Grease
I recently discovered that white lithium grease is a much more
appropriate lubricant to use than WD-40 when it comes to items that are
open to the elements.
It provides a thick coat that stays in place and won't freeze.
The technical name for it is Cerflon, which uses a carbon-flourine
bond to form a ceramic reinforced fluoropolymer.
Or explore more posts by date or by subject.
About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
Want to be notified when new comments are posted on this page? Click on the RSS button after you add a comment to subscribe to the comment feed, or simply check the box beside "email replies to me" while writing your comment.
WD40 wasn't designed as a lubricant but as a Water Displacer.
If you want a lithuim grease, better get a lithium grease paste (commonly sold as "white grease"). This liquid wrench stuff contains 40-70% tetrachloroethylene, one of the rather nasty family of chlorinated hydrocarbons. Take care not to get that on your skin.
A fellow I went to school with (and who had a part-time job as a car mechanic) once washed his hands in tetrachloroethylene. The skin on his hands then started bleeding from the pores.