roguequilter

it's the acid in olive oil in the WD-40. the #40 is from fact that it was the 40th attempt at creating working recipe that succeeded. ie - WD-40

manicmike

I thought it was Stoddard solvent

Mickey2

I have tried to look up the ingrediens in WD40, the closest I have come is a safety data sheet. From what I can remember it's mostly hexane and various petroleum derived oils. Hexane would make it evaporate fast and leave the dry film. I don't know what the secret ingredient is, the maker swears it does't gum up or contain either vegetable oil or whale oil. On the web you can find the funniest claims to this oil, some of them hardly believable LOL

DonnaMiller

WD40 doesn't really contribute anything. You have to remove every bit of it. I use the aforementioned bicycle chain oil, TriFlow. It kills the rust and makes things move that didn't before. It removed rust from attachments and I was able to shine them. Otherwise I would have discarded them because the rust was so bad. It can't replace lost plating, but it can take away the nasty rust.

miriam

I stumbled on the bike chain oil by accident. I was in the bike store and they were out of Tri-Flow. So I bought the chain oil. I didn't like it at all so I set it aside. Then one day I had a really nasty machine and thought hhhhhmmmmm I wonder if the bike chain oil would work on that - it did. I'm hooked. I think it has a detergent in it or something. But it sure does get the rust out of there. I have a machine that was totally rusted up in the nose area - I should get it out and see how it is doing after sitting a couple years. That chain oil is thick. I don't recommend it for every day use.

Well I just dug it out and that machine turns like a champ! The rust is still gone!

Mickey2

I have tried to get to the botton of rust removers and inhibitors. Oil in itself is rust inhibiting, the added substances vary from maker to maker. I haven't managed to get a general view of them, but on the bottles are alkanolamine salts, alkylbenzene sulfonate, polyethers, benzotriazol and molybdenium often mentioned. These are the additives typically 1% or less of the full content, I have no idea what they are. There's rarely a full list of ingredients, often secret recipes and a pinch of hype, they tend to work though.

There are two oils they sell in bicycles stores I have bought repeatedly for years now; Triflow and Finish Line Ceramic Wet lube. They are both much the same light synthetic oil with added teflon, noticeably a notch or two better than the basic mineral oil. Bike oils are usually thicker than sewing machine oil, often added a sticky agent to make it coat chains and stay there in all kinds of weather. Because of this they can be very gooey. Triflow is sold as an all around type lubricant, the Finish Line Wet Lube is marketed for bikes but its' a very nice oil, very light and clean oil, coats the metal well and will not gum if it gets the chance to dry up.

Rust is this weird stuff, it coats surfaces and makes parts fuse stuck with corrotion. When oiled and unstuck; as gears and hinges get's used again rust sort of dissolves, it flushes out like a dust and residue in the oil. I usually get it all off, but it can take time and several rounds with cleaning, scrubbing and oiling. Using the machine regularly is often the best medicine.

This subject is an ongoing thing for me, both when I tend to my bikes and when I take over an old sewing machine.

miriam

Finish Line works for me - yes it is thick but I wasn't mad about it in the end. I've only used it where there was real bad rust.

Mickey2

Which bottle did you get? I have used two different types, and their grease , but the one I like for sewing machines is light running oil, with "nano particle teflon and boron nitride", totally within regular sewing machine oil viscosity, lighter than the original Singer oil. It's a clear transparent bottle with gold screw-on top and a bit of gold on the sticker, other wise the same recognisable logo; "Finish Line Ceramic Wet Chain Lube". The lubricant it's self is more of a milky white liquid, or opaque white. I have the TriFlow bottle right next to it ;- )

J Miller

Miriam,

You got a link to this "Finish Line" stuff????


Joe

miriam

The stuff I got was green.