I can't lower the seat - it seem to be stuck.

In that case it's about reducing the partial vacuum that formed when the contents of the jar cooled - heating the lid heats the air above the jam and causes that to expand.

Boiling water 100C Propane flame 2200C Spot the difference. :-)

Makes no differennce, warm water from a tap will free an unmoveable jam jar top, it's probably no more than 60 degrees C

At 2200 you will get a heat gradient so the inner bolt might be just 2100 or whatever.

Anyway next time you fiind something is stuck try it!! You may be surprised!!

See Peter Parry's post " WD40 outperformed most penetrating fluids (including Plus Gas). "

On Wed, 17 Jun 2009 07:36:12 GMT, "The Medway Handyman" had this to say:

I'm referring to my _own_ experience.

On Wed, 17 Jun 2009 07:41:05 +0100, "Colin Trunt" had this to say:

It probably softens the jam which is glueing the top on :-)

Never let a scientific study get in the way of personal predudice eh?

If WD40 is so useless why has it been around since 1953?

On Wed, 17 Jun 2009 08:02:29 GMT, "The Medway Handyman" had this to say:

Personal experience, not personal "predudice" .

Astrolan was a brand of lubricants/protective coatings produced by a company called Astur who appear to have fallen off the planet (or more likely been absorbed by someone else). The difference between Astrolan and WD40 was not sufficiently great as to make it worth spending much time looking for it.

In news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com, Frank Erskine tweaked the Babbage-Engine to tell us:

'ere, Frank, your glasses appear to be working properly...

I was about to suggest the method employed by a Dutch neighbour of mine when they came here from Holland. Like all good Dutchpersons they brought their bikes - good sturdy sit-up-straight bikes with basket at front and proper handlebars. Certainly not the sort you would ever ride wearing a clingy Lycra suit and a purple blob of polystyrene with painted go faster flames on your head.

The first thing they discovered arriving here were hills. Hills in the middle of towns instead of parked out in the countryside where they caused no harm. The first day father set out to work on bike with suit on and waved off by children. Coming back that evening was not a smart executive but a steaming figure with suit jacket crumpled in basket, tie off with shirt half undone and trailing behind like a banner. Bike and rider fell sideways by the door and lay there awaiting first aid in the form of Grolsch.

Several days of this led to a re-appraisal of the riding position (he was an optimist) and need to adjust a seat which had probably not moved since the last invasion of Holland. For the next hour we were regaled with new Dutch words, the children were taken shopping and wife said she would tell his Mum what he had been saying in front of the children.

Increasing numbers of tools accumulated as neighbours came out to watch and offer unwanted and generally impractical advice as father wrestled with the bike. Eventually he got a 36" Stilson wrench on the tube and with one foot on the frame heaved until he went purple in the face and even we understood the Dutch coming out would probably not be found in most dictionaries. At this point the Stilson slipped and whacked him on the kneecap. He stumbled back screaming gently and put his foot through the spokes of the back wheel. This we felt was the turning point.

The Dutch reached fever pitch. He hopped about connected to the bike and dragging it behind him until he fell over the curb. Grasping the Stilson in both hands he belaboured the bike with great fury until the wheel fell off. Still with the wheel attached to his ankle he grabbed the rest and threw it into the hedge. After hopping about for a bit more the remains of the wheel followed the rest of the bike into the hedge. He calmly went inside. Showered, changed, and went out to buy another car.

The bike is still somewhere in the hedge.

You should submit that to the BBC. They could make a "Play for Today" out of it ... !! :-)

Arfa

It's normally the new jars which are the problem which should be clean.

With the old jars as you managed to put the li don there is a fair chance you can get it back off again, unless you wait 10 years in between in which case not being able to get the top off would be a good feaure.

Those sort of job are best approached with intelligence rather than brute forc sometimes, I certaintly might have met a simiilar fate had I used brute force alone, my three pronged attack made it a much easier job.

I never liked stilsons very much, they are rather prone to slipping..........

I see the long handle ensured it was his knee which got whacked rather than his fingers crushed - owtch!

Strange bike geometry and riding position in Holland.

Also strange riding position when you see the "heel on pedal" position of some cyclists here.

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:

Skilful marketing, clueless customers.

I cycled with my heels on the pedals yeterday... But I did have a child's bike bungeed to the rear rack.

Plus it smells nice and is harmless. It does work very well as a "water dispersant". Ride home in the rain and then run the chain through a rag sprayed with WD-40 and it gets cleaned a bit and isn't rusty in the morning.

Also back in the day it was considered the panacea most likely to bring your British car back from the dead on a damp morning.

Only if used as originally intended. I would say again, bring it anywhere near any electronic equipment with mechanics in it, and you will be sorry when you go to pick it up from the repair shop, and it has a "BER" note on it ...

Arfa

How did that work then ? Sounds like a dangerous overload to me ...

Arfa