Keith what are you good penetrating oil recommendations?
Thanks
Travis
The very best I ever used was Cabot's Tasgon, but unfortunately, it was taken off the market in the early 1980's when creosote was banned by the EPA. I still have some that I use sparingly because it has to last the rest of my life. Watch for it at yard sales, flea markets, etc. I found a full quart a couple years ago at an automotive swap meet, and it made my whole day.
I think Zep45 is pretty good, as is Zep45 Dual Force which contains PTFE (teflon). More recently I have tried Burlite and Mouse Milk, and they seem to do pretty good too. But I haven't used them enough to say for sure. I also like pure oil of wintergreen for small fasteners. The home brew of 50% actetone and 50% ATF works well too, but the acetone carrier evaporates quickly, and it needs to be covered with plastic or re-applied often. There have been numerous threads here over the years concerning penetrating oils, and techniques for removing stuck screws. Here's one of them:
http://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=271977&page=1I'm kind of a junkie on this subject, and have been searching for years for something that works as well as the banned Tasgon. I would bet that there are at least 20 different brands in my shop, and most are no better than diesel fuel or straight kerosene.
I would like to experiment with boiling an action with a frozen screw in a solution of Simple Green or some other detergent to remove all traces of oil, and then soaking in Evaporust or a molasses solution. I have been using molasses as a rust remover, and when it can get into threads, it turns the rust into black slime. It has worked well for me for freeing up frozen acme threads on rusty c-clamps and bar clamps after a few weeks of soaking. But they would definitely remove blueing since blueing is a form of rust. Both Evaporust and molasses work on the same principle of chelation to remove the oxygen atoms from rust molecules, and leave the iron behind.
I can't tell you how many times I've read or been told that this or that is fantastic stuff, only to buy a can and be disappointed. To those who swear by Kroil, I say they really need to get out more. And it's tough to make comparisons sometimes, because there are different levels of corrosion, of different size screws, that are made of different alloys of steel. You just have to know when to back off on the force you are applying, before you break it or gall the threads, and try something different. And I can't over-emphasize the importance of being patient when you encounter a really tough one.
