WHY IS THE WD-40 SO BAD?

[J-Hood]

WD-40 is far better than graphite in a lock. I have worked for the last 7 years in the midwest cleaning out graphite filled locks and looking at worn pins and tumblers caused by graphite. Graphite, when used in excess or when allowed to get wet or dirty will clog a lock. The only thing that seems to clean it is WD-40.

Now WD-40 is also a liquid so over doing it just causes a little river to form while over doing any solid based lube will cause parts and chambers to fill. With that said I would rather leave a customer with WD-40 over any dry lube.

On my own I use dry lubes in very small amounts but then I am not an idiot. Customers generally are idiots. "If a little is good a bunch is better" is the mentality.

Jason

[Dooms_day]

Why is this topic alive? lol. It's been said many times since 2003, WD40 while a lubricant can actually freeze up the lock when it dries because of it's chemical properties. It is better to use something that doesn't go through chemical changes (such as graphite dust) to use as a lubricant because it will always remain a lubricant.

[globallockytoo]

WD-40 is far better than graphite in a lock. I have worked for the last 7 years in the midwest cleaning out graphite filled locks and looking at worn pins and tumblers caused by graphite. Graphite, when used in excess or when allowed to get wet or dirty will clog a lock. The only thing that seems to clean it is WD-40.

Now WD-40 is also a liquid so over doing it just causes a little river to form while over doing any solid based lube will cause parts and chambers to fill. With that said I would rather leave a customer with WD-40 over any dry lube.

On my own I use dry lubes in very small amounts but then I am not an idiot. Customers generally are idiots. "If a little is good a bunch is better" is the mentality.

Jason

You are obviously not a locksmith or in the locksmith business. WD40 is frowned upon by locksmiths the world over.

By all means continue using it. Then wonder why your customers go to real professionals who know what they are talking about.

[EmCee]

WD-40 is far better than graphite in a lock. I have worked for the last 7 years in the midwest cleaning out graphite filled locks and looking at worn pins and tumblers caused by graphite. Graphite, when used in excess or when allowed to get wet or dirty will clog a lock. The only thing that seems to clean it is WD-40.

Now WD-40 is also a liquid so over doing it just causes a little river to form while over doing any solid based lube will cause parts and chambers to fill. With that said I would rather leave a customer with WD-40 over any dry lube.

On my own I use dry lubes in very small amounts but then I am not an idiot. Customers generally are idiots. "If a little is good a bunch is better" is the mentality.

Jason

You are obviously not a locksmith or in the locksmith business. WD40 is frowned upon by locksmiths the world over.

By all means continue using it. Then wonder why your customers go to real professionals who know what they are talking about.

Strange, I didn't read J-Hood's contribution that way at all. Sounded like he knew about locks and was giving his opinion that customers are best advised to use WD-40 rather than graphite. That sounds fine to me. Also said he used dry lubes himself.

WD-40 is frowned upon by SOME locksmiths. Others use it while still understanding its shortcomings.

Most of all, it seems to me that people should be able to post their opinions on the site without those who disagree jumping on them aggressively and insulting them.

Cheers...

[mhole]

WD-40 is frowned upon by SOME locksmiths. Others use it while still understanding its shortcomings.

Most of all, it seems to me that people should be able to post their opinions on the site without those who disagree jumping on them aggressively and insulting them.

Amen to that.

[thelockpickkid]

Here in Western Oregon it can rain all day, then freeze or snow at night, and be froze for the next month. I am not a big fan of the WD either, but we almost have to use it on padlocks to make them repel all the rain water, if we don't, we have to thaw the locks out with a propane torch just to get the key in to open them. I had to do this the other morning at work just so we could get the day started, everything was froze solid.

[globallockytoo]

Look. WD40 is a good product. Dont get me wrong. It is specifically designed to dry out wet metal parts, because it displaces water molecules including ice.\

Therefore it has it's intended uses.

It can still "unfreeze" metal parts, so it should be used to "lubricate" "frozen" metal materials, but be sure to run some 'normal' lube on the parts before relying on it to function correctly in differing conditions.

Having said that, let me say that, WD40 is a product that has it's merits, but many users seem to think that it is supposed to eradicate the "sticky" problem that affects metal parts. Whereas it does, in the short term, it cannot provide the long term solution that it's use suggests it should do.

Use at your peril.

[illusion]

I ran a little experiment using ACF-50 last month. For those who don't know what it does, it is a corrosion inhibitor, although it claims to lubricate too. I bought it to stop my motorbike rusting over the winter and to protect the metal, which has so far worked wonderfully and led me to try it on a lock. I flushed a cylinder with kerosene to remove any existing lubricant and applied a relatively small amount of ACF-50, before leaving the cylinder outside in the elements for a month. After one month being left, unsheltered on the floor, the lock still works very well. I took it apart after and noticed very little water trapped in it, with the components still gleaming and the mechanism functioning well.

It's early days so far and the snow that it is currently sat in will be an interesting factor to test how well it works but I'm impressed so far.

[thelockpickkid]

hmm, where did you buy that stuff at?

[illusion]

Are you asking me?

I bought an aerosol can from ebay, although I've seen it for sale through plenty of online vendors. I recall paying about £10 for the can including postage which makes it a little expensive in honesty. Saying this, I used it on the motorbike and coated lots of bits on my car with it, then used it on most of my lock collection that had started to dull with age etc; after all this I estimate I've only used about half a can since it seems to have little propellant hence a little bit goes a long way.

Time will tell whether it holds up to its claims but so far I've been rather impressed.

[thelockpickkid]

Are you asking me?

I bought an aerosol can from ebay, although I've seen it for sale through plenty of online vendors. I recall paying about £10 for the can including postage which makes it a little expensive in honesty. Saying this, I used it on the motorbike and coated lots of bits on my car with it, then used it on most of my lock collection that had started to dull with age etc; after all this I estimate I've only used about half a can since it seems to have little propellant hence a little bit goes a long way.

Time will tell whether it holds up to its claims but so far I've been rather impressed.

Thanks, I will try to find some, worth a shot.

[shaothegreat]

OK here's the deal... I use WD-40 to clean up a rusty stiff keyway/shackle (if on a padlock). After letting it sit for awhile, I will spray generous amounts of contact cleaner in remove the WD-40. After that's all dry, I will attempt graphite. Nothing frees up a corroded lock like WD-40, just make sure to get it all out before you add the graph or you will end up with oily mud.

[piecrust]

I agree WD40 is good for loosening up corroded locks I bet u cannot beat it while time is money.

But longevity wise I think the problem for example the delicate springs in tumbler locks are not WD40 friendly.

A nice big horrible lever lock will be fine with WD40.

[bobhdus]

It's been fun watching this go back and forth. I had some training through BEST Lock (http://www.bestaccess.com) years ago and they would only recommend using LPS Penetrant or powdered graphite in their locks They gave a guy dirty looks for saying WD-40 would work as well. Check out page 3-9 of their service manual for lock cores
http://www.bestaccess.com/service-docum ... Manual.pdf

I also know old timers that will use tranny fluid/ acetone in a 50/50 mix as a penetrating oil for sticking components check out http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/ge ... il-196347/

I have personally used both graphite, LPS and WD-40 and never had a problem. I guess to be on the safe side, if the info is available or you service a predominant brand of lock you might look to see what that manufacturer says to use. I personally use a can of compressed air (keyboard cleaner) and gently blow the cores out regardless so there is no accumulation as you never know who else is squirting stuff in them (sometimes our security guards add to our locks).

[SavhD]

AH, the old WD-40 debate... Some swear by it... Many swear it's pure EVIL... Everyone has an opinion... I'm no different...

I've been a locksmith for about five years, but worked in retail LP management and general security for 9 years before that, so even before I was getting paid to work on locks specifically, I was working on locks... So I have some good experience, even if I'm not one of these "I've been doing this 60 years" guys...

I feel WD-40 has it's place, and I keep a can in My tool bag, and use it most days, but that place is NOT finish lubricating or protecting locks. I use WD-40 for LIGHT cleaning and unsticking only... Mostly because it works OK for that purpose, and it's dirt cheap...

For DEEP cleaning, lubrication, and most importantly as a protectant, MY personal choice is ZEP 45 NC, which is a C.L.P. containing Teflon, designed to be used on industrial machine parts and also used by many gunsmiths. Given the high humidity and salt content of the air in our city keeping locks properly protection against corrosion is a must, and while (when properly used) powdered graphite can "lubricate" a lock, it will NEVER protect one from corrosion.

Now, ZEP 45NC DOES have some drawbacks... First, it's expensive, a 20oz can will run you about $25 bucks at a gunshop. Secondly, it stinks to high heaven. Other then that, it's pretty standard stuff, and the same precautions should be used as with any aerosol CLP.

A quick note, for badly rusted or corroded locks (in a coastal city where some of the locks I see are almost 150 years old, there's A LOT of that) I don't use EITHER of these, I use a product called Evapo-Rust... but that's a completely different can of chemicals.

And that's My two cents...