The people who use it are looking for cheap, mostly.
Source: farming. We have many different lubes and penetrating products for when we're in the actual shop, but in the field, nothing beats wd-40 for getting back to work fast, or unsticking some shit when all you have is a hammer and you just know when that fucking bolt comes loose it's going to throw rust and dirt all over your face.
I like Swiss army knives, but they collect lint and gunk from my pockets. I use WD-40 to dissolve gunk, and to drive out water after an ultrasonic bath, but I lubricate with the light machine oil used for barber's clippers.
That's wrong. WD-40 is a literally a lubricant mixed with a solvent that makes it very fluid so it can enter small interstices, the solvent then evaporates quickly, leaving the lubricant in place.
There's not a lot of lubricant in there compared to a pure lubricant, because the solvent takes a significant share of the volume, but it's still a lubricant once the solvent dries up.
“WD-40 is not a very good lubricant and you should almost always use something else” is a mouthful I guess, but their denial of reality over something so meaningless is always astounding to me.
This is the expected outcome.
And it seems like such a strange thing to become emotionally attached to. But these people will sooner die then admit the thing that says it is a lubricant is a lubricant.
Why do you believe this? The vast majority of people commenting on the internet haven't used WD-40 in the past year. Why wouldn't they end up believing a wrong thing that has been confidently stated that they otherwise know nothing about?
People have always loved these factoids, long long before the internet. It was common conversation fodder for upper class folks in history to repeat outright falsehoods as "um actually"s or "You should know"s.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_common_misconceptions_...
Do you know how many people for whatever reason believe that Columbus believed the earth was round and everyone else thought it was flat, despite all historical evidence being contrary?
Basically "Common consensus is X but I'm super smart and know REAL truth Y" is like the optimal meme shape for the human brain. The biases in our brain will always support such an argument shape, and humans get a reward for relaying that info, correct or not. All our innate and fundamental physiological biases will be triggered by this kind of statement.
IMO the super interesting aspect is the second and third generations of "Um actually" where a previous "um actually" gets further "um actually!"d, and even that gets "um actuallyyyyy"d. I wonder if we will get a cycle at some point!
That’s how I would describe the original and most common WD-40 formula: a passable short-term lubricant for quick and dirty jobs, but not a long-term high quality lubricant, like, say, 3-in-1 (graphite) or silicone lubricants.
Adding to the confusion is that WD-40 sells a silicone lubricant that is a much better lubricant for many purposes than the original formula.
It is a mixture of a lubricant and a solvent. And once the solvent evaporates, only the lubricant remains.
However, if you're looking to lubricate something and have it last for a reasonable time, then WD-40 is a poor choice. However, using WD-40 first to hopefully dissolve contaminants/rust and remove water and then after a quick wipe to remove excess, applying something better such as 3-in-1 or silicone grease etc is a good idea.
The clue is in the name - Water Displacement 40.
If you want a spray on penetrating lubricant, then GT-85 is usually better as it has PTFE included to better lubricate. It still won't last that long though as it'll only make a thin film.
Edit: I've just seen that WD-40 make mention of a bus driver in Asia using WD-40 to remove a python from his bus' under-carriage. If in doubt, spray it with WD-40.
"lubricant mixed with a solvent" - doesn't make sense. A solvent is a lubricant. Acetone for example, is a phenomenal lubricant. I'm not sure how you're going to stop it from evaporating, but it's a lubricant. Water is a solvent as well, for example.
It is really simple and there is no magic.
The name took off as a brand and completely different stuff from the 40th iteration of a Water Displacer formulation is being sold under it as well.
(Yes, you can buy bulk wd-40 liquid and put into a branded or unbranded sprayer)
Clean motor oil is not actually that harmful if swallowed - it only carcinogenic because of all the metals and carbon it builds up when in the motor.
Used, not clean.
Why? Used motor oil is, well, used. It contains metal particles from the engine and combustion byproducts, which is why it was replaced in the first place. Granted, most lubrication applications aren't the marvels of precision parts moving at high speed that a modern engine is so can probably make do with poorer oil, but still.
You can buy industrial lubricants in bulk for pretty cheap so that unless you use huge quantities of it, it shouldn't make much difference.
As an aside, my aunt's husband worked more or less his entire career in a heavy truck repair shop. And he had an oil burner heating his house (you can see where this is going, eh?). So he got used engine oil for free, the shop was happy to get rid of it as disposing of it properly cost money. I think burning used engine oil was illegal already back then due to the pollution, and nowadays I think they have some government mandated accounting system to ensure that the same amount of oil is sent to proper recycling as comes in.
Used engine oil isn't really suitable for lubricating an engine anymore but it's fine for a temporary lubricant of a drill bit, some random hinge on a gate, or stubborn bushing on a piece of equipment. Engine oil is only really replaced on an engine because at some point it degrades enough that things like oil film bearings in the crankshaft would start to fail. A bushing on something like a small dump trailer doesn't rotate at 2300 rpm.
Well, the corollary to that is that if it's just small case usage then if you buy a 1L bottle of some general purpose lubrication oil for, say, $5, then it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things that the price/L is a lot higher than if you buy an entire drum of the stuff. ;-)
> Used engine oil isn't really suitable for lubricating an engine anymore but it's fine for a temporary lubricant of a drill bit, some random hinge on a gate, or stubborn bushing on a piece of equipment. Engine oil is only really replaced on an engine because at some point it degrades enough that things like oil film bearings in the crankshaft would start to fail. A bushing on something like a small dump trailer doesn't rotate at 2300 rpm.
Fair enough. I guess I just don't see the benefit here vs just having some bottle of cheap unused lubricant. Except if used engine oil is the only thing you happen to have at hand.
If it doesn't move and it should: WD-40
This is an oversimplification, in a way that is likely not obvious to a lot of people on this (software-focused) forum. An SDS does not have to list exact amounts, does not have to disclose some details of how an ingredient or mix of ingredients was processed, and (depending on jurisdiction) may not have to identify some "safe" ingredients at all. Some ingredients may be identified in relatively vague ways, that are sufficient for safety purposes but do not reveal the exact product. As the SDS you linked to says "The specific chemical identity and exact percentages are a trade secret". An SDS is certainly very helpful to reverse-engineering a product, but it doesn't tell you everything.
All that said, yes, the main strength of WD-40 is its marketing and ubiquity, and claims about its secrecy have more to do with marketing than anything practical.
Where I find this can be fun is that different countries seem to have different requirements for precision. Or just straight up different formulations for the same thing.
German wd40 says it’s all c9-c11 carbon chains:
https://smarthost.maedler.de/datenblaetter/EG_SIDA_WD40_EN.p...
US has a CARB and non-CARB formulation which are also different:
https://files.wd40.com/pdf/sds/mup/wd-40-multi-use-product-a...
https://files.wd40.com/msds/latam/GHS-SDS-WD-40-Multi-Use-Pr...
It's absolutely not a BOM to reproduce a product.
Depending on what the product is, this may still be a long way from the full "recipe" (or method) to recreate the product.
Although I must admin WD-40 helped me in the past opening an old door lock.
Not really applicable in an automotive lock which start out as hotdog down hallway when new and only expand from there.
Putting new fresh oil in it often temporarily fixes it because it dissolves some (or a lot) of the old varnish. Acetone can often do the same thing too, but can also wash the varnish deeper into the mechanism where it turns into really solid ‘plastic’ when the acetone dissolves.
Probably should replace the lock but it is so expensive.
NMR and gas chromatography to the rescue!
From the data sheet: "The specific chemical identity and exact percentages are a trade secret."
The petroleum base oils alone cover thousands of candidate chemicals.
And even if it were, the recipe was supposedly created by a guy in his shed after only 40 attempts with the technology available 70 years ago. The idea that an R&D team with an entire lab of equipment couldn't recreate or improve the formula if they wanted to in that time seems a bit far fetched.
Formulation matters and is very important.
A1 jet fuel, propane, regular 87 gas and vaseline are four different formulations of some version of mineral oil (petroleum).
Which do you want in a car you are driving? On your parched lips? In your plane engine? Coming into your kitchen stove?
The video’s test showed wd-40 worked slightly better than kroil and pb blaster, which all performed in the same range, being not much better than nothing. That’s particularly interesting because of how often kroil/pb come up as recommendations to use instead of wd…
Acetone+atf did better and liquid wrench penetrating fluid did the best, but *nothing* beats heat.
Regardless, the main problem with WD-40 is the popular misconception that it's a decent lubricant.
Home Depot is such a wasteland. One shit brand of every product, and that's it. Row upon row of worthless, crumbly Dap wood filler, for example.
I went there and asked three employees, probably separated in age by a decade each, for household oil. It's as if they didn't even understand the words. We're talking about 20- to 40- or 50-year-old HD employees who don't know WTF 3-in-1 oil is. Incredible.
I recently read that WD40 isn't actually a lubricant but a lubricant remover. So as you write you'd use it to remove gunk but then follow it up with an actual lubricant.
On the last two bottles of WD40 I came across (im Germany) I checked the back and it indeed said that it's not a lubricant but a lubricant remover.
(Disclaimer: can't read the article past the intro where it does call it a lubricant...)
The only CAS number listed in that data sheet that doesn’t return Molecular Formula: Unspecified is carbon dioxide. The other 98% of the formulation is just sort of vague references to petroleum distillates.
- LVP Aliphatic Hydrocarbon (CAS #64742-47-8) 45-50%
- Petroleum Base Oil (CAS #64742-56-9, 65-0, 53-6, 54-7, 71-8) <35%
- Aliphatic Hydrocarbon (CAS #64742-47-8) 10 - <25%
- Carbon Dioxide (CAS #124-38-9) 2-3%
Note: The specific chemical identity and exact percentages are a trade secret.
> specific chemical identity
I wonder if it's just two hydrocarbons then? Odd that identify is singular.
But yea, like Coke or McDonalds, the brand is probably worth far more than the secrecy of the recipe.
Lanolin based coatings (fluid film, et al) don't have this issue.
Of course, i live in a super-humid place these days, so i have to control humidity anyway. This doesn't stop rust, but it means i can worry a lot less about which coatings and how often.
Difference being, they applied it every day, and specifically to prevent rust because the tools were wet. But man did they love it. Went through a couple cans per week I bet.
Same deal here: there is value to having a product that stops squeaks, cleans rust and de-goo's gunk on the supermarket shelf. 70% of the time, snobbery is just snobbery. The world runs on Getting Stuff Done.
Yep, and equally obvious is that keeping some piece of paper in a bank vault for PR doesn't change the fact the "secret" formula still needs to be turned into millions of gallons of product in factories around the world, so people in supply chain procurement and manufacturing processes have to have practical knowledge of how to make it.
I use it a ton to clean off threads of stuff exposed to the elements. Get dirt, old oil/grease, water, and any grit or rust or other things out of threads so they tighten properly and don't get jammed up with stuff.
If something I'm working on is dirty, it gets a spray of WD-40 and a rag to help not foul up the inside of whatever I'm opening.
Hydrocarbons are rather well studied.
Forty miles from my destination, it seized. Sadly, not knowing it was reverse thread, I stripped it with a breaker bar and had to have the truck towed.
(I know WD-40 is a bad lubricant, that's what makes this so funny)
I would expect WD-40 to work fairly well because it cleans the chain and gets the filth out of the links, filth is a big part of drive train wear and we really don't need much in the way of lube as long as things are kept clean and rust free so the links move smoothly.
That it does, but it doesn't leave much lubricant behind, which you need for a properly functioning chain. As you know, you want something that will get between the pins and rollers and stay there, minus the grime that would turn it into grinding paste. Which is probably why some people swear by wax, but that sounds like a giant hassle.
Wax is up there with PTFE for making grinding paste in my experience, especially on long, hot, wax softening rides.
Wear appears to be down too. The reduction in grease and dirty chain makes is so nice.
Wax holds up quite well against water but does hold grit and tends to deposit it on chainrings, sprockets, and pulleys, and it wears them quicker than 3in1 will. Wax shares the downside of PTFE, you need to clean off the old before applying more or things start wearing fast, which is not an issue for everyone. It is nice and clean.
Here in the winter of northern Minnesota, one good snowy ride with the road salt and sand will strip wax. Not that you would want to use wax in this sort of cold even if the road salt and sand were not an issue, wax gets stiff and brittle in the sorts of cold we get. I am an everyday rider and bike is my mode of transportation for everything, in this climate I need ease of reapplication or I will be replacing chainrings yearly.
What sort of temperature are you getting down to? Any special gear needed for you or the bike?
Here it’s never below about 5C and maxes at about 30C. It’s mild. The rain is the only thing that can be a lot. The most was about 250mm in a day, which is exceptional, but sudden, very downpours are common.
Gear has mostly been a move away from cartridge bearings, you are lucky if those will last the winter. Old fashioned cup and cone bearings hold enough grease to get you through most winters without having to repack. For the messy and icy weather I try to ride my fixed gear, does not matter if the brakes freeze up, very simple drive train (single piece crank!) I can just ignore all winter other than oil the chain and its 1/8" chain sucks up a lot more oil than the skinny 10+ speed chains and sheds filth much better as well. 3in1 helps a lot as well, it is pretty good about shedding filth. For the brutal cold, when things are dry and for most errands it is generally my touring bike, its granny gear is nice when the grease starts to thicken in the cold and high rpm pedaling does a good job of keeping you warm but keeping the derailers working well even with friction shifters can be a chore.
Only specialty gear I have is studded BMX pedals, they do a great job of keeping your feet on the pedals and are footwear agnostic. Not the best pedal choice for a fixed gear, they can really shred your shins.
What sort of distances are you doing?
I work at a couple of locations that are about 9-15km from home.
I’m probably doing 150-300km per week, depending on weather. Even doing 5km in the conditions you describe sounds Herculean.
It is not as bad as most people think as long as you get out there everyday and avoid getting in the habit of not doing stuff because it is too cold. That first -10 day is brutal but that -10 is not so bad after a -20 day and feels almost warm after -30. So I convince myself that a beer would taste really good and bike to the bar in -30 just to get out there because the longer you go without riding in that sort of cold the harder it is to get back out there, do it daily and it is easy to remember that it is just a minor discomfort until you get the blood flowing.
Iirc WD-40 = Water Displacement, formula #40
It was originally designed to displace water for corrosion resistance and cleaning. (Edit I think it was originally used for de-icing in an aerospace context?) You probably will never need a single can of WD-40 in your life. Try PB Blaster or Liquid Wrench!
In the corollary of the hammer/nail thing, when what you have are 205-litre barrels of Rotella, everything that needs oil gets a dose of it.
Petroleum oils aren't really good for hinges (which I assume is what is squeaking) for a variety of reasons. If you use wd-40, you find that the squeak goes away and quickly returns, sometimes worse. The reason for this is that WD-40 will wash out any grease or oil in the hinge as well as attract whatever dirt or dust is around, both worsening the squeak.
3-in-1 (in the dropper can) is a good, effective lubricant but it has an important drawback that is shares with WD-40, it will wash out any grease already in there as well as attract dirt. 3-in-1 (tin dropper bottle) is great for light mechanical duty like a bike chain or as cutting oil and even some gears, but it wont work well as a deck lube, way oil, or hinge grease because of its very light weight.
Here's a brand and type that I recommend for doors. CRC is an excellent source of this type of chemical, and my personal go-to. https://www.crcindustries.com/white-lithium-grease-10-wt-oz-...
Lithium grease (sometimes called White Grease) is excellent for door hinges because it is dry, wont drop, will spread instead of being pushed out like oil (even 3-in-one), and lasts forever. Since its pretty dang thick and not really a liquid even in the spray version, it also wont drip onto your carpet as readily while you apply it. Get the spray version, protect the paint behind the hinge with a towel or a piece of printer paper(TIP: Cut the paper %85 of the way in half long-way (hotdog fold) and slide the paper over the hinge as you spray it with the door closed and from a bit of an angle, pay more attention to the top part, just under the head of the hinge pin. That should be more than enough. Spray-on oil would soak the paper, lithium grease won't so this is another benefit of lithium)) and give it a couple squirts while working the door. Wipe the excess off and enjoy years of squeak-free operation!
It is perfect for light-duty applications where the lube sticking to its lubricating point is important. White Lithium Grease is [Edit, its Lithium soap? whatever that is.] and mineral oil, sticks to metal excellent, and is compatible with almost all bushing rubber.
—
More (Gratuitous) Suggestions from the WD-40© Corporation:
Use Lithium grease in applications like lubricating your car's hood latch. Spray on WD-40© liberally to clean off any junk in the car hood latch/catch, clean with a rag as best you can, and after it dries, spray the mechanism with White Lithium Grease.
If your garage door chatters in its track channels, wipe the dust and debris from the channel after cleaning with WD-40© and after its dry, slather some Lithium Grease paste on the inside of the tracks. You can also apply a slight excess of Lithium Grease to the springs in the garage door to quiet the rattle and twanging.
If you have a squeaky rubber bushing in some shop equipment like a press, lift, or clamp; If you have any slowing or binding plastic-on-plastic part movement like in a drawer or lid, a dab of Lithium grease will quiet, lubricate, and protect plastic, metal rubber and such materials while not deteriorating them like a petroleum based lubricant would. Lithium grease is also water retardant, but not water proof! Make sure to not apply Lithium Grease to any metal which isn't BONE DRY! If you have a damp part, WD-40© is a perfect tool to clean and dry your part before lubrication.
You can also literally just spray a rubber or plastic part with Lithium Grease (or just silicone oil, which is cleaner and much better for rubber and plastics but IMPOSSIBLE to clean, so DO NOT SPILL and wear gloves. Seriously: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30286616 ) to protect/shine them up. It will work totally well on your tires, but I don't like that idea because it might fling onto your paint or transfer to your rotor if you touch it while swapping wheels. Seems it might work well to prevent dry-rot during storage, now that I think about it. I feel like basically nobody does this though.
Thank you for this opportunity. I had a lot of fun thinking about one of my favorite lubricants, which is of course silicone, and I expect that it will add much value to your life!
—
[edit: all the references to WD-40© in the More Suggestions part are true, but also jokes used to illustrate the marketing genius of WD-40©. You don't need it, and there's a decent chance that what you're about to spray it on will only get worse, but yeah, it does work really well. I also just think its pretty funny to have a can of WD-40© while knowing its true purpose, so that when some jerk like me comes along with his or her "AKTUALLY, WD-40© is a solvent not a lubricant!" you will then be free to utilize whichever form of verbal jui-jitsu you desire in dispatchment of this interloper as you reply, "Yeah! I use it every day … !"]
Take the can of WD-40© out of your hand and replace it with the can of CRC© White Lithium Grease. All subsequent steps are the same.
I would then hide your screwdrivers so you don't disassemble anything. Just spray it with lube. :)
As you say, there are much better lubricants out there.
You're not supposed to use it (and similar products) like that tho. You're supposed to use it to flush out the gunk and grime by dissolving it, all it is supposed to do is to make stuff that doesn't move, move, enough to fix it now and maybe prepare a bit for putting proper lubricant.
Like, it's not fault of their formula that people are using it wrong
We all know that there is something better for the job than WD-40, its value comes from its convenience, affordability, availability, brand recognition, and the number of cases where it is "good enough".
The "specialist" brand is what its name imply, specialist products, all of them better for a specific application, but none of them as universal as the original. The original formulation is not magic, but it is the one we are familiar with and it works well enough when you don't have anything better for your specific job.
The actual ingredients are literally on the safety data sheet: https://files.wd40.com/pdf/sds/mup/wd-40-multi-use-product-a...
The company can brag that their formulation has a special blend of herbs and spices, but someone who wants to can obviously make their own special formulation and say that theirs is secret too.
More importantly, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. And there is nothing particularly special about WD-40's formulation anymore. WD-40 consistently performs worse than nearly any other available penetrating oil. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUEob2oAKVs It's a terrible long term lubricant (because it's designed to evaporate, it actually concentrates gunk and grime).
WD-40 themselves have come out with improved "Specialist" formulations that mostly just copy other, superior products.