Hello from Florida. If you happen to live here or just pay really good attention to the weather, you might notice that we have been getting a good deal of rain for the past couple of days. Well, this morning I finally got fed up with myself and altered one of my down-spouts... while it was raining. The problem is, I only ever really noticed the issue with the downspout while it was raining and I would make a mental note to fix it when it wasn't raining. But without fail, every time it wasn't raining, I would simply forget that mental note.

Since it was raining, I avoided using any kind of power tools, not that I really needed any. But at one point I did need to use my cordless drill. Unfortunately, it was at a point where the downspout was removed and so water was dropping down right into the area I needed to work. So I grabbed an old shirt, threw it over the drill and went to work. This prevented the drill from getting directly hit by water, but it still got wet.

So when I was done with my work, I went and grabbed my can of WD-40. I removed the battery and gave most of the moving areas of the drill a quick spray and then rotated those parts. I then propped the drill up so that any excess would drain toward the chuck and away from the motor compartment. I then spent some time cleaning up other tools and giving them quick sprays and even hit the lock on my shed with a blast to make sure the inner components stay lubricated. But this got me to wondering and finally the question comes:

How often do others use WD-40 for rust prevention and general tool maintenance? And what tools do you avoid using it on? In the past I always would go for the WD-40 when I needed it, such as to break a stubborn, rusted bolt or when some trimmers were in dire need of being cleaned. But now I'm thinking more along the lines of Preventive Maintenance instead of waiting for something to go wrong.