"Calvin Sambrook" writes:
Thanks everyone for broadening my understanding of this.

Likewise. It leaves me wondering something else. Before reading this
thread, I'd assumed that (like vaseline) grease was just a particularly
thick petrochemical -- or a mix, to get the right properties. What is it
that makes doing it that way impossible (or at least, makes making
something that eventually dries out a better choice)?

What grease-like things don't eventually dry out?

--
Jón Fairbairn