By Bill Varble
Mail Tribune

The robber who allegedly broke into an apartment on Table Rock Road Monday night picked a weapon that raised eyebrows: a can of WD-40.

The perp, who also had a pair of scissors, demanded money as he brandished a blue and yellow can of the world’s best-known all-purpose lubricant. He then sprayed the victim with WD-40 before fleeing with cash and credit cards.

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It may have been the 2001st use for WD-40. In the 50 years since its invention, the protean product has been used to lubricate a million squeaky hinges and free a million stuck washers, sure. But it’s also been used to remove chewing gum from toddlers’ hair, treat arthritis, prevent squirrels from climbing bird feeder poles and remove those embarrassing bumperstickers for candidates who lost.

If there’s a cultural icon to match duct tape found in every American home and shop, it’s probably the blue and yellow can with the little straw that always gets lost.

Users claim WD-40 will remove rust, remove oil stains from driveways, remove wax from car bumpers, remove stickers from glass, make window shades roll easier, remove furniture scratches, wax floors, remove flood marks on paneling, clean the TV remote, free barometric controls, untangle jewelry chains, loosen tight Lego blocks, remove tar from shoes.

In their WD-40 book, "The WD-40 Book" (Adventure Publications, 1997), Jim and Tim, "the Duct Tape Guys," (visit www.ducttapeguys.com or www.octanecreative.com) put the matter like this: "If it’s not stuck and it’s supposed to be, Duct Tape it! If it’s stuck and it’s not supposed to be, WD-40 it!"

Tim Nyberg of Jim and Tim says both duct tape and WD-40 stemmed from military applications. Duct tape was invented in World War II to keep the moisture out of ammo cases, WD-40 a bit later to displace moisture from rocket parts.

"We think of the two as the yin and yang of your tool bag," he says.

Nyberg says the WD-40 book was based on a stack of user testimonials three inches thick supplied to the writers by the company.

"It was a lot funnier before WD-40’s attorneys got hold of it and made us take out stuff they were afraid the company could be sued over," he says.

He says the weirdest use he heard of was from the people who swear it controls arthritis pain.

"I was doing a radio show, and one guy called in and said he bought a drum of it in case they ever went out of business."

Others point out that saying something has lots of uses is not the same as saying it’s the best stuff for a particular job.

Handyman Steve Hobson of Medford, who daily takes up arms against the slings and arrows of the outrageous cantankerousness of modern life, says that while he uses WD-40 himself, it is not the answer to every one of life’s sticky problems.

"It’s not the best for loosening nuts and bolts," Hobson says. "Penetrating oil is better."

He gives it top marks for removing old caulk from windows or bathtubs.

"You can just rip it right off," he says. "Then you clean it with alcohol."

Chris Johnston, who runs the marina at Howard Prairie east of Ashland and is sometimes called on to tinker with outboard motors, says he and the resort’s employees don’t use WD-40 much.

"It has a lubricant," Johnston says. "We use a carburetor cleaner, which is just a solvent. It works better."

WD-40 was born in 1953, in San Diego, Calif. The story is that Norm Larson, who had a little company called Rocket Chemical, failed 39 straight times to get the formula right for the water displacer he was trying to perfect. On the 40th try, he got it (get it?), but he wasn’t sure what to do with it, and the product wouldn’t be packaged and marketed for another five years.

One day in 1957, Larson’s wife used a little of her husband’s stuff on an old rag on the blond oak furniture in the couple’s living room and found that coffee stains disappeared. Then, when she put the ashtray back on the coffee table, it slid right off, or so goes the story, leading her to wonder if the stuff weren’t more useful than her husband realized. The rest, as they say, is history.

As befits a cultural icon, there are even gag uses for the stuff. Take the Spray-CoMatic Car Care WD-40 Deployment Device (www.octanecreative.com). It supposedly fits on the grill of your car and sprays WD-40 in front of it as you go down the road. This not only cuts air friction, improving your mileage, it means fewer bugs on the grill and windshield. And if you have a convertible, it reduces the need for hairspray.

Johnston confirms one long-rumored and illicit deployment of WD-40 — its use on fishing lures. Some anglers believe it covers human scent and attracts fish. But Johnston says he doesn’t see the practice much anymore.

"There are scented oils you can add to bait now that work better," he says.

Putting WD-40 on lures or bait introduces a solvent into the environment and is illegal.

"You’re trying to catch fish," Johnston says. "Why would you poison them?"

Hobson says one reputed use — as a lubricant for sliding glass doors — is a major no-no.

"I’ve had people tell me they sprayed it, and it’s still sticky," he says.

He says WD-40 just makes the problem worse.

"It collects dirt and stuff," he says. "Usually the problem is a worn-out wheel."

WD-40 has always been the victim of an innate packaging flaw: the inevitable missing spray straw. The can and the little straw that comes with it, stuck on like an afterthought with that piece of tape, tend to become slippery with use (duh!). Result: lost straws.

But a new design can comes with a little notch the manufacturers say should end that problem. In the meantime, if you lose the little straw, Radio Shack has spray can tubes that work, and they’re cheap.

So if you need to quiet a noisy garbage disposal, remove grease from walls, remove rings stuck on fingers, keep dogs out of the flower beds, keep terra cotta pots from oxidizing, rejuvenate a computer mouse, dry a wet ignition system, remove sticky duct tape residue, remove Silly Putty from little kids, remove burrs from horses’ manes, kill cockroaches, clean the magazine of your AK-47 (Note: this list does not constitute an endorsement) ...

Reach reporter Bill Varble at 776-4478 or e-mail bvarble@mailtribune.com