A couple of summers ago I had to discombobulate Betty Jane's antique steering system so I could install a new Simrad autopilot. Unfortunately, there were several tight-fitting stainless-steel and bronze components of the system that were so corroded together it seemed virtually impossible to get them apart.

I am not easily deterred, however. And I tried (singly and then in unison): WD 40, several brands of penetrating oil (including the much-touted PB Blaster), a gear puller or two, a propane torch, and various mallets and ball-peen hammers, both with rags (to protect bronze surfaces) and without. Nothing worked--I mean nada!

When in doubt call up a relative, right? I called my brother--the industrial-strength industrial electrician who lives in Northern New York State--and he suggested a product called Aero Kroil. He said that he had used it many times on big machinery and that it had never failed. If there was any substance on the planet Earth that would help me get Betty's steering system apart, he added, it was Kroil!

So I bought a can at a machine shop for something like $15, as I remember. And I sprayed it into the interstices between the parts and waited a minute or so (per the instructions on the can) and presto! "The oil that creeps" crept. And with a little (and I mean a very little) help from a mallet, the components slid smoothly apart and I was able to get on with my project.

Kroil? The stuff's magic!