what's the best lubricant for squeaky door hinges

[Squelchtone]

There's a lot of talk about lubricants for lock cylinders and plenty of opinions on using powdered graphite, or a spray lubricant. Some folks even swear by WD-40, but what do you use on squeaky door hinges?

I have a few doors that are currently squeaky, and before I take the easy way out and spray them with WD-40, and before I use my $12 dollar can of Locksaver which I prefer to use on cylinders, what do you use to stop squeaky hinges?

This is on a wooden door with 3 hinges, not a continuous piano hinge. If I can take the hinge pins out, do you locksmiths out there ever clean them up, or degrease them or remove dust and debris? Is spraying the outside of the hinge and then opening and closing the door enough to get the lubricant in there?

Thanks
Squelchtone

[l0ckcr4ck3r]

Is WD40 a lubricant? ... promotes aboute as much debate a the "Pro-Life" question, but heres my 5 cents :/

WD40 is a mix water dispersants, solvents and a small fraction of light mineral oil. You spray it on something like a hinge and the first thing it does is dissolve any lubricant thats in there already in and flushes out all the debris like rust and metal particles as a dark grey sludge. You clean it up and an hour later theres more appeared... repeat the clean up process for the next few weeks at longer and longer time intervals.. cause if you don't, it will stain any paint its left in contact with. Eventually all the higher fraction solvents will evaporate and you will be left with a thick waxy deposit there which will provide a small amount of lubrication... oh and attract and capture dust particles, around the joint where the two halves of the hinge meet. If its installed in an environment that has enough humidity and temperature variation to cause occasional condensation... that ball of fluff holds onto the moisture and a year down the line you may see a ring of fresh rust around the hinge joint. Few drops of 3-in-one is your best bet, for a simple fix, in my experience.

[Jacob Morgan]

Light turbine oil is what is in 3 in 1 oil, and Zoom Spout oil, if I recall correctly. Ought to be just fine for hinges.

Basically, you just want light oil that will fill the gap between the metal parts. Some oils aren't really oil (like WD40 as the prior poster pointed out). Some oils, like motor oil, are about 1/3 non-oil additives that do things like neutralize combustion by-products. Other oils, like gear oil might have extreme pressure additives that are great in a truck differential but slowly eat away at brass and bronze. More cost may not mean it is better for what you need, but rather better for a different application.

Plain old lubricating oil would go under the names of turbine oil (low viscosity) or cylinder oil (higher viscosity). There are some spray oils like those for chains and those for wire ropes that may be more likely to stay in place, might be worth a try if they want something that would last longer than plain oil. Way oil for machine tools might work well too, but hard to find in small quantity.

[RumballSolutions]

My preference is to use silicone spray lube on hinges. It drys clear and has less potential to stain surrounding surfaces. It also doesn't attract grit as readily.

On higher grade commercial hinges with synthetic bushings it is less likely to affect the bushings. The bushings are supposed to negate ongoing lubrication, but nothing is perfect.

Whatever you use, hold a clean rag behind/under the hinge when you spray to catch whatever gunk comes out from the hinge. Invariably you will have graphite previously applied to a hinge when you work on a door with white paint and light coloured carpet!

[MatrixBlackRock]

This is on a wooden door with 3 hinges, not a continuous piano hinge. If I can take the hinge pins out, do you locksmiths out there ever clean them up, or degrease them or remove dust and debris? Is spraying the outside of the hinge and then opening and closing the door enough to get the lubricant in there?

Thanks
Squelchtone

Since you can pull the pins, I would suggest you pull one at a time and if not badly rusted give them a shot of lithium grease, which can be had as a spray from any automotive parts store.

Lithium grease, unlike WD-40, will stay in place and will keep the hinges quiet.

Wayne

[YouLuckyFox]

The locksmith for our campus uses Houdini for squeaky hinges.

[GWiens2001]

I use 3 in 1 oil. It lasts a long time.

Gordon

[jimu57]

Yep. 3 in 1 is even good on Corn Flakes.

[hdp160]

Inside doors I use olive oil from the kitchen. Cheap readily available.. I'm 63 and my father before me did the same.

[bembel]

Usually I'd recommend some kind of grease, but I've also made good experiences with silicone spray lube, just like Jacob Morgan said.

[kwoswalt99-]

Grease or some type of thick oil for me.

[C locked]

My preference is to use silicone spray lube on hinges. It drys clear and has less potential to stain surrounding surfaces. It also doesn't attract grit as readily.

On higher grade commercial hinges with synthetic bushings it is less likely to affect the bushings. The bushings are supposed to negate ongoing lubrication, but nothing is perfect.

Whatever you use, hold a clean rag behind/under the hinge when you spray to catch whatever gunk comes out from the hinge. Invariably you will have graphite previously applied to a hinge when you work on a door with white paint and light coloured carpet!

Amen to that recommendation, a preventative rag covering/limiting overspray/runoff
Has saved me a thousand times.
Also recommend them when the lock is being removed, as the black powder that occurs because that have never lubricated the lock
Makes a real mess.
Work smart dont make more work for yourself

[Mighty]

I generally use a silicone lubricant. Seems to last for a long time, and is generally safe for most materials.

[blue60]

I use white grease (Lithium grease) on hinges that are exposed to the outdoors and 3 in 1 oil on hinges that are indoors.

[Dipole]

I have a can of silicone spray lube that I've used successfully for almost a decade. In our previous apartment we had some really squeaky hinges and it sorted them out nicely. Used the same stuff on some hinges in our current place when we moved in few years ago and so far they've all stayed quiet.