Is WD-40 Dangerous To Use?

[TB Roye]

What does WD40 stand for? and what it its main ingrediant?


See below

Tom

















Water Displacement compound 40th formulation
Fish oil
found on Snopes

[Joe DeFazio]

Though WD-40 is a great product, and I have and use it, I want to point out that it is a water displacement agent (as has been posted), and was not designed to be a lubricant. Although it can be used as a lubricant successfully for some applications, for others it is a poor choice.

My day gig is that I'm a piano tuner/technician/rebuilder. I have seen the actions (interior mechanisms) of several pianos totally ruined by WD-40, adding up to thousands of dollars of damage in each instance.

I'm glad that some of you are discovering some great uses for WD-40, and I'm not trying to rain on anyone's parade; I'm just asking you to use a bit of caution and think through the value of the item you are experimenting on before beginning to apply WD-40.

Joe

[cabinetman]

I'm glad that some of you are discovering some great uses for WD-40, and I'm not trying to rain on anyone's parade; I'm just asking you to use a bit of caution and think through the value of the item you are experimenting on before beginning to apply WD-40.

Joe

That's an excellent suggestion. Care has to be taken. They should print a warning that WD-40 should NOT be used as a replacement for toothpaste, eye drops, breath freshener, hair tonic, after shave, underarm deodorant, shaving cream, or nasal spray. Further it should be warned that it should NOT be used as a treatment for athlete's foot, jock itch, or a substitute for vaseline and most importantly K-Y jelly. I can also say it make a terrible hand cream. But, when sprayed on your feet it makes your socks easier to pull up.
.

[jon_ramp]

Though WD-40 is a great product, and I have and use it, I want to point out that it is a water displacement agent (as has been posted), and was not designed to be a lubricant. Although it can be used as a lubricant successfully for some applications, for others it is a poor choice.

While it is a great water displacement agent, it is also a dust and dirt magnet. I had used it once on my 870 shotgun trigger assembly after hunting in the rain. A few months later I had to clean it all out.

If you have ever used it on a bicycle chain you'll come to the same conclusion.

[footprintsinconc]

way to go cabinetman, that was good!

[prlundberg]

While it is a great water displacement agent, it is also a dust and dirt magnet. I had used it once on my 870 shotgun trigger assembly after hunting in the rain. A few months later I had to clean it all out.

If you have ever used it on a bicycle chain you'll come to the same conclusion.

Been there, yep, do not use it to lubricate any part of your bicycle.

[Bruce Cohen]

Has anyone tried using it as a top coat to finish wood?

Bruce

[Black wallnut]

This same topic has been posted several times in the past. I have used it as a shampoo after spray painting farm equipment. Believe me it helps remove paint from your hair; head and beard! Used with epoxy paint and other oil based paints.

[TheRic]

...... I have seen the actions (interior mechanisms) of several pianos totally ruined by WD-40, adding up to thousands of dollars of damage in each instance.....

Just out of curiosity how does it ruin them?

[Greg.B]

Just out of curiosity how does it ruin them?

I would think it would cause some parts to stretch and get out of tune.

[gsmittle]

I was in my local mom & pop hardware store a couple weeks ago, and on one endcap they had the Holy Grail: a six-pack of duct tape next to a gallon can of WD 40.

Spraying a light coat on a portable dance floor will make the dancers fall down....

DAMHIKT....

g.

[ssmith1627]

I'd be interested to try it out on our old hardwood floors....maybe in a remote closet somewhere to start.

This is NOT the thing for cleaning cast iron power tool tables though, right ? I'd think it would leave a residue behind. Those are to be cleaned with mineral spirits ?

Steve

[Joe DeFazio]

Just out of curiosity how does it ruin them?

("them" meaning pianos, from an earlier post)

Hi Ric,

WD-40 can cause major problems in three areas of a piano.

The "action" is the interior complex mechanism between the keys and the hammers (more or less inclusive). In order for the action to function correctly, there are usually 350-600 small pivot points called action centers that must allow the connected parts to rotate through an arc. Each of these action centers has a fairly narrow range of friction values within which it operates correctly. Too tight or too loose, and the piano doesn't play well (sometimes doesn't play almost at all). When the action centers get too tight, and are subsequently treated with WD-40, they may loosen up for a while, but will often freeze up more or less fatally later on. Unfortunately, it seems that all-too-many folks just spray some WD-40 in there and hope for the best. This ruins the parts and precludes other effective treatments.

A second area where friction must be highly consistent in order for a piano to function is in the tuning pin block. The pinblock is a lamination of rock maple (usually), into which very precisely-sized holes are drilled. The tuning pins are really just incredibly finely-threaded screws that are driven in with a hammer. The string is brought up to tension (160-220 lbs pre string), and the piano's tuning is done by manipulating the tuning pin. Contamination of the pinblock by WD-40 or many other substances can render it incapable of holding a tuning. Sometimes this can be treated without replacing the pinblock; sometimes not.

A third area where WD-40 can cause problems is the bass strings, which have a copper winding around a steel core (sort of like the lower strings on a steel-string guitar). As several other posters have noted, WD-40 is a dust magnet, and an accumulation of dust and other airborne particles can ruin the sound of the bass strings. New bass strings must be custom-made at a factory specifically for each piano (diameters are measured to the thousandth of an inch, string segments to the millimeter), so replacing them is a fairly big job. It's not like changing guitar strings.

Hope that wasn't too long winded....

Joe

[Joe DeFazio]

That's an excellent suggestion. Care has to be taken. They should print a warning that WD-40 should NOT be used as a replacement for toothpaste ...
.

Thanks for the heads-up about the toothpaste; I guess I'll have to switch back to the cheap Chinese "Aqla Flesh" from the dollar store. Antifreeze, anyone?

Joe

P.s. - no anti-Chinese sentiment intended; I just really love some of the spellings at the dollar store though....

[Whit]

Wd 40

I have heard of people using it for arthritis. Have no idea if it works or not. Not sure I would try it.
Whit