This question is for those who use WD40 on their films. I just bought some, but wonder how you apply it? How much you use on the cloth, what type of cloth? Do you clean gilm first? Do you wipe off with a dry cloth after? I have film wipes bought from Osborne, I assume those are safe? Is there a video showing procedures?

Thanks

Vidar,
I know that Hugh advocates using WD40 so you might wish to contact him. Last night I cleaned a couple of my 16 mm films and wow,did they ever need it!

I was thinking about putting question for Hugh, but might be more people using it. Maybe the procedure varies

I am still a bit wary about using this stuff WD40 on film.

I tested on my 400' Raiders of the Lost Ark, as it was totally unplayable anyway. It ran much better, but long term effect I have no idea about. Hugh have used it for many years, I decided to trust Hugh on this.

Hi Vidar, there are quite a few collectors that use it, I've used it on 16mm for a few years, I still have reservations on striped prints though, I'll have to bite the bullet and give it a go, but on 16mm prints it hasn't harmed any yet, it is fish oil based after all, I just
use a piece of Chamois leather, no fluff created, then either wind it manually or using the projector, if like me you are feeling lazy,
its only a wipe, just to give less friction on projection. There are some collectors who use furniture polish, I haven't tried that yet, the
thing that puts me off is it might contain silicone, which does eventually harden. Anyway Vidar, try it on a bit of film before committing
your prints, I'm sure you won't be disappointed. The only reason I use it now is because I'm not paying £15.00 delivery on Cresclene, or
£50.00 a throw on Film Guard, so "needs must when the Devil drives"

Even £50 isn't a lot money to protect films that you've spent thousands on in my view Hugh.
Fair enough if for one reason or another, you don't like the results from the product, but if it's just a case of £50 being a lot of money for what this is or its presumed composition, then to my way of thinking, it's worth every penny.

It is purely based on the results of using it that I feel its worth the money, even if the recipe is nothing special and costs £1 to make.

Well, when I've read about how it should be "wet gated" for optimum results Andrew, turpentine would give the same results,
no, this stuff is not withn a stones throw of 2.22, it is I understand WD40 based, so I for one won't be falling for the wonder stuff
this time around, it falls into the thermofilm category for me, an over priced con.

Ok Hugh fair enough, but unlike Turpentine, this does do a very good job of protecting the stripe.

I know it's used wet gated in professional circles but it does work well for our purposes and I would still tread carefully using WD on any magnetic films until a film with a pasted stripe has proved itself beyond the 10yr minimum mark with the treatment of WD40.

I too am reticent on striped stock Andrew, but there are well respected names that swear by it, I still have to be
convinced on that score. I have no doubt the film will be fine, but the stripe is oxide after all. My use on 16mm has been fine, no
problems. I still think the price on Film Guard is excessive, considering that for the equivalent amount, Cresclene is
half the price! Perhaps when we get rid of the EU, we can import proper Film treatments.

I am not sure anymore Hugh. These substances are banned for health reasons now. Anything with solvent in it, just like turpentine, isn't tolerated anymore and probably for very good reasons.

Turpentine substitute is all you can buy over a counter now and its garbage by comparison to the real deal in terms of its cleaning ability.

2:22 contained a large amount of Trichlroethelyne which has been banned for decades now.
Even paint nowadays has changed beyond recognition. Most you buy now is water based and brushes should only be cleaned using water, including many satin and gloss paints, not just emulsion paint like the old days.

My view on the tossers who run the show, the buggers in Belgium , is if they paid a bit more attention to the things that do harm us Andrew, like
so called "migrants" who plot destruction in our midst, animals that are slaughtered in the most horrible ways to appease the bloody heathens, wastage on food that isn't the right shape or doesn't comply to some arsehole EU ruling, then I might pay attention, as it is, I've lived beside a chemical works, an Atomic Plant down the road, worked in a dirty trade, e.g. chemicals and sewage, but I'm still here, fit as a butchers dog, I don't need a bunch of UNELECTED pillocks telling me what I can or can't use or do, we do still have a Commonwealth, many folk forget this little fact.
The EU can kiss my arse.

Now we digress.

Not at all Andrew, these unelected people make laws that we are expected to adhere to, it is up to me as an individual if I wish to
use certain chemicals for certain jobs, no wonder we have products that DO NOT DO WHAT IT SAYS ON THE TIN, to quoin the phrase,
thanks to interference from countries that didn't have as much to say to Mr Hitler!

.Politics, Religion and a few other no go topics will always surface I suppose no matter where our film conversations innocently begin.
It's just a mad crazy world now that we live in...full stop.

It is simply this Andrew, we had a film treatment second to none, 2.22, it hid marks, it preserved, it lubricated, it improved sound too.
A product that was successful, gone, overnight . Regardless of what chemics were used in its manufacture, its business to make stuff to
kill innocent folk in foreign lands, that's okay, but for a handful of people using a film treatment, well, we are a danger to ourselves,
let alone the public. Time the balloon was burst on the EU, once and for all. If someone had said to me that I'd be using an automotive fluid on my films I'd have thought them mad, but that is how things are changing and not for the good.

I don't disagree in principle Hugh, but we have to accept through whatever governing body, advancements in medical knowledge and science will dictate and lead to a safer environment and with it, a few of life's nasties from the past, disappearing.
It's all kind of products that are affected, that we all know, were extremely useful in a bygone era even if a little risky.

In industry now, we see chemicals, inks, lubricants, materials and even tooling changing the manner we work in on an almost month by month basis now through new safety regulations.
Often this is to much inconvenience and disruption to the process and the workplace.

It's just something I have become extremely used to nowadays, for better or often, for worse!
We are just expected now, to find new solutions to the resultant problems.

I don't agree Andrew, silicone is a poison, but they're still filling women's tits with it, likewise Collagen injections, a poison used in
Vietnam. Not to mention food additives, known problem products are still added to food, as in drinking water with Fluoride, it causes
problems, but no noise on these debates, because big business rules, so to show that someone is still awake, lets pick on some obscure
chemical, here's one or two used in a pretty dead scenario, a film treatment, just to show how vigilant we are as your watchdogs, yeah,
I am impressed by the 'ol surrender monkeys in Europe, how they have protected me from harm, how long before the bottle of disinfectant has bugger all in it, just in case it kills some germs!!!

I would like to spray some WD40 on the EU and make it slide sideways for good. WD 40 is good for most things seized up, or rusted up, not sure how harmful it would be to film
its silicone. What is odd though, you would get lynched if you used it near anyone spraying a car professionally, it does something to the paint adhesion to the undercoat, which
are either cellulose based 2 pack or ( now banned paint) techoloid, which was cyanide based spray paint, used by dodging car dealers to get a super gloss finish that lasted to the
end of the road ,or the end of the week which ever came sooner. All I will say is that if you can smell it, your breathing it in, and its your call on wether you should be or not using
a product, personally when I smell bacon and eggs I want to eat them every time, but too much would kill me in the end.

I don't think there's any silicon in WD Paul, I understand its fish oil based, I personally don't like silicon, so would avoid its use, hence
WD40, so far it has done no harm, on 16mm. As previously stated, we are backed into a corner on what is safe and what is not, would
anyone on here drink car polish? but no doubt there'll be a ruling banning it, in case some idiot does, it is not the done thing you know.
at least not without the "T" cut chaser. Seriously though, these edicts have literally ruined our innocuous hobby, rulings that on the whole are meaningless. A great friend and colleague of mine, a painter, would never use turps to clean his hands, this was in the '70s,
that was his choice, he didn't need an EU ruling to make it for him, democracy, not dictatorship!!! What amuses me , is here we are,
the instigators of PARLIAMENT, THE FIRST IN THE WORLD, taking orders from UNELECTED people you couldn't name if your life depended on it, laughable, I must change my underwear through laughing at this crazy state of affairs, Britannia Rules the Waves,
only if the EU let us. Anyway, I want 2.22 back, as do many more.

Hugh, I think we used to have common sense back in time. WD40 I would be thinking twice before using on super 8 magnetic films. The stripe was not always very good.

I know exactly what you're saying David, I am reticent myself, but on unstriped film it is okay. I'd rather trust it than some of the
concoctions that were for sale as cleaner/lubricants, some still are. Tops of the present would be FilmRenew, although Cresclene
is good too, but can't be accessed, so alternatives are found. As I already stated, this over reaction to something that was used sporadically at best, but chemicals and synthetic fats added to our foodstuff is okay, no wonder folk are piling on the pounds, just
take a look at old news reels etc from the '40s to the '70s, everyone was much slimmer and fitter, look now and it is a different story altogether. When I was a lad at school, there were only two kids who could be described as over weight, among the lads, now look at them, every other child is over weight, no doubt our diet was more healthy then.

Hugh! Is WD40 good om dry/warped films? I have some silent 8mm prints to treat. I guess they are about70 - 80 years old.

My print of Raiders was lost due to warping, but after trying it on this, it runs, maybe not 100%, but much better. I have to try it on my GS-1200 to check, but it didn't run on any projectors before, it ran decently on my Sankyo 700 after WD40

It may lose the stripe, but since it was all gone anyway, I took a chance

Please let us know, about the magnetic soumd track.