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What is penetrating oil?

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Wd40 is great for removing polyurethane grease (Prothane Super Grease) from your hands. It's very very sticky and the WD40 slides it right off.

I use PB Blaster and heat. I've also head of a trick that you drip hot candle wax down the thread and it will loosen some tightly stuck nuts.
 
Tomster said:
A friend of mine swears that WD is great as a H2O dryer and a rust inhibitor but is one of the worst and most misused general lubricants available. He states that it just doesn't stay put where it's needed and evaporates rapidly.
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/bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/iagree.gif I wouldn't even call it a great rust inhibitor except for short term, indoor use; for much the same reasons. Seems to be just very light mineral oil and solvent, with no heavier fractions to remain behind and provide longer-term protection.

OTOH, it is very convenient and certainly better than nothing.
 
Something else to consider with a penetrating oil is what happens when you geat the frozen/rusted fastener to break free.

If you don't have any lubricating qualities once the threaded fastener comes free, it will quickly gall and mechanically re-lock up. It's that classic case of breaking it free, getting one turn on it, and then snapping it off.

Silikroil, Liquidwrench with Teflon, and others address this. The lubrication then provide lets the threads continue to slide past one another, greatly reducing the secondary galling and binding failures that most other penetrating oils create.
 
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