3 recipes for homemade WD-40: cheaper, more effective, faster than store-bought

Hi all! Each of you has probably heard about such a product as Vedashka or simply WD-40. But not everyone knows what it really is.

Today we will try to correct this situation. I suggest you find out whether it is a lubricant or not, how the product can be used at home, for cars, what its composition is and more.

But most importantly, let’s look at several recipes that allow you to independently make a composition that largely replicates the original VeDe-40.

Which recipe for the analogue of VD 40 is correct?

There are a lot of instructions and options on the Internet on how to make an analogue of VD 40 . All of them were developed based on available information, according to which the technical aerosol “Vedeshki” includes:

solvent white spirit - 50%
propellant, carbon dioxide - 25%
mineral oil - 15%
inert ingredients - 10%

It is on the basis of such components that in most cases an analogue of a liquid key is made. But, nevertheless, in pursuit of revealing the secret recipe for WD-40 fluid, there are several options using oil, adding solvents, penetrating liquids (kerosene), preservatives or rust-corroding ingredients.

real recipe was found experimentally . It included the following substances:

white spirit - 45–50%;
paraffin distillate - 15–25% (must be heavy and solvent-free);
hydrotreated isoparaffins - 12–18%;
carbon dioxide - 2–3% (a mixture of petroleum solvents and paraffin distillate).

Since most of them are not readily available in their pure form, as a rule, several other similar substances are mixed, which also allow you to perform the main task - unscrew a stuck or rusted nut. These more affordable ingredients are often found in every man's garage.

How to make a liquid key

A liquid wrench is a universal kerosene-based product that penetrates a rusty threaded connection and allows you to unscrew it without damaging the part. Such a liquid can hardly be called a lubricant. But since it displaces water, dissolves rust and stuck-on parts, in everyday life the liquid key product is sometimes called a penetrating lubricant.

The composition of such a liquid is quite simple; it often includes: kerosene , oil and solvent . Although, depending on small additions, both the properties and the very purpose of such a product will differ. The most popular “liquid key” today is VD-40, but its price is quite high, so car owners are trying to replace such a “miracle product” with another, cheaper, and no less effective one.

In order not to buy a liquid key for your car or household needs at exorbitant prices, you can make a penetrating lubricant with your own hands. There are 9 budget but working recipes for preparing a lubricant similar to WD-40.

Where is WD-40 used?

WD-40 liquid is truly unique; its purpose is wide and varied. There are even non-standard options for using WD-40, we will also talk about them.

displacement of moisture and protection from further ingress;
corrosion protection;
lubrication of parts without greasy marks;
penetration into the mechanism;
removal of greasy stains, traces of glue and bitumen;
cleaning plaque from the toilet;
removing a ring from a finger;
removing chewing gum from hair;
removing traces of tea from the countertop;
removing dark stripes from floor coverings;
creating a water-repellent layer on shoes;
restoration of the appearance of license plates;
protection of glass from freezing.

Impressive, isn't it? As you can see for yourself, WD-40 is not used for many things. The product developed by American specialists is truly unique.

Comparison

Since a substance of this type is not the only one of its kind, specialists carried out comparative work.

Drugs with a similar mechanism of action were compared, taking into account the following characteristics:

ability to protect against corrosion;
penetrating ability, which allows you to disconnect elements or eliminate squeaking;
economical consumption;
presence of a pungent odor;
efficiency factor (percentage of dry residue);
convenience of spraying.

Checking the fluid in action

While visiting my favorite hardware store, I bought a small can of WD-shki (100 ml) for 270 rubles. Then I went to Fix Price, where I saw a domestic equivalent for 99 rubles. — UPS-40. I bought that too.

In a hardware store, WD-40 costs 270 rubles, and UPS-40 costs 99 rubles. Photo by the author

Cleaning the door lock

The lock on the front door began to jam. I didn’t want to change it: it’s not a cheap pleasure. I kept forgetting to bring the WD from the dacha. And the entrance lock was working worse and worse: the key was difficult to insert and was difficult to turn. I seriously doubted that the magic liquid would help his mechanism. According to Murphy's law, events can only develop from worse to even worse. In general, it’s time to check - I poked the WD gun into the keyhole twice.

To fix the lock, just spray it into the hole a couple of times. Photo by the author

Inserted the key, twisted it, closed it and opened it. He pulled out the key and wiped it with a napkin. There was dirt left on it. This means that the liquid actually washed the lock.

After cleaning, the lock stopped jamming. Photo by the author

The wife was impressed by the result and poked at the keyhole of the front door lock on the landing. That lock didn’t open well at all, even the new one. For a whole week, when I left the house, I opened and closed these two locks. They really worked better, the key became easier to insert and turned without effort. It's just some kind of magic!

Resuscitation for instruments

The old pliers were difficult to open, and for many years this did not bother me much.
Sprayed from a can. Old pliers don't open well. WD-40 gets to work. Photo by the author

Left it to soak for

napkin

. Ten minutes later I lifted it up. Specific dirt flowed out of the pliers, and it remained on the napkin. The pliers began to open much easier.

The dirt is washed off perfectly. The tool is fine. Photo by the author

There are many videos on the Internet showing how to wash and clean various surfaces from complex contaminants with a WD-shroud. What struck me most was the video in which the guy

Super glue

removed from the carpet. It is even theoretically IMPOSSIBLE to wash cyacrine glue - it can only be peeled off.

We wash away dirt from the laminate

It made sense to check the cleaning properties of the liquid.
On a piece of laminate

I drew a little with different felt-tip pens.

I do test stains on the laminate. Photo by the author

I dripped and smeared my favorite Titebond glue (“brother” PVA). With a winter boot, I scribbled with pressure so that concrete marks remained on the surface of the laminate. I waited 8 hours for the glue to dry.

And a few more “difficult spots”. Photo by the author

I sprayed some WD onto a cotton pad and a little onto the laminate and started scrubbing. The cotton immediately became colored.

The liquid easily removed the felt-tip pen from the laminate. Photo by the author

After a couple of minutes, the laminate shone like new. I managed to erase everything except the glue. He is good, American, you can’t just erase him.

The glue didn't budge! Photo by the author

By the way, procedures for removing contaminants from surfaces should be carried out in a well-ventilated area. The liquid has a strong odor. The persistent smell after wiping the laminate lasted for about a day with open

windows

. Of course, the smell of WD cannot be compared with the aroma of cheap white spirit, but nevertheless it stinks specifically.

We are testing an analogue of WD-shki - UPS-40

On the other side of the panel, I stained the laminate symmetrically: felt-tip pens, boots, glue. I sprayed a cotton pad with the domestic product UPS-40.

Will the analogue work? Photo by the author

The smell of UPS was similar to the smell of WD-shki, but there was also a lemon flavor, which the manufacturers clearly did not regret. Everything came off great with the UPS. Besides the glue...

The glue didn't come off! Photo by the author

Both formulations are well absorbed into

wood

. Theoretically, these liquids can be used to coat handles.

tools

. Wood after coating with WD and UPS changes color - after the evaporation of the light fractions, it seems that something remains on the surface. Presumably, these may be light paraffins.

You can try saturating the wood to protect its surface from water. Photo by the author

Both liquids burn well and can be used when lighting

bonfire

, coals in the grill in difficult conditions. To test this property, I soaked two cotton pads.

Signed control samples. Photo by the author

I sent the cotton pads to float in a basin of water. He struck a match and the boats in the basin lit up merrily.

It turns out that with WD and UPS you can set fire to even damp wood. Photo by the author

If you plan to cook food over a fire, allow the liquid to burn thoroughly so that nothing is absorbed into the food.

Laxative for nuts

LAXATIVE FOR NUT

PENETRATION TEST

TEXT / VLADIMIR ARBUZOV

Unscrewing a thoroughly rusted nut without twisting the “neck” of a bolt or stud is not an easy task. And it would be okay, if the connection is not responsible, you can sacrifice the fasteners. But sometimes, having twisted the stud together with the nut, then, when replacing it with a new one, you will have to disassemble half the machine.

Many ways have been invented to make it easier to deal with stubborn nuts. In the navy, for example, all threaded connections, the mobility of which must be maintained at all times, are “driven” every day in strict accordance with the prescribed sequence. Another radical technique is to heat the stuck nut with an acetylene torch until it turns red. The method is trouble-free, but has drawbacks - you need gas, fire-fighting measures, and you can’t get to every nut with a torch. In addition, annealed fasteners should not be reused.

What if you try to soak the threaded connection with some liquid? Until recently, the car enthusiast had only folk remedies at his disposal - water, kerosene, vinegar essence, iodine, etc. (By the way, Chekhov’s attacker somehow managed without them.) Today the choice is richer - in any store there are a dozen miracle elixirs , called liquid keys. But what is their effectiveness? This is what we decided to check.

We bought 12 different cans (see photo) at prices ranging from 50 (ours) to 260 (imported) rubles. and first of all we cooled them to -15°C. The first test - frost resistance - everyone passed successfully, not a single competitor froze and everyone confidently let out a stream or provided a fine spray, depending on the design of the can.

Test two - assessing penetrating ability. It was assessed by the height and speed of the liquid rising over the rust layer. The faster and higher the liquid rose, the better. Technically, this is not difficult to do. The end of a thickly rust-coated steel rod—an ordinary nail—was placed into the test sample. The results are in the table.

Along with separating rusted nuts, liquids are also designed to protect the metal from corrosion. This was also checked - the samples, cleaned with sandpaper, were half-coated with compounds and placed in a salt bath. While the iron is rusting, clean sheets of paper were moistened with liquids and dried. “Liquid Key” VELV and kerosene evaporated without a trace, especially greasy oil stains remained after WD-40, Liqui Moly and Pennzoil Z-4, the rest of the recipes showed intermediate results. Naturally, the anti-corrosion protection manifested itself in accordance with the amount of oil in the composition: the more, the better; samples from the salt bath confirmed this after a few days.

However, these bottles are not bought for the purpose of finding out how well they moisten rust, what they smell like, what their color and taste are. You need someone to help you unscrew it. It's time to move on to the main test - the fight against rusted nuts.

Equipment. For the purity of the experiment, we took four hundred (!) bolts with M10 nuts, thoroughly washed them, degreased them, tightened them to a torque of 2 kgf.m and subjected them to accelerated rusting. They were soaked in salt slurry, in water and acid, dried and calcined, and again immersed in all sorts of caustic solutions. And so on until the connections were covered with a thick crust of rust. An indicator was installed on a regular torque wrench - with this device, the error in torque measurement was reduced to several grams per meter.

The tested threaded connections, which by this time had gained the necessary “strength,” were first tested dry - holding the bolt heads in a vice, they tried to unscrew the nuts. Those of them that succumbed to the moment of 5 kgf.m were rejected, the rest became our experimental subjects.

In addition to 12 branded fluids, the labels of which list all their virtues: disconnect, lubricate, preserve, protect against corrosion - folk remedies took part in the competition - kerosene, brake fluid, iodine, battery electrolyte and ordinary water. There are only 17 contenders for the title of “most liquid key.”

We unscrew the first batch of ten bolts without any liquids - the average result is 9.5 kgf.m. We will compare the effectiveness of our miracle lotions with this value.

Strictly according to the instructions, shake each can and apply liquid to the threaded connections. We wait exactly five minutes and unscrew them with a torque wrench. Each applicant is given ten attempts. The results are recorded, averaged and tabulated.

At this stage, WD-40 and “Liquid Key” from VELV showed equally good results. Water and brake fluid failed. Kerosene, iodine and electrolyte, although they help, are worse than special compounds.

Let's change the conditions. We cover the threads with the compounds several times, without skimping, until the liquid stops being absorbed and the rust swells, leaving greasy brown marks on the rag. We're not in a hurry - each batch of bolts takes half an hour. Well, it’s true what they say: time heals – the outsiders have almost caught up with the leaders. Only water, iodine and brake fluid lag noticeably behind. Kerosene is in no way inferior to branded products. Hence the conclusion: the cans, of course, are good, convenient and generally cope well with rust, but good old kerosene will not let you down.

It is extremely rare for sale. The spray head is inconvenient.

"Liquid Key", VELV, St. Petersburg.

Volume - 150 ml. Very comfortable

and practical packaging, works in any position. Displaces water well.

Volume - 300 ml. Modern

but it sprays unevenly.

Liqui Moly, Germany. Volume - 300 ml. A bulky cylinder is not always convenient in cramped conditions.

"Liquid Key", "Troll-Auto",

The package volume is 300 ml, and there is much less liquid in it. The packaging is convenient and modern. Smells like regular kerosene.

Motul multi protect, France.

Volume - 400 ml. The packaging is bulky and inconvenient.

Pungent, unpleasant odor.

Hycote, manufacturer unknown.

Volume - 400 ml. A thin flexible tube allows you to deliver liquid to the most difficult to reach places.

“Liquid Key”, OJSC “Trading House of Auto Cosmetics”, St. Petersburg.

Package volume: 500 ml. Much less liquid. The packaging is inconvenient, it works “in areas”. The smell of pure kerosene.

Grands and analogues

Not all even experienced motorists know that WD-40 has analogs that are similar in quality, but at the same time significantly different in price.
There are also ones that are comparable in cost, but most either prefer to take a familiar product or are guided by the availability or popularity of the brand. For our consumer test, multifunctional drugs of different price categories were selected - both from well-known ones. Namely:

PiTon universal lubricant;
multifunctional lubricant Nowax Cobra NX-40;
XADO universal oil;
“Super lubricant “Nanoprotek”;
Auto Assistance universal oil;
universal aerosol WD-40.

The most budget-friendly of the test participants turned out to be Auto Assistance, the most expensive product (in terms of actual volume in milliliters) was WD-40.

Analogs

In principle, there are quite a large number of drugs on the market that are similar in composition and principle of action. There are also substances that can be used instead of WD 40, either individually or in a mixture. So we'll tell you about them. If you take a closer look at the composition, you will notice that there is a large amount of white spirit. For a more pronounced effect, substances that have penetrating properties are added. Therefore, when choosing a substitute, you need to pay attention to liquids with similar parameters.

Volatile (light) hydrocarbons

If everything is more or less clear with the other ingredients, I’m talking about oil and YAT-SPIRIT, and finding them is not so difficult!

But with volatile hydrocarbons, it’s not all clear what they are and where to get them.

We begin to remember what it is. According to Wikipedia, light fractions of oil are called volatile (or light), and the most “easily volatile” ones are GASOLINE or gas gasoline. If you don’t have to languish for a long time, you can take regular petroleum ether or the same gasoline.

However, regular gasoline is volatile, but not so much, so we are looking for a special one. And by the way, there is one – it’s GALOSHA gasoline.

If you believe the composition, then it contains light hydrocarbons!

It is used for gasoline lighters, catalytic heaters, and for diluting oil, bitumen and paint compositions.

Analogs of a popular product

The high cost of the original “vedeshka” pushes domestic consumers to look for more affordable analogues. They often succeed, but the cost of saving is a decrease in quality. While real American WD-40 has a powerful water-repellent effect and easily eliminates oxidation of bolted joints, domestic and foreign analogues act much more slowly and are not as effective.

If you are an employee of a service station or a locksmith shop, and your duty requires an incredible amount of this aerosol, then it can be replaced with the following means:

G-Power (for greater convenience, we give the average cost and volume - 250 rubles / 400 ml);
3TON (RUR 150/520 ml);
ABRO Masters “AB-8” (RUR 335/450 ml);
CC 1000 (RUR 150/400 ml);
"Eltrans UPS-40" (108 rub./210 ml).

If you are looking for an analogue with identical composition and quality, it is unlikely that you will be able to find a 100% match. That's why the famous WD-40 is good. But you can try to make it yourself using a popular and proven recipe, which will be given below.

Video.

We all know the wonderful drug WD-40. This is an aerosol preparation that repels water, prevents corrosion, has lubricating and cleaning properties, most importantly (as it seems to me) it has very good penetrating capabilities (if it is used to treat a rusty threaded connection that “does not give in”, then it can be easily unscrewed), You can’t count all the advantages. This drug was developed by an American company and is sold in almost all countries of the world; any mechanic simply cannot imagine his existence without it! Everything would be fine, but its price is now a little “high”, and if you use it every day and it is used up quickly enough, what should you do? After all, you want to save money! Calmly, you can make an almost complete analogue with your own hands. Today is my signature recipe, which I have been using for several years (plus there will be a video at the end) ...

Required Ingredients

To make your own “bucket”, we recommend taking:

“White Spirit” - if you are making the product for yourself and will use it once every few months, then feel free to buy a foreign solvent. If you want to save money or assume that you will need a large amount of the final product, then buy Nefras-C4-155/200, it will also work.
Gasoline "Galosh" - that's what it's called. You can find any other gasoline with increased volatility, but this is the one most often indicated during homemade production. It consists of the very light hydrocarbons that are needed.
Mineral oil – you can use regular car motor oil. The ideal choice would be 5W-40 and 5W-30. Some craftsmen have experimented with synthetic oil, but it’s better not to take risks.

Now a very interesting nuance. There is an opinion that the original WD-40 contains fish oil. That is why it is often used as bait for large fish. Whether this is true or not - the question remains open. However, when making your own “bucket”, it is still recommended to use an analogue of fish oil - paraffin. You only need a few grams of regular candle wax, not melted.

Important! When making WD-40, never light a candle or melt the paraffin yourself.

It is needed in solid form: white spirit will melt it. Remember that you will be mixing highly flammable ingredients, so any source of open flame is strictly prohibited!

Safety precautions

Working away from an open source of flame is the most important requirement that must be taken into account when making a “bucket” yourself. Remember that your health and even life may depend on this!

Since both white spirit and galosh gasoline are extremely volatile and flammable substances, it is necessary to work away from any heating devices with open elements. These can be powerful lamps and, of course, heaters.

The air temperature should be between –40 and +30 degrees Celsius. It is necessary to work in a well-ventilated area. Of course, you should avoid contact of ingredients with mucous membranes and skin.

Story

Initially, WD 40 was intended for cleaning various surfaces from stubborn stains. During testing, it turned out that the drug simply amazingly corrodes rust. This allows the liquid to be used when dismantling various structures. The first presentation took place in 1953. After which, the drug was used strictly for military purposes for some time. The first batch went on sale in 1958.

Since then, sales have only grown. The version of the name's appearance is curious. According to one of the creators, the composition was obtained after conducting exactly 40 experiments.