There’s so much myth and mystery about WD40! I’d never heard about the silicon claims until now. A quick websearch and I saw equal amount of people claiming it has silicon as people claiming that it doesn’t. The MSDS from the WD40 website doesn’t mention silicon, just petroleum distillates, but there is listed 10% “proprietary ingredients” that they don’t specifically list what they are…

That said, I use WD40 both as a lubricant to sharpen on my diamond stones and to wipe the planes off when I put them away. Also have several rust inhibiting mats that I store the planes on. Several times/year I have to take fine steel wool or sandpaper and clean off surface rust but that is just part of routine maintenance.

Rob, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario