The revolution has started!

[The Medway Handyman]

Fitted a (genuine) Yale lock today. Instructions said;

To lubricate, use WD40 or similar!

Oh yes!

In black & white, from the people who invented the cylinder pin-tumbler lock. Lubricate with WD40!

Oh yes!

[John Rumm]

Maybe they get to sell more locks that way... ;-)

[Bob Eager]

I fitted a new cylinder a few weeks ago.

I was given the same instructions.

I ignored them. I use powdered graphite.

[Jules]

Git, you beat me to it :)

[Rob G]

it ? Maybe that would explain why the sections of my wife's walking poles ended up as a solid mass.

Rob

[Dave Liquorice]

Yes, leaves a sticky residue that a part from gummimg things up also attracts dirt. Dirt that then gets made into a nice grinding paste with the residue, so yes it's a means of selling more locks.

[PeterC]

Out of interest, is there a thin spray lube that's OK for switches, locks etc? Sometimes oil or grease has gone thick in something realtively inaccessible (the last pull-switch that I stripped and rebuilt now works freely but skips sometimes, but 'tis old). Also, a thin film of something is sometimes better than oil or grease.

BTW, found a good use for WD40: quick spray on blades of hedge clippers, sickle etc. and rub it in forms a thin film that isn't sticky enough to hold on to leaves and grass. Now I can start to use it.

[Andrew Gabriel]

It probably makes a good resin solvent. My hedge trimmer says resin solvent should be sprayed on the blades, but I haven't gone looking for any yet (and may just use WD40).

However, beware that WD40 will strip off any oil film, leaving the blades liable to rust in storage. Might want to apply a spray-on oil after the WD40 has evaporated.

[CarlBrigg]

What an earth are you people rambling on about???? (happy smiley inserted here)

WD40 has been used for years as penetrating AND lubricating

I have been in engineering for 25 years and WD40 has been used all the time its well known to be used in locks and any small component devices. If you look on the site it tells you.

[Bob Eager]

[The Medway Handyman]

for ages. :-)

Together we could form a military wing!

[Dave Osborne]

PTFE dry-film lubricating spray.

Contains tiny balls of PTFE (Teflon) suspended in volatile solvents. The solvents evaporate leaving the PTFE as a dry-film lubricant.

Apart from generally being bad, WD40 has a tendency to get onto the key and then stain your hands/clothes, so it's a bad idea for this reason alone.

Graphite powder is good, but puffing into the lock tends to over-egg the pudding somewhat and then that gets everywhere (your hands, your face, up your nose, etc).

Best to use PTFE dry-film or get a soft pencil and rub it over the key, then use the key to transfer the small amount of pencil lead to the lock.

Cheapest dry-film lubricant is from Toolstation @ £2.58:

locksmith trade uses GT85:

which you can buy from Amazon, Halfords, your local cycling shop, etc. £3.50-£4.50

Screwfix sells this product:

@ £2.83 which, judging by its MSDS should be OK as well.

HTH

[The Medway Handyman]

Then why do Yale reccommend WD40 in black & white? Arrrrghh!

[Dave Osborne]

Ignorance on the part of the marketing dept.?

Plenty of so-called "professional locksmiths" use WD40 to lubricate locks. Makes my blood boil, but what can you do? Way of the world these days.

For some people, ignorance is championed as a human right and is proudly worn as a badge of honour.

[PeterC]

I'll try just WD40 for this Winter and see if there is any rust. It won't be serious - a quick rub with sandpaper will fix it. On the site it has:

PROTECTS: WD-40 protects metal surfaces with corrosion-resistant ingredients to shield against moisture and other corrosive elements"

So...?

[Jules]

Or the makers of WD40 paid them a handsome sum to have their product mentioned in the Yale literature, and greed took over?

It's only use is in being half-assed at lots of jobs, making it useful in situations where it's not practical to carry armfuls of alternate and better products around - but personally I don't touch it for anything that I care about or won't be quickly stripping down, cleaning, and re-lubing with something more appropriate for the job.

It always comes down to being cheap, ignorant, or lazy. Sometimes all three. Something that marketing departments know all too well :-(

cheers

Jules

[Rod]

But they only recommend it for validity of guarantee. Does that mean that non-use just allows them to achieve a measure of guarantee-evasion? Also, how you you find an equivalent to a proprietary, patented product?

"Lubricate periodically with WD40 or equivalent depending on application for validity of guarantee."

... and shouldn't that be 'in blue and yellow'?

[Frank Erskine]

On Thu, 08 Oct 2009 17:06:55 +0100, CarlBriggs had this to say:

I was in engineering for about 40 years (and still potter) and never found it to be a panacea. OK, it does small jobs after a fashion but it's never been a proper engineering solution (no pun intended) for anything other than a quick handyman-type fix.

For locks I would use either PTFE spray or, preferably, graphite powder lock lubricant.

For penetrating (oo-er!) I'd use PlusGas.

I fail to see how a penetrating fluid can also act as a lubricant...

I'll admit that WD-40 does have a rather nice vanilla-ish smell... (although I still prefer chocolate sauce on my ice cream).

[Jules]

I've found that to be a good rule of thumb for all sorts of things, to be honest - if it claims to do more than one thing, it's nearly always the wrong tool for the job...

[Frank Erskine]

On Thu, 08 Oct 2009 18:54:01 GMT, "The Medway Handyman" had this to say:

I _think_ this has been answered previously. Hardware manufacturers are increasingly desperate to sell you new kit, so they're hardly likely to promote stuff designed to prolong the life of their existing products. Since everybody has heard of WD-40, it sounds apposite for them to 'recommend' it, so as to make their kit 'trendy'.