Quote: Originally posted by scara0_0 on 28/8/2008
Slight variation I suppose but after returning from holiday especially a "wet one" I wipe my steel poles down with wd40 before storing them away and then before going away again I use a spray wax polish (not pledge) too expensive 
, just to clean them up and wipe the wd 40 from them. I have found this to work with no problems as I have found storing them without the wd40 wipe they tend to rust as they draw on the residual moisture when packed away.I have always found this to work Ok for me.
I think the difference here is that you're not storing the poles and canvas in close contact with one another, so there's no chance of the WD40 transferring onto the canvas. In a TT the canvas is normally folded up together with the poles in the cabin area, and traces of any lube used can transfer across. If you're meticulous in cleaning the poles before they're used again then I don't suppose it would matter what you used.
I still think Fabsil is the No1 choice. I bought a spray tin of it about four years ago to keep in the tent repair kit for small leak emergencies. Never used it for this, but I've used it a lot on the TT poles. A tiny squirt per pole every so often, especially on the poles that collapse into one another, is all they need. They are old poles (19 years) and have got some surface corrosion, but they still work fine.
Topic: Tent pole lube?
