The revolution has started!

[John Rumm]

TBH, I have not notice much difference between a squirt of WD40 and a drop of 3 in 1 - both are obviously compromise products, but are going to be a common choice around the home.

[Dave Liquorice]

I've not had hinges that have been 3 in 1'd start squeaking again in less than 18 months... At least 3 in 1 actually has some light oil in it. B-)

[<me9]

We used to have to re-lube the bearings on blowers every year. The grease had a shelf life of 6 months -- but was good for 12 in the elevated temperature in the blower. We never had problems using it /well/ past it's expiry date -- probably a sales gimmick.

[Dave]

In the aerospace industry, it was more a case of covering your back :-(

Dave

[The Medway Handyman]

So, a single squirt of a product you claim isn't a lubricant, costing a couple of quid, stopped a squeak for 9 months?

My feeling on WD40 and the extreme dissing it gets around here is;

1) Its American - & us Brits can't stand that. 2) Its hugely successful - and us Brits can't stand that. 3) Its sold by Americans who are not shy when it comes to marketing - and us Brits can't stand that.

Imagine if a product as versatile & useful as WD40 had been invented in England in 1953.

The marketing would have been; " I say chaps, this stuff is rather good actually. Not saying its perfect of course, but overall its not too bad really". And they would have put a small advert in the Exchange & Mart.

And it would have died a death. Because. although we are prolly the most inventive race on the planet, we are complete crap at marketing.

Face it; It's sold in 180+ countries worldwide and they sell $216.8 million (£140+ million) worth a year.

And thats all down to the clever marketing of a product that either doesn't work or actually causes problems?

And all those customers are stupid?

Get real. Wake up & smell the coffee. Its incredibly successful because it actually works.

[The Medway Handyman]

[Dave Liquorice]

Use of a proper lubricant for the job would have solved the problem full stop not just for 9 months.

Not stupid, just taken in by the marketing. Most people believe marketing without looking behind the "facts" quoted or doing their own research.

It's a "quick fix" but not the best one in most cases.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember CarlBriggs saying something like:

Snake oil.

It doesn't do what it says on the tin for very long. Oversold shit, in other words. You can get exactly the same pentrant and lubricant action by making up a spray bottle of a gob of engine oil with diesel. The ONLY thing WD40 does well is act as a moisture dispersant, temporarily.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember PeterC saying something like:

Graphite-inna-vaporating-carrier aerosols have been around for years.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "The Medway Handyman" saying something like:

Oversold, overhyped and over here.

Yes. For uncritically accepting the hype.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Dave saying something like:

I do.

It works better than paraffin. Millions of injector pumps can testify so.

[The Medway Handyman]

But, horror of horrors - it might have succeeded - because it works?

[The Medway Handyman]

Shame the worlds best known lock manufacturer doesn't agree with you innit?

Hmmmm. Yale v unknown newsgroup person.

[Bob Eager]

Vested interest in gumming up locks...

[Jules]

I'm just glad they don't have Yale locks here... ;-)

[Clive George]

Harvard man?

[Dave Liquorice]

Or one marketing department believing the puff of another marketing department.

[The Medway Handyman]

World's best known & respected lock maker deliberately decides to ruin its reputation? Not very likely is it?

[PeterC]

Only half?

[Dave Osborne]

Dave, you're digging yourself a hole.

Yale is a shadow of the company it used to be. It's been brought and sold a few times in the last 30 years and is now merely a brand owned by ASSA Abloy, who also own Union, Chubb, Mul-t-lock, Ingersoll, Adams Rite, Besam, and a load of other brands. Yale doesn't have its own marketing or website; It's run in the UK by Mul-T-Lock UK (wholly owned by ASSA Abloy) as just that: a brand.

cylinder products are made in China and quality is IMHO nothing like what it used to be. It must be said that Yale mortice locks are made on the same production line as Union and Chubb product and some of their BS3621 Locks are exactly the same as Chubb (apart from the fact that Chubb still has nice brass keys).

As an aside, Assa Abloy are losing the rights to use the Chubb name for commercial and domestic locks next year, so all chubb locks will be re-branded as Union and all Chubb secondary security (window locks, etc) will be re-branded as Yale.

Abloy do in fact market a lock lubricant: which, judging by its MSDS is a PTFE product. They also advocate against using other kinds of products, including graphite in their cylinders. WD40 is not specifically mentioned, but here's a quote from a PDF:

"Warning! Never use grease, oil or graphite based lubricants in locking cylinders as these lubricants cause functionality disruptions and clogs up the mechanism."

It has to be said that there's nothing special about Yale any more, it's merely one brand out of sixty owned by the world's biggest security products conglomerate and at that it's a subsidiary brand that's well down the corporate chain of command. It comes as no surprise to me that the instruction leaflet is off-message.

Cheers, DaveyO