumulating dusty/dirt and make it's own mess.
Just like a old engine that leaks, after years of dirt and grime sticking to the oil it will make a hard coating.
Ford owners know what I mean, lol
stuckinthe60s
New member
G-d bless singer sewing machine oil!
The best thing for WD40
Kroil or PB blaster will cut the muck left behind by WD40. I had a sock drawer single action .357. It was so mucked up with dried out oil you could time the hammer fall with a stopwatch.
A couple of squirts of PB blaster and all was well in seconds. It did take a while to get the cylinder pin out.
Kroil or PB blaster will cut the muck left behind by WD40. I had a sock drawer single action .357. It was so mucked up with dried out oil you could time the hammer fall with a stopwatch.
A couple of squirts of PB blaster and all was well in seconds. It did take a while to get the cylinder pin out.
Schlitz 45
New member
FYI- WD-40 is not a fish attractant.
No gumming issues here but never left puddles of it, only a thin film. Best stuff ever for drying out a vehicle’s drowned ignition & get it sparking again.
No gumming issues here but never left puddles of it, only a thin film. Best stuff ever for drying out a vehicle’s drowned ignition & get it sparking again.
I have no clue what the owner of the socks used, if anything on that old single action. Could well have been the factory lubricants, I fired it for the first time and was likely made in the late 60's early 70's.
I too find it downright handy when the ignition of my pressure washer gets rained on, a couple squirts and she fires up. Handy for getting the glue off from stickers too, and it smells ok.
I too find it downright handy when the ignition of my pressure washer gets rained on, a couple squirts and she fires up. Handy for getting the glue off from stickers too, and it smells ok.
ammo.crafter
New member
WD-40
Water Displacement
Never use WD-$) as a lubricant. It was not disigned for this purpose.
Water Displacement
Never use WD-$) as a lubricant. It was not disigned for this purpose.
Oh, please. Yes, WD-40 works great to displace water, but that's not its only use.
Try this. Get a clean glass or ceramic bowl and squirt some WD-40 in it. Let it sit for a few hours. Once all the solvent is gone, check out the thin, extremely slippery grease that's left, then tell me it's not a lubricant.
Shane Tuttle
Staff
natman said:
Slippery grease? What's in WD40 that's classified as a grease?
It CAN be a lubricant. Problem is, it doesn't last, which other products perform far better.
Well, it's thicker than oil and thinner than grease, so I called it a "thin grease". Is it technically a grease with oil and a binder? No. Perhaps thin, slippery gel would have been a better choice. However, the operative words as far as it being a lubricant were not thin grease, but extremely slippery.
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