Penetrating Oils

[PugetDude]

Don't know if this has been posted before, a friend emailed it to me today; found it interesting:

Penetrating Oils

Machinist's Workshop magazine recently published some information
on various penetrating oils that I found very interesting.

Some of you might appreciate this. The magazine reports they tested
penetrates for break out torque on rusted nuts. They are below, as
forwarded by an ex-student and professional machinist. They arranged
a subjective test of all the popular penetrates with the control being the
torque required to remove the nut from a "scientifically rusted" environment.

*Penetrating oils ........... Average torque load to loosen*
No Oil used ................... 516 pounds
WD-40 ..................... ... 238 pounds
PB Blaster .................... 214 pounds
Liquid Wrench ...............127 pounds
Kano Kroil .................... 106 pounds
ATF*-Acetone mix............53 pounds

The ATF-Acetone mix is a "home brew" mix of 50 - 50 automatic transmission
fluid and acetone. Note this "home brew" released bolts better than any
commercial product in this one particular test. Our local machinist group
mixed up a batch and we all now use it with equally good results. Note also
that "Liquid Wrench" is almost as good as "Kroil" for about 20% of the price.
Steve from Godwin-Singer says that ATF-Acetone mix is best, but you can
also use ATF and lacquer thinner in a 50-50 mix.


*ATF=Automatic Transmission Fluid

 

[kiatech]

Next up is the horror frought ad.

 

[bobcatdan]

Yeah that has been posted several times. I'm a kroil man.

 

[Hyster Gareth]

Had good luck with Kroil myself.

Yeah that has been posted several times. I'm a kroil man.

 

[Catamount]

I've tried them all, and prefer Kroil.

 

[jmm]

I know it's been hashed many times, but I can't pass up a chance to crow about my personal favorite: Hilco lube. I like Kroil and the ATF/Acetone a lot, but Hilco takes the cake.

 

[SouthCoastMudder]

Anybody have any experience with Corrosion X penetrating oil? It's about the same consistency as the 50/50 mix, maybe thicker. We just got some to try out today. So far I'm liking it.

 

[thebeekeeper1]

Kroil smells like . . . SUCCESS!!

 

[comedyman809]

Don't know if this has been posted before, a friend emailed it to me today; found it interesting:

Penetrating Oils

Machinist's Workshop magazine recently published some information
on various penetrating oils that I found very interesting.

Some of you might appreciate this. The magazine reports they tested
penetrates for break out torque on rusted nuts. They are below, as
forwarded by an ex-student and professional machinist. They arranged
a subjective test of all the popular penetrates with the control being the
torque required to remove the nut from a "scientifically rusted" environment.

*Penetrating oils ........... Average torque load to loosen*
No Oil used ................... 516 pounds
WD-40 ..................... ... 238 pounds
PB Blaster .................... 214 pounds
Liquid Wrench ...............127 pounds
Kano Kroil .................... 106 pounds
ATF*-Acetone mix............53 pounds

The ATF-Acetone mix is a "home brew" mix of 50 - 50 automatic transmission
fluid and acetone. Note this "home brew" released bolts better than any
commercial product in this one particular test. Our local machinist group
mixed up a batch and we all now use it with equally good results. Note also
that "Liquid Wrench" is almost as good as "Kroil" for about 20% of the price.
Steve from Godwin-Singer says that ATF-Acetone mix is best, but you can
also use ATF and lacquer thinner in a 50-50 mix.


*ATF=Automatic Transmission Fluid

and can you supply my the msds hazards from using such a mix, i know acetone is some nasty stuff, and mixing chemicals with other things can cause reactions. is it dangerous??? and how, i like doing things the way i feel necessary, but, my skin usually reacts to everything i touch, such as volatile chemicals, so any dangers with that stuff such as what it can do to skin, or rubber gloves(i made a mix of something once that melted rubber gloves).
maybe im blowing this out of proportion, but just like to be on the safe side.

 

[DekeT]

Brake fluid/auto transmission is my mix of choice.

 

[Filson]

My first time seeing this info - thanks for sharing!

 

[Farmall450]

I've seen this before, I'll have to try acetone/atf.

But Kroil & WD40...they smell so good! Like success as a fellow member said...

 

[atwageman]

Kroil has never let me down.

 

[erty67]

wow! no more WD for me!

 

[ADSR]

Been using the 50/50 mix for years now.

I love it and will use nothing else.

 

[redwrench60]

Yeah that has been posted several times. I'm a kroil man.

Kroil, ******* love it.

 

[scaron]

interesting to learn about the 50/50 acetone and ATF mixture. for anyone that wants to try it, try to keep your hands out of the acetone, it will penetrate human skin... iirc one of my chemistry professors once told me that if you dunk your arm in acetone up to the elbow you will absorb enough to kill yourself or cause serious illness (crazy fact!) back on topic my dad swears by kroil, he always has like a case of that stuff laying around for various projects of his and its always done the job pretty well. i myself usually use liquid wrench just because it's easier to find. but i'm definitely gonna try the 50/50 ATF+acetone mix next time i have a real nasty bolt to get off (which likely won't take long, living here in michigan with the winter season coming up).

 

[Skin]

I think that magazine review is about 6 years old now so yea its been posted...a lot.

The ATF/Acetone mix has been debunked a few times by others as well so its debatable how well it works compared to a retail product. Other things wrong with the homebrew mix, acetone eats plastics so the spray bottles usually don't last. Acetone eats paint so you don't want to spray the stuff around body panels. Acetone is highly flammable, so you cant spray it on hot fasteners like you can do with pb-blaster. Basically just a bunch of negatives because it has acetone in it. And it doesn't actually mix, you can just kind of get it to swirl together briefly after some vigorous shaking so if the straw is sitting at the bottom you're basically just squirting straight transmission fluid. Transmission fluid itself is a very good lubricant but certainly isn't quick to penetrate rust.

I like and prefer my off the shelf products. For anything that MUST come apart in 1 peice the red wrench is always there.

 

[ADSR]

interesting to learn about the 50/50 acetone and ATF mixture. for anyone that wants to try it, try to keep your hands out of the acetone, it will penetrate human skin... iirc one of my chemistry professors once told me that if you dunk your arm in acetone up to the elbow you will absorb enough to kill yourself or cause serious illness (crazy fact!) back on topic my dad swears by kroil, he always has like a case of that stuff laying around for various projects of his and its always done the job pretty well. i myself usually use liquid wrench just because it's easier to find. but i'm definitely gonna try the 50/50 ATF+acetone mix next time i have a real nasty one to get off (which likely won't take long, living here in michigan with the winter season coming up).

Mix and keep it in a glass jar with a tight lid. I apply it with dollar store paint brushes.

 

[ADSR]

I think that magazine review is about 6 years old now so yea its been posted...a lot.

The ATF/Acetone mix has been debunked a few times by others as well so its debatable how well it works compared to a retail product.

I'm going to call horse **** on that one. The acetone is the transporter and pulls the ATF in with it.

I don't care what anyone says.

It works awesome.

 

[Coach James]

That Horror Freight ad still makes me laugh!

Coach

 

[Sebastien]

Anyone know places where I could get some kroil in canada?

 

[basspro]

In my experience Kroil and PB Blaster work equally well. Ive tried Northwoods Tef Lube and that worked well also, seems alot like Kroil. Ive never tried the Liquid Wrench or the ATF/Acetone mix. One product some of you may have never heard of, Swepco 808, happens to be a top notch penetrating oil, works very good with heat, almost as good as candle wax and heat, I would highly recommend Swepco.

 

[Scrambler]

Thanks for the info!

 

[peteco]

I like Kroil. But for stuck fasteners or tapered joints (like a ball joint-steering knuckle joint) I have found the CRC Freeze Off to work very well. I had a pitman arm stuck on my Chevy van, and the CRC helped break it free. I had to apply it 3 or 4 times but it did the job when nothing else should.

 

[ChevyEFI]

*Penetrating oils ........... Average torque load to loosen*
No Oil used ................... 516 pounds
WD-40 ..................... ... 238 pounds
PB Blaster .................... 214 pounds
Liquid Wrench ...............127 pounds
Kano Kroil .................... 106 pounds
ATF*-Acetone mix............53 pounds

*ATF=Automatic Transmission Fluid

Which one?

And on that note, if I leave bolts ATF coated when reassembling, it means the bolts may get overtorqued. But, the removal will be easier as well. So is it a net positive or negative effect?

and can you supply my the msds hazards from using such a mix, i know acetone is some nasty stuff, and mixing chemicals with other things can cause reactions. is it dangerous??? and how, i like doing things the way i feel necessary, but, my skin usually reacts to everything i touch, such as volatile chemicals, so any dangers with that stuff such as what it can do to skin, or rubber gloves(i made a mix of something once that melted rubber gloves).
maybe im blowing this out of proportion, but just like to be on the safe side.

Sounds like you need to upgrade gloves.

 

[JRock10]

I've tried the atf/acetone mix and wasn't impressed. So o switched back to pb blaster. It works well for me. The atf/acetone really had no impact on loosening stuff for me.

Tapatalk...my downtime occupier

 

[CWP1616L]

Where you guys get your Kroil from?

 

[cjn1014]

how is Kroil on the odor front? PB is almost a no-go for interior work, per the boss.

 

[cassidy]

Where is kroil available?

 

[bobcatdan]

You have to be in know to find kroil. Kano, the company that makes only wants it direct sell from them and they supposedly only sell to companies. There is a hardware store by me that has a couple of cans hiding in the automotive section. An auto part store by me started carrying it too, but I think you need to ask for it. I got on Kano's mailing list and get offers from them. They are priced like S0, but have try em deals that are often pretty good. I think the last one was buy one 16.5 oz can, get on free, with free shipping, like $15 or so.

 

[FTG-05]

Where is kroil available?

Order all you want: https://secure.cnchost.com/kanolabs.com/orders/order.shtml

 

[Ed ke6bnl]

100x for acetone and ATF. Kroil was too expensive and did not work for me as well. Just the other day my boy was going to take my bike to his house and replace a rusted up chain from sitting out doors. I told him to flip it upside down and we put the acetone/ATF on it and in a few min. it was running free. Then a little chain oil is called for. Go spend your money on spendy stuff I am a acetone/ATF fan.

 

[Heavy tech]

In my experience Kroil and PB Blaster work equally well. Ive tried Northwoods Tef Lube and that worked well also, seems alot like Kroil. Ive never tried the Liquid Wrench or the ATF/Acetone mix. One product some of you may have never heard of, Swepco 808, happens to be a top notch penetrating oil, works very good with heat, almost as good as candle wax and heat, I would highly recommend Swepco.

808 hells yeah!! That stuff is awesome. Can be hard to find but man does it work. Have also used swepco's wire rope lube (807 maybe). I'm a huge fan of swepco.

 

[Professur]

Had great results with 50-50 ... just make sure you use an old all metal oil can ... those plastic ones just can't take it.

 

[WWIIjeep]

how is Kroil on the odor front? PB is almost a no-go for interior work, per the boss.

A few years ago, the company that services our HVAC equipment caused the evacuation of the entire 100K square-foot building when they used Kroil to try to free up a seized damper in one of the fresh air supply ducts.

Maybe the smell of Kroil doesn't bother some people; maybe some people even like it; but it makes me want to puke.

 

[Hogtown]

Where is kroil available?

Brownell's (gunsmith supply) always has it in stock. [800-741-0015]

 

[G_P]

I mixed some ATF/acetone last month. It will not mix. its like oil and water. Shaking it up kinda mixes it but it separates back out in minutes. Also the acetone evaporates so fast that it barely has time to penetrate anything before all thats left is the ATF.

Seems your better off just using straight ATF.

 

[Big Pete]

diesel with a shot of engine oil (maybe 5%) has always worked well for me.

 

[monkeyspanners]

Had good results from GT85, been tempted to try atf/acetone mix but not bothered yet!