An old hand at a refinery in Baton Rouge taught me a trick I still use

Back in 2019 I was working a turnaround at a refinery in Baton Rouge. This guy named Earl, been a boilermaker for 35 years, walked up while I was fighting with a stud that kept galling. He said "quit fighting it and hit it with a candle first" and handed me an old birthday candle. I rubbed it on the threads and that stud went in smooth as butter. Has anyone else got a weird trick like that from an old timer on a job site?

2 comments

2 Comments

hayes.oliver16d ago

I had a old machinist show me the same trick with a crayon on a rusted bolt in a pump house. Worked better than any penetrating oil I ever bought.

angela_kelly16d ago

I read somewhere that paraffin wax was actually a common trick on old steam locomotives for the same reason.