WD-40 and other Really Useful things

If it's not stuck and you want it to be: duct tape.

Seriously, I pretty much always carry a handkerchief and a Swiss Army knife. I'll often carry a keychain-sized flashlight as well. All of these things come in handier than you might imagine.

Especially as regards romance: when the young lady sitting next to you is moved to tears by the tragic beauty of an opera, badabing: you've got a handkerchief. You need to open a bottle of wine at a romantic lakeside picnic, badaboom: you've got a corkscrew.

They also come in handy if, like me, you're a drunkard. Opening beer and wine bottles, cleaning up small spills, I've got it covered.

Puffin: very possibly.

I think this thread has touched on most of the heavy hitters. I mean, if you had WD-40, ductape, a lighter, swiss army knife, pen and towel, you can pretty much accomplish anything in the universe! MacGyver can eat your dust, baby!

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http://204.255.212.10/~jthorsse/23lk8gj/mpbucks.jpg

RIP WD-40's greatest friend:

John S. Barry was born Aug. 31, 1924, in Minneapolis. He served as a supply officer in the Navy and graduated from the University of Minnesota with a degree in mechanical engineering, and from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a master's in business and engineering administration.

He worked in marketing, sales and new product development for 3M Corp., Solar Aircraft and Adams Rite Manufacturing Co., among other jobs, before joining a San Diego company called Rocket Chemical Co. in 1969 as president and chief executive officer.

Within weeks he changed the name of the company to WD-40 Co. after its product, known as "water displacement" formula 40 because the inventor had supposedly failed 39 times in the process.

In Barry's first year as president, the newly renamed WD-40 Co. had $2 million in sales. Within five years, sales were $10.4 million, and in 1990, when he retired as president, revenue was $90.9 million. He remained as chairman of the board until 1999.

In recent years, the company has acquired other products, including Lava soap, and expanded its marketing to 160 countries, with sales of $317.1 million in 2008.

Barry's business genius during three decades at the company was in emphasizing brand loyalty for a lubricant that fights rust and eliminates squeaks. He preached the value of staying focused on your product and your market, and not being distracted.

"He had a saying: 'Don't be like a blind dog in a meat house,' " said Garry O. Ridge, WD-40 Co.'s current president and chief executive officer.

As WD-40, in its blue-and-yellow spray can, began to become more popular in the early 1970s, Barry, as president and CEO, led the drive to take the company public. But he resisted advice from business gurus that said a one-product company was a bad investment.

He declined suggestions that WD-40 expand to other products, engage in slick advertising or partner with large retailers.

In later years, he liked to show visitors his "graveyard of imitators," products developed by larger companies that failed to break into the market. He told reporters that he owed his company's success to breaking all the rules about mergers and acquisitions and shelf-space in stores.

"When you have a good product, don't tinker with it," Barry said.

supposedly 3-in-1 is better for more serious but similar applications

same company even.

One of my earliest engineering related memories is seeing the 3-in-1 can next to the WD-40 (old style with the rocket logo) in the garage.

i love the smell of WD-40

It's like the smell of solder, a shared olfactory memory.

Every time I open my closet door I think about WD40. But it's usually 7 a.m. and I have other things to deal with so the door stays squeaky.