I
Not disgust at the product - disgust at the misapplication of the product.
Works great if used correctly - but it is not a substitute for a lubricant, it’s lousy at that, and it is a terrible preservative.
You know you’re dealing with an amateur if they apply WD-40 in hopes of doing anything other than displacing moisture.
Have found that WD40 works really well as a cleaner. It is excellent for removing gummy stuff.
Funny WD40 story:
So over the years on jobsites installing copper piping for water distribution and sometimes drainage piping, one learns that there are some do and dont's, and absolutely dont's. One of the 100% never dont's, is using wd40 for anything having to do with copper tubing or pipe. Don't use wd40 on copper tubing cutters, don't store wd40 near copper fittings, flux, MAPP gas cans, B-tank hoses.......nothing. Reason being, if wd40 is on the surface of the copper, it will not under any circumstances soft solder. Once it is on the pipe, it is nearly impossible to remove it to an extent as to where the proper cleaning and fluxing of the copper will allow solder to flow where it needs to. The pipe can be cleaned such that it can be used, but it is very labor intensive and greatly darkens the pipe from the copper shine to a dark grey metallic petina.
Many years ago, in Boone, NC I was contract to plumb a log cabin kit build. 100% with copper. Used stainless hangers and rod, copper drains, and copper tubing. All the plumbing would be 100% exposed and had to look like a million bucks. I had a good reputation for workmanship and a builder who I had never worked for called me out of nowhere for the job. "Dont care about the cost" he said.......music to my ears.
So I looked at the job, and order materials to suit. Copper drainage stuff is not too common in these parts so much was very newly made. The copper tubing I selected was fresh. In fact I bought a whole bundle of each size, so it would have the least amount of handling marks from forklifts and the like. Very expensive. The customer wanted pristine, and do to the nature of material handling in the industry....it was a must. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 25K in copper materials
Anyway, I brought it to the site and placed it on some saw horses....and came back on monday. It was a highly secure site, with cameras and such, so i felt better with the materials on site rather than on my open trailer over the weekend. Less handling the better.
That Sunday I got a call from the builder, whos wife was also the designer.......one of the ones who came up with the idea of the rough but pristine copper piping, exposed throughout the log cabin. He was asking me how to get some of the tarnish off of the pipe and fittings an such. I explained that in order to do the work like they wanted, we would have to go over all the piping with a scrubber pad after all the joints had been made to shine everything up and make everything look uniform.....then after we were done with that step, I was going to go over all the piping with a clear coat of paint, so the copper would not oxidize over time.......I had done similar jobs before. He said "oh, I thought wd40 would work pretty well..........I bought a few cans and wiped all the wipes for you thinking it would shine up a bit, and they did a little".
GC paid for the pipe, and the next order. Job complete and it was nice. I have developed photos of the work, no electronic ones. Maybe one of the most expensive WD40 stories ever.
A few years later, the cabin was sold and the new owners ending up painting the interior decorator white along with all the pipe that I had worked so hard to install......such as life.
