Originally Posted by
Rowan
WD40 is a favourite cleaner in a lot of bike shops. They buy it in bulk and use a spray bottle to apply it. It cuts through the grease and grime and smells nice.
This should probably be discussed in the other thread on chain lube but since it was brought up in here......
Well this thread has inspired me to do some research on both WD40 and Starrett M1
just to see what's in them.
Here is a discussion on WD40 by a clock collectors forum
excerpted from the bottom of the page:
"The problem with WD-40 is that once the solvent evaporates it leaves behind a residual coating of grease"
(end of excerpt)
So I still am not sure what the differences are between M1 and WD40 but I have used both on bicycle chains and found WD40 to attract more dirt. It's entirely possible that a generic spray can of silicone might be better than both for lubing chains.
Using WD40 on micrometers is a no-no.