John McGaw wrote in
:

Leon Trollski wrote:
Wondering about the residual toxicity especially on shears etc. I
find this oil is very good at keeping moving parts moving, rusty bits
clean, so I dab it on the leading edges and joints, and wipe down
prior to storage.

But could I be harming my plants?



Considering that people intentionally spray their fruit trees with
dormant oil -- a petroleum based product meant to kill off insects --
I doubt that a minute amount of WD-40 on a tool would be a great
danger to the plants. One of the commonly suggested treatments for
garden tools is to keep a bucket of coarse sand saturated in oil
(often waste oil drained from a vehicle!) into which tools are plunged
to clean and coat the metal and I've not heard of any problems with
the method.

A healthy adult or plant will probably not show any indication of
deleterious effects because most toxins will be either metabolized,
excreted or stowed away in the liver or other body tissues (no, plants
don't have livers except liverworts har har). However, when you are old or
sick and your body metabolizes fat reserves that release the stored heavy
metals and other assorted crap that comes with used oil, don't wonder why
you don't feel so good. Maybe the quantity of contaminant isn't enough to
make a difference or maybe it is. Of course some people, e.g. smokers,
probably won't last that long anyway, so it probably won't matter at all
for them.

You can look up the MSDS for WD-40 on www.wd40.com. You will have to do
your own detective work regarding toxicity to plants. I don't have Acrobat
installed right now, so I'm not going to look. If you really don't care
for WD-40 I suppose you could use a bucket of silica gel for dessicant and
a swab of some kind of natural oil for lube.