How long does a coating of wd40 last?

H

Hermit_Knight

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Mar 19, 2018
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Until my tuff cloth comes from the other side of the world I’m using wd40 on my blades in storage and I’m just wandering how long a coating of wd40 lasts on knives that are not in use? Thank you.
 
Do they sell mineral oil in the pharmacies in your part of the world? If they do, buy a small bottle, (sold very inexpensively as a laxative in most pharmacies or department stores), and apply to your blades. You will have no rust and you will sleep peacefully at night knowing your beloved blades are safe from harm. (You can also use the mineral oil to lightly wipe down the covers / scales.)
 
Blues said:
Do they sell mineral oil in the pharmacies in your part of the world? If they do, buy a small bottle, (sold very inexpensively as a laxative in most pharmacies or department stores), and apply to your blades. You will have no rust and you will sleep peacefully at night knowing your beloved blades are safe from harm. (You can also use the mineral oil to lightly wipe down the covers / scales.)
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Yeah they have mineral oil sounds like a good option thanks.
 
At work we use adjustable pliers in water every day. At the end of the day, they should be getting a fresh coat of WD40. I've seen a pair of pliers go a whole week w/o WD40, & only minimal rusting. That's dunking them in water 30-50 times a day. So there's that. :thumbsup:
 
I recently started using mineral oil for blade preserving and pivot lubing with excellent results. Mineral oil is cheap and it lasts and from what I remember someone here noted that WD40 has solvents in it to thin it out and that's not great:thumbsdown: It could interact with some scale materials. BTW mineral oil also make a great lubricant for sex but I digress ;)
 
Well ome time a person in another chatroom told me that WD-40 and mineral oil in general evaprates over time.
This sounded to me like blithering, cross eyed badger spit so I decided to do an experiment.
I took a thin square of clear glass, put on it a good size drop of various common examples of mineral oil including WD-40 and next to the drops i applied a very thin smear of the same oil.
Over many months I gave updates of how things were developping.

Long story short the thin smears remained quite visible and the drops spread a little but nothing ever disapeared like say water or alcohol would have. It's been many years now. I look at the square of glass now and then . . .
Yup all is still there.
 
Ballistol is great stuff but I’ve heard it can react weird with PB washers, so I use a knife lubricant from Boker that comes in a syringe like pen that I’m 99% sure is just high quality mineral oil and it works great. The syringe makes it really easy to apply and it’s like $7.
Don’t use WD40, it’s primarily a solvent not a lubricant.
 
Wowbagger said:
Well ome time a person in another chatroom told me that WD-40 and mineral oil in general evaprates over time.
This sounded to me like blithering, cross eyed badger spit so I decided to do an experiment.
I took a thin square of clear glass, put on it a good size drop of various common examples of mineral oil including WD-40 and next to the drops i applied a very thin smear of the same oil.
Over many months I gave updates of how things were developping.

Long story short the thin smears remained quite visible and the drops spread a little but nothing ever disapeared like say water or alcohol would have. It's been many years now. I look at the square of glass now and then . . .
Yup all is still there.
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That’s a great little experiment you did there.
 
Night Rider said:
I remember someone here noted that WD40 has solvents in it to thin it out
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Yes it is a very mild solvent.
The only thing I have ever noticed it to effect . . . and I use WD-40 every single day on high end machines to make my living . . . is it will cause seal swell in some dust seals. Think wiper seals for hydraulics.

I find citrus solvent like Zep to be far more damaging and it is pretty mild stuff.
 
Here you go :
We've had a few of these discussions over the years.
Usually ending with me shutting the heck up an these guys finally teaching me something in spite of my self.
Link>>>>>
 
Blues said:
You'll have the same bottle (of mineral oil) for a long, long time and it's a much better preservative (and lubricant) than the WD-40.
Happy to help, my friend.
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I'm confused... Can you please explain how mineral oil is "a much better preservative (and lubricant) than the WD-40." Especially when you consider that WD-40 is mineral oil? Mineral oil with a highly volatile solvent (Stoddard's Solvent) to allow the oil to flow and penetrate before evaporating leaving a complete coat of mineral oil behind.

IF mineral oil is a good lubricant and preservative, and WD-40 is just mineral oil and a temporary thinner, then it stands to reason that WD-40 is a good lubricant and preservative. Or have I got that wrong?


Stitchawl
 
There are alot of tests on YouTube on these. One reason to use mineral oil over Wd40 is that it's food safe and doesn't leave a nasty off color residue. It is mineral oil though.

Use whatever one you like. Either way it's not that long lasting in many of the tests done. It will likely be good enough for your use whichever you choose.

I use fluid film or mineral oil. I've also used wax for long term storage. Fluid film lasts longer than mineral oil, but it's lanolin based. While food safe some people are allergic.to lanolin (wool and sheep etc). It's not idea to get in your pivot so for folders take care to just rub it on the blade.

Wax is the idea solution for long term storage on fixed blades. You dont really want to get wax in the pivot area of a folder.

Frog lube is basically coconut oil that doesn't go rancid and it works good too.

Tuff cloth or Tuff glide dry lube works but it's technically food safe after it dries after a period of time... But if it chips off you don't want to eat it, it's toxic. So you kind of have to be careful in that respect.

I'm not certain there is a food safe long lasting solution. The most common is mineral oil cause it's really cheap and the bottle will last a long time for coating your blades as often as needed and food safe without the chemicals.
 
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