Most people own three or four lubricants and use whichever can is nearest. That is how a door lock ends up gummed with oil, a garage door roller ends up dry again in a fortnight, and a chainsaw bar ends up blue at the tip. The can was not wrong. It was in the wrong place.
This hub gathers every lubrication guide on The Tool Yard in one place, grouped the way you actually meet the problem: choosing between products, the sprays on the shelf, greases, seized and rusted fasteners, the jobs around the house and the toolbox, chainsaw bar and chain oil, and engine oil for mowers and small engines.
💡 The one rule that covers everything below
Match the lubricant to the environment and the load, not to the noise. Thin sprays creep into tight gaps, displace water and flush grit — then evaporate or wash off. Thick greases stay put and carry weight — but they collect dust and never reach a tight clearance. Dry films lubricate without holding grit at all. Get that triangle right and most squeaks never come back. Start with matching the lube to the environment.
Which lubricant for which job
If you only read one thing on this page, read the table. It is the short version of every guide below.
| The job | What to reach for | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Door lock, padlock, key cylinder | Dry graphite or PTFE | Wet oil in a lock collects dust and turns to paste. See lubricating a door lock properly. |
| Garage door rollers, hinges, tracks | White lithium grease | Metal on metal, under load, needs a film that stays. See the squeaky garage door fix. |
| Rubber seals, window tracks, plastic sliders | Silicone spray | Will not swell rubber or attack plastic. See the silicone spray guide. |
| Seized bolt or rusted fastener | A true penetrant, plus patience | Creep beats force. See whether the acetone and ATF mix really works. |
| Wet tools, after a rinse or a rain | Water-displacing spray (WD-40, CRC 5-56) | Chases moisture out of the seams before rust starts. See when to use original WD-40. |
| Chainsaw bar and chain | Purpose-made bar and chain oil | It is tackified so it clings at chain speed. See the best bar and chain oil. |
| Mower or small 4-stroke engine | SAE 30 or 10W-30 engine oil | Air-cooled engines run hot and need the grade the maker specifies. See what oil a lawn mower takes. |
| Bare steel going into storage | A wiped oil or wax film | Cheapest rust barrier you own. See how to stop rust coming back. |
01 · START HERE
Choosing between them
Nearly every lubrication mistake is a selection mistake, not an application mistake. These four guides are the decision layer — read them and the rest of the page becomes reference material.
- The master rule. Match the lube to the environment — how wet, dusty, hot and high-load conditions each push you toward a different product.
- The three-way call. WD-40 vs white lithium grease vs silicone — the three cans most sheds own, and which one wins each job.
- Spray or grease. Silicone spray vs white lithium grease — picking by surface type when both would technically work.
- Why grease works at all. What makes white lithium grease the right lubricant for metal parts — the soap-and-oil structure that lets it stay under load.
💡 The shortcut
Tight clearance and no load, go thin. Open clearance and real load, go thick. Dusty or gritty, go dry. That covers about eighty percent of household jobs before you read another word.
02 · THE CANS ON THE SHELF
Sprays and aerosols
Aerosols are where the confusion lives, because the labels all promise the same four things. These guides sort out what each can is actually formulated to do.
- The original. When to use original WD-40 around the home and on small engines — the jobs it genuinely earns its place on.
- The whole range. The WD-40 range explained — the specialist line of dry lubes, greases and penetrants that most people never notice sitting beside the blue and yellow can.
- The other blue can. CRC 5-56 uses, and which CRC to buy — the direct alternative, and where it differs.
- Rubber and plastic. Stuck to slick: the homeowner's guide to silicone spray — seals, sliders, window tracks and the surfaces oil should never touch.
- Electrics. Electrical contact cleaner and its DIY home uses — why a cleaner that leaves no residue is not interchangeable with a lubricant.
⚠ The honest correction
WD-40 is a water displacer first and a light lubricant second. It is excellent at chasing moisture out of a wet hinge and loosening light corrosion, and it is genuinely poor as a long-term lubricant — it thins out and leaves the joint bare. It also does not remove rust, whatever the internet says: here is what it actually does, and what to use instead.
03 · WHEN IT HAS TO STAY PUT
Greases
Grease is oil held in a soap thickener. That structure is the whole point: it will not run off a vertical surface, it will not fling off a moving part at low speed, and it keeps carrying load long after a spray has dried out.
- Where it belongs, and where it does not. White lithium grease uses — the full list of good applications, and the ones that will bite you.
- The classic job. When to use white lithium grease on a squeaky garage door — rollers, hinges and tracks, done in the right order.
- The reason it works. What makes white lithium grease the right lubricant for metal parts.
⚠ Grease has one real enemy
Grit. A tacky film in a dusty environment turns into grinding paste, and that wears a joint faster than running it dry. Outdoors and gritty means a dry film, not more grease.
04 · SEIZED, STUCK AND RUSTED
Penetrants and protection
A seized fastener is a lubrication problem in reverse: rust has expanded into the thread and filled the clearance. Penetrants win by creeping into that gap over time, not by force.
- The famous home brew. Acetone and ATF penetrating oil: does the 50/50 mix actually work? — the workshop legend, tested against what it claims.
- What the blue can can't do. Does WD-40 remove rust? — the expectation gap, and the products that do the job properly.
- Do it in the right order. Rusty tool restoration: clean, de-rust, then protect — oil is the last step, and skipping it undoes the first two.
- Keeping it gone. How to stop rust coming back after you remove it — oil, wax and coating barriers compared.
💡 Half the job is the after-care
Stripping a tool back to bright steel leaves it more vulnerable than it was before you started. Bare metal flash-rusts in hours in a damp shed. A wiped film of oil is the cheapest insurance in the workshop. The full picture is in the best ways to remove rust from metal.
05 · AROUND THE HOUSE
Locks, gates and hand tools
The everyday jobs, where the wrong product does visible harm rather than simply doing nothing.
- Locks. The right way to lubricate a door lock: graphite, PTFE, and what to avoid.
- Gates and outdoor hinges. The best oils to lubricate an exterior gate — weather is the deciding factor here, not the squeak.
- Adjustable wrenches. How to maintain an adjustable wrench so it lasts a lifetime — clean the worm screw first, then oil it.
- Wooden handles. The best oil to protect an axe or hatchet handle — a different kind of oiling, feeding the timber rather than reducing friction.
⚠ Never put wet oil in a pin-tumbler lock
It works beautifully for about a month, then the oil picks up airborne dust and the pins bind worse than before. Dry graphite or a PTFE film only.
06 · CHAINSAWS
Bar and chain oil, and the two-stroke mix
A chainsaw asks for two completely separate lubricants at once: tackified bar oil feeding the chain, and two-stroke oil premixed into the fuel. Confusing the two is one of the more expensive mistakes in the shed.
Bar and chain
- Which oil. What is the best bar and chain oil to use for a chainsaw?
- Is there a difference? Bar oil vs chain oil — two names, one product, and why the marketing suggests otherwise.
- When it is not getting through. Oil tank full but chain dry? — finding the blocked port or failed oiler before you cut again.
- The substitute question. Using vegetable oil to lubricate a chainsaw bar, and how to clean the residue back off afterwards.
- Tension and oil film. How to tension a chainsaw chain correctly before you cut — over-tight chains starve the film and cook the bar.
- The routine. The four basic rules of chainsaw chain maintenance, and how to store a chainsaw so the bar does not corrode between jobs.
Two-stroke fuel and oil mix
- Get the ratio right. 2-stroke fuel mix calculator: exact gas-to-oil ratios.
- Modern saws. The correct fuel and oil mix ratio in a modern chainsaw.
- Which two-stroke oil. The best oil for a chainsaw engine fuel mix.
- Do not cross them. Can I add two-stroke oil to a four-stroke lawnmower?
⚠ A dry bar shows before it fails
Blue discolouration at the bar nose, a burnt smell, and a chain that will not free-run by hand are all telling you the oil is not arriving. Stop and find out why. A bar and chain cost far more than a bottle of oil.
07 · ENGINES
Mower and small-engine oil
Air-cooled small engines run hotter than a car engine and hold a fraction of the oil, so grade and change interval matter more, not less. Start with the pillar guide and work outward to your situation.
- Start here. What oil does a lawn mower take? — types, grades and change intervals in one place.
- Choosing. How to choose the best oil for your lawn mower.
- Local conditions. Choosing lawnmower oil for New Zealand conditions — how climate and mowing season shift the grade.
- Heavier grades. Can you use 20W-50 motor oil in your lawn mower?
- Synthetics. Choosing synthetic oils for a lawnmower engine.
- Older engines. What oil should you use in a very old lawnmower? — a practical guide for 10 to 30-year-old engines.
- Ride-ons. Oil selection for ride-on mowers and garden tractors.
When oil goes wrong
- Too much of it. How to fix adding too much oil into a lawnmower.
- Read the smoke. White, black or blue: what the smoke from your lawnmower is telling you.
- Getting rid of it. Don't put used motor oil on your lawn — here's why.
⚠ Overfilling does more damage than running slightly low
Excess oil gets whipped into foam by the crankshaft, and foam does not carry load. It also forces oil past the seals and into the cylinder, which is where the blue smoke comes from. Fill to the mark, not past it.
How to use this lubricants hub
If you have a specific squeak, start at the table near the top and follow the one link that matches your job. If you are stocking a shed from scratch, read section 01 first and buy four products rather than fourteen: a water-displacing spray, a tube of white lithium grease, a can of silicone, and a dry graphite or PTFE film. That covers almost every household job on this page.
If your problem is a machine rather than a hinge, the machine hubs go deeper: the chainsaw hub covers operation, sharpening and safety alongside bar oiling, and the lawnmower and lawn care hub covers blades, plugs and seasonal servicing alongside engine oil. For hand tools, the handy tools section is the place to go next.
The through-line across every guide here: lubrication is not a one-off fix, it is a barrier you renew. The product that stays where you put it, in the conditions it will actually live in, is the one that wins — and on bare steel, that same film is the cheapest rust protection you will ever buy. For that side of the story, start at the best ways to remove rust from metal.
