Stop Wasting Lubricant

The lubricant you purchase for home and shop maintenance is some of the most expensive oil you can buy. In terms of chemical products, it’s among the most expensive materials that you regularly purchase, on a per-weight basis. Eight dollars will buy you a quart of motor oil, but will get you only about 8 oz. of spray lubricant used for home and shop maintenance. Essentially all of the motor oil will be put to use lubricating the engine of your car. It’s anybody’s guess how much of that spray lubricant will actually go to work lubricating a hinge, chain, or sliding surface. Most spray lubricant ends up as runoff and is wiped up. Some of it is discharged into the atmosphere. Either way, a small fraction of the material ends up as useful lubricant.

Takeaway: Choose both the lubricant and its applicator wisely to achieve the rare trifecta: save money, reduce waste, and improve the lubrication and mechanical life of the thing you are lubricating.

There are several things you can do to improve your lubrication efficiency.

Use 10-40 Weight Motor Oil

Use ordinary 10-40 weight motor oil but apply it with a good old fashioned pump oil can. The famous Dutton-Lainson company still makes its pump-action oil cans in the US and its equally famous Goldenrod 707 costs only $21. It will last you a lifetime. Since I switched to a pump-action oiler years ago, I cut my lubrication mess (and cost) to a tiny fraction of what it was before.

An old-fashioned pump oiler loaded with motor oil is a remarkably thrifty and precise way to put lubricant right where you need it.

Choose the Right Spray Lubricant

If you’re going to use spray lubricant (and who doesn’t) then spend a little more money and get one with a flexible applicator straw which helps you put the lubricant only where it’s needed. Yes, these cans are more expensive than cans with the little red dispenser straw, which inevitably gets lost or fouled with dirt. On the other hand, the extra cost is born out by the precision the flexible tip provides by dramatically improving your lubricating efficiency.

The flexible tip on some spray cans helps reduce waste by permitting you to more precisely put lubricant where it’s needed.

Try Precision Applicators

Another recent change to applicators are felt-tip lubrication pens. We’ve tried the WD-40 Precision Pen and love it. Yes, on a cost-weight basis, it’s very expensive. On the other hand, you’ll be amazed at how precise, portable, and efficient, this thing is.

The Precision Pen has a firm felt tip that you can remove and clean. Press the tip against a surface to engage the plunger action and wipe lubricant exactly where it’s needed. We’ve tried the pen and found it to be fast and neat.

The pen helps you get lubricant in tight spots and neatly coats a surface without creating runoff.

Switch to No-Drip Lubricants

Another way to increase your lubricating efficiency is to switch from a liquid lubricant that might run off of a vertical or overhead surface to a grease or a solid that will stay put. Super Lube 21030 is my go-to. I keep a tube of this synthetic grease in my tool bag, and it will last me at least a couple of years. It’s essentially 100 percent efficient in terms of its application.

Super Lube is a 100-percent synthetic grease that has essentially no odor, applies neatly, and comes in a tube that can fit in even a small tool box or pouch.

Super Lube is a grease that applies neatly and efficiently without any waste. Its neatness and its high lubricating properties allows a small amount to go a long way. One tube will last me at least a year or two.

The other great product that’s a more recent discovery is a solid; it’s AGS Door Ease, a stick wax formulated with a variety of oils, both petroleum and vegetable types, and carnauba wax. You can use it to do anything from lubricate the latch on a car door to make a drill bit more slippery.

Door-Ease is a lubricant wax stick. Use it like a crayon. Rub its tip over the surface where you need lubricant. As the tip wears down, tear off the paper shell to expose more stick.

Door-Ease can be used indoors or out. Rub a little of it on the part you need to lubricate and test its action. To get the maximum benefit of it, rub it on both surfaces of a moving joint. For example, on this interior door a light pass over both the latch and on the leading edge of the strike plate would provide enough lubrication for months of use. A little Door-Ease goes a long way.

Roy Berendsohn

Senior Home Editor

Roy Berendsohn has worked for more than 25 years at Popular Mechanics, where he has written on carpentry, masonry, painting, plumbing, electrical, woodworking, blacksmithing, welding, lawn care, chainsaw use, and outdoor power equipment. When he’s not working on his own house, he volunteers with Sovereign Grace Church doing home repair for families in rural, suburban and urban locations throughout central and southern New Jersey.