Sticky lock

The lock on our door was giving me some trouble, in that the key was a bit sticky each time I withdrew it.   So, after some research (here) and here about what to do about it, there seemed to be a choice between WD-40 and graphite.   Everyone seems to agree that you don’t put oild on a lock, but I wasn’t too sure about WD-40, even though it’s not “oil” and some of the sites stated that it would be suitable.  However it’s not described on the can as being suitable for locks.

So  I opted to investigate the use of graphite.   I headed off to Bunnings, where after asking around, I found the graphite in the power tools section.  I ddn’t understand the logic of this location at first, but I suppose there’s some sort of reasoning behind it.  Be that as it may, it was what I was after.

When I squeezed the container, it was hard to see the graphite.  In fact, it seems that squeezing the container ejects an air/graphite mix, so it’s no use trying to coat the key with it.  Instead, the technique is to squeeze the mixture directly into the key hole.   Just a couple of squeezes and the lock was much improved.  Hopefully it stays that way.