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From: Jared Sherman (no email)
Date: Fri Jul 30 2004 - 18:53:54 EDT
Vaseline is convenient and cheap. But it migrates in heat and doesn't last
well.
NeverSeize is a wonderful anti-galvanic compound. But it is metal dust in an
oil base, and you find silver fingerprints all over after you contact it. It
is not meant to be a lubricant, or used on moving parts.
There are many products designed to lubricate and prevent galvanic
corrossion, lanocote (lanolin based) and TefGel (teflon based gel) among the
most popular and used to many things on boats.
Personally I like DuPont Krytox, an exotic lubricant with a matching price.
It is totally inert, it does not migrate, it ignores temperature shifts, it
does not stain because it is white/clear. The drawback is that is it
expensive, perhaps $10 for a 3/4oz. tube as grease or oil. Used sparingly it
is still cheap in the long run. It is also available "diluted" in white
parrafin wax, making it less expensive to use. The parrafin eventually wears
or wipes off, taking the Krytox with it. "Sailcote" aerosol, sold to
lubricate sail tracks, etc. as a can in the boating stores is one way to buy
this. Bicycle shops sell a similar product as a chain lubricant, apparently
because it does not trap dirt and debris the way a grease or oil would. A
Krytox grease is also sold to lubricate spark plug boots by auto
manufacturers, to prevent galling under conditions of high heat and
dissimilar metals "forever".
Pure Krytox is harder to find, you'd need to do a web search. But very
impressive stuff when you need a DURABLE lubricant that does not degrade. A
little bit goes a long way.
I'd expect that even a conventional car wax or other good polish (i.e. a
non-ammonia brass polish) would be good on the screw, if it was regularly
cleaned and re-applied. The advantage being that is really cheap--and again,
it won't migrate or trap dirt, the way a grease would.
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