Posts tagged ‘lubricant’
WD-40 Ingredients and Uses
By Chad Upton | Editor
WD-40 was created in 1953 by Norm Larsen. It was originally designed to prevent corrosion caused by water — the WD stands for “water displacement.” Norm’s 40th formula was successful and that’s where the “40” comes from.
The formula is so secretive, they decided not to patent it. This may sound counter intuitive, but filing for a patent would require disclosing the ingredients.
That strategy was good for a while, but many years later, the Hazardous Communication regulation required that ingredients of potentially hazardous products be made available to emergency responders.
I did some digging and found the material safety data sheet for WD-40 (PDF).
The main ingredient is Stoddard solvent, which is also known by its own brand name, Varsol. CO2 is used as a propellant and mineral oil is another main ingredient.
It was first used to protect the Atlas missile from corrosion and it became available to consumers in 1958. Since then, consumers have found over 2000 uses that the WD-40 Company endorses (and many more it doesn’t).
There is a popular email circulating that you may have seen. It states WD-40 is primarily fish oil, but that’s not true. The email also lists a number of uses, although the WD-40 company only recommends about half of those. Some of the 2000 recommended uses include:
- Stop squeaks (doors, bike chains)
- Remove and prevent rust (lawn mower blades during off season, cookie tins/sheets)
- Remove gum, glue, ink and lipstick from fabrics and other items
- Lubricate metal parts (zippers, tools, machines)
- Loosen nuts and screws
- Cleaning (shower doors, tools, lime stains in toilet bowls)
Check out the full list of 2000 uses (PDF).
PS – The WD-40 company has an affinity for product names with numbers. They also make 2000 flushes, X-14, 3-in-one-oil and a few other products.
Broken Secrets | Facebook | Twitter | Email | Kindle
Sources: Official WD-40 Uses (PDF), MSDS (PDF), Snopes
Vocal Throat Spray for Singers
Most high end sports cars and almost all race cars use synthetic lubricants in their engines. Between the really high temperatures, extreme pressure and intense friction, plain old oil just doesn’t cut it.
Lap after lap, hour after hour, there’s a lot of wear from all that horsepower.
Although I was surprised to learn about this secret weapon of professional performers, it only makes sense that high performance voices get their own brand of lubricant for their motors too. If you’re going to take your vocal chords for a lap, you might want to grease the wheels with vocalist throat spray.
It’s not just singers who can benefit from these sprays. (more…)
Broken Secrets 