5 Unusual Ways to Use WD-40

Yahoo ^ | April 4, 2015 | Bob Vila

[kingattax]

WD-40 is a utility shelf staple. You probably know it as your go-to solution for squeaky hinges and rust prevention, but it’s so much more! Inside the familiar blue-and-yellow can is a secret blend of lubricants with anticorrosion, water displacement, and soil removal superpowers. Grab a can today to solve some of the nagging household problems that follow.

[JohnG45]

Never could watch his show, because he talked right over the very people he had on his show to SHOW people how to do stuff. Therefore- ego and and idiot.

Yeah. He would ask the expert tradesman a question and then answer his own question leaving the expert to only be able to say: "That's right Bob."

You're right. He is an egotistical blowhard.

[tiki]

We used it on saddles and baseball gloves.

[yarddog]

Most powerful springers will diesel for a few dozen shots when they are new. It is not good for them but apparently does no real damage in that time.

Weihrauch, unsure of the spelling, used to make an air rifle with a little port which you swung out, dropped a drop of ether in, closed and it would purposely diesel. Obviously very powerful and it was made to withstand the explosion so I guess it did no damage.

[dasboot]

http://www.globalsoftware-inc.com/coolerman/fj40/ed%27sred.htm

Ed’s Red homebrew : acetone; Dextron Tranny fluid; turps; lanolin.

I made two gallons ten years ago. Use it for maintaining should turnbuckles on salt water sailing boats...and any and all fasteners and fittings. Amazing stuff. Best stuff.....better than just acetone and Dextrose mentioned in earlier post’s data, because it stays where you put it for a long long time.

Do yourself a favor. Make some!

[tet68]

WD-40 makes a good drilling fluid, but it is not a
good penetrant and it is certainly no lubricant.

PB Blaster is very good.

ATF was developed during WWII to replace whale oil
as a fine lubricant which was hard to procure.

We use a mix called Ed’s Red on our weapons.
It is one part kerosene,
one part turpentine.
one part acetone.......if for a cleaner.
one part ATF.
We also mix it with pure lanolin to make
a thicker application.
The acetone evaporates quickly anyway but is
good for loosening crud.

If using corrosive ammo, spray the barrel down
with windex before you leave the range then clean
with ed’s red with acetone,
finish with the thicker mix and you’ll be good to go.
Make it up using quart measures and a gallon lasts a
long time.
t.

[Windflier]

It is useful for a lot of temporary purposes. It will simply not last when used on duct work.

Instead of arguing with me, why don't you ask the next a/c guy you meet, whether or not they're familiar with this?

What you think about the properties of duct tape is irrelevant. It's been used for decades for the exact purpose I described, which is how and why it got its name.

[yarddog]

I don’t mean to be argumentative but my Father worked in heating and air conditioning at Eglin AFB for just about 40 years.

A lot of that time was spent at the climatic laboratory.

He installed the AC/Heating in our house when I was younger. He used no tape at all. We (my brothers and I) helped him install the duct work. He is the one who told me not to use duck tape on anything which was going to be subjected to any stress, wear or the elements and certainly not for long term use.

[Ditto]

had several rolls of athletic tape and taped up the radiator hose where it was leaking, refilled the radiator and drove the short distance to the airport.

Back in the day, I used regular electrical tape for the same reason and it lasted for months. ;~))

[yarddog]

Yes, electrical tape, both the shiny and fabric type are very useful for a lot of temporary repairs.

[esoxmagnum]

any HVAC guy that uses duck or duct tape to seal ducts is a hack.

[Daffynition]

Recently found an old bottle of it at an estate sale, in a dark corner of the garage.

Brought back a flood of memories b/c my dad used it on his knee-high hunting boots; and my brother on his baseball glove.

Am I remembering correctly, did it have a really strong odor?

[Daffynition]

I did learn that thanks, when I looked up info about it, to try to find if it is still in use. ;D

[Rockpile]

The phrase “duck tape” goes back way the hell before there was any air conditioning ducts. There was a duck tape story in Invention and Technology magazine twenty odd years ago about the development of the MOISTURE RESISTANT tape for sealing ammunition and other boxes going overseas. IIRC, the story had the contract numbers of the original order to Johnson and Johnson for production. It had absolutely nothing whatever to do with HVAC ; the duct tape name did not come along until the 50s.

[esoxmagnum]

try Sea Foam Deep Creep. I’m a plumber by trade also HVAC/boilers (50 years just retired not long ago) and years ago we started carrying Deep Creep on our trucks. Works great on rusted pipe fittings, best thing we’ve used. Especially on boilers. Unless you can use a torch of course. I use it on my cars as well.

For cast iron pipes that wont come loose.... an apprentice and a sledge hammer work best.

[Rockpile]

That was during World War 2 I should have added.

[Jack Hydrazine]

Get Tri-Flow. It’s the best thing for locks!

[outofsalt]

pfl

[right way right]

Thanks I'll have to try it.
The acetone and ATF sounds interesting too.
I work a lot with pins on equipment too.
Heat applied correctly can save a lot of hassle at times.
Get the weldement bosses good and red and what ever you do don't mushroom the ends of the pins. Put on the hearing protection.

[wally_bert]

Never heard of that one but put it on the Amazon wishlist to remember it. Learned a lot on this thread.

[wally_bert]

Good to know. Will check into that one as well. Thank you.