For those of us who deal with rusty bolts (penetrating oil compression)

[Ford F834]

Not Bullnose or even Ford related... but I enjoyed this semi-scientific comparison of penetrating oils and thought others here might benefit:

[Gary Lewis]

That's cool! A reasonably-scientific test.

[Steve83]

Very interesting, and vastly more-scientific than most YouTubers I've seen. Unfortunately, it didn't include my favorite penetrants: Liquid Wrench & PB Blaster. I also expected to see Kroil.

[grumpin]

Very interesting, and vastly more-scientific than most YouTubers I've seen. Unfortunately, it didn't include my favorite penetrants: Liquid Wrench & PB Blaster. I also expected to see Kroil.

Those are good ones. IMHO of course.

Ever use Mouse Milk? https://www.amazon.com/Mouse-Milk-Oil-8-Oz/dp/B0049C7170

We used to use Mopar Heat Valve Solvent or Penetrant, forget the exact name, on aircraft turbocharger waste gates. Spray in on, let it sit and then hit it with an air rivet gun with a 2x4 in between.

[Ford F834]

Very interesting, and vastly more-scientific than most YouTubers I've seen. Unfortunately, it didn't include my favorite penetrants: Liquid Wrench & PB Blaster. I also expected to see Kroil.

My thoughts exactly Steve. Those are the three that come instantly to mind, with liquid wrench being pretty much a household name. I guess he did some other previous test with it, but I would have liked to see them included in this line up. Many of the others I have not even heard of. In the for what it’s worth department, Knock ‘Er Loose, Kroil and PB all have a similar smell and seem to work about the same. They have had all three at my work over the years and they seem to do very well.

Did anyone else find it odd that when mixed together the results were poor? I’m guessing the two duds that were thick/foamy might have had a disproportionate impact on the flow.

[Gary Lewis]

Very interesting, and vastly more-scientific than most YouTubers I've seen. Unfortunately, it didn't include my favorite penetrants: Liquid Wrench & PB Blaster. I also expected to see Kroil.

My thoughts exactly Steve. Those are the three that come instantly to mind, with liquid wrench being pretty much a household name. I guess he did some other previous test with it, but I would have liked to see them included in this line up. Many of the others I have not even heard of. In the for what it’s worth department, Knock ‘Er Loose, Kroil and PB all have a similar smell and seem to work about the same. They have had all three at my work over the years and they seem to do very well.

Did anyone else find it odd that when mixed together the results were poor? I’m guessing the two duds that were thick/foamy might have had a disproportionate impact on the flow.

Yes, Knock ‘Er Loose, Liquid Wrench, and PB Blaster are my go-to's. I also have Fluid Film, but it is a preservative rather than a penetrant, so I didn't expect anything from it. And, mixing it with the others just upped the viscosity of the whole thing enough that nothing worked.

[Steve83]

Did anyone else find it odd that when mixed together the results were poor?

I wasn't really surprised - the way he mixed them (random proportions & order) made me think the "bad" ones would prevent the others from working. I'm not sure he even got a real "mixture" of them all since he never checked if they stratified, emulsified, or truly dissolved in each other. His initial sample was too small. That last "test" was the least-scientific part of the video.

And surface tension/capillarity/adhesion/cohesion (the active characteristics for this test) are very finicky & poorly-understood, which is another reason the blend's poor performance didn't surprise me. The molecular traits that make one of them work might also make it interfere with another, or vice versa. The more stuff in the mixture, the worse I'd expect it to perform.

[Rembrant]

Unfortunately, it didn't include my favorite penetrants...

Unfortunately, it didn't include rust as I know it...lol. Just kidding...the tests were great, and I can appreciate the effort the guy put into that, but they look like nice relatively new nuts and bolts to me.

Usually by the time I need penetrating oil, the threads have either rusted away entirely, or the six points of the hex nut have corroded away making the nut a little rusty lump.

 

[Steve83]

Usually by the time I need penetrating oil, the threads have either rusted away entirely, or the six points of the hex nut have corroded away making the nut a little rusty lump.

Well, for a test to be scientific, it has to be repeatable - which means he needs MANY identically-rusted fasteners that are in good-enough condition to test.

And penetrating oil can't restore Iron that's just GONE - nothing will allow you to unscrew a fastener that has no threads, or drive head. So that's not what penetrants are for, anyway (despite it being what everyone uses them for). His test really was the correct use for those oils. Your use (and mine) is well-beyond what a few drops of oil can do, so our use isn't realistic, no matter how common it is.

However, I would argue that his previous test (which I didn't see) involving multiple applications over several hours IS realistic for fasteners in that condition:

https://supermotors.net/getfile/1134322/thumbnail/20180601_180411.jpg

https://supermotors.net/getfile/1137770/thumbnail/20180802_170114.jpg

The fact that no one does it is irrelevant - it just means they're lazy, or they waited too late to begin the process.

[Gary Lewis]

Usually by the time I need penetrating oil, the threads have either rusted away entirely, or the six points of the hex nut have corroded away making the nut a little rusty lump.

Well, for a test to be scientific, it has to be repeatable - which means he needs MANY identically-rusted fasteners that are in good-enough condition to test.

And penetrating oil can't restore Iron that's just GONE - nothing will allow you to unscrew a fastener that has no threads, or drive head. So that's not what penetrants are for, anyway (despite it being what everyone uses them for). His test really was the correct use for those oils. Your use (and mine) is well-beyond what a few drops of oil can do, so our use isn't realistic, no matter how common it is.

However, I would argue that his previous test (which I didn't see) involving multiple applications over several hours IS realistic for fasteners in that condition:

https://supermotors.net/getfile/1134322/thumbnail/20180601_180411.jpg

https://supermotors.net/getfile/1137770/thumbnail/20180802_170114.jpg

The fact that no one does it is irrelevant - it just means they're lazy, or they waited too late to begin the process.

I agree that it is irrelevant that people don't use the penetrating oils as they should doesn't make the test null. When I'm trying to get heavily-rusted items loose I hit them with heat and penetrating oil for several days in advance of really hitting them with an impact. And, just prior to hitting them with an impact I heat them again.

But, this test was very well done. He demonstrated that even in a fairly-well controlled environment there is a significant difference in the torque to break a nut loose. So averaging the results, as he did, is the right approach. And, have a "control" is a good approach as well.