replying to ARW, philip Lane wrote:
My dad has a very old alum loft ladder. _*Worse*_ thing we ever did was to use
Molyslip grease on it! The graphite dries out and is black and gets into all
the grooves, clothes and hands and takes many goes with Polyclens,rags and
brush to clean it off. WD40 works magic for a while then runs down ladder on
to carpet!! And then dries sticky. After a proper clean try cold candle rub
or a FEW drops of 3in1 oil. If you overdo it you will regret it. We have sea
air here now that corrodes the metal quickly. Ladder is in use most days
however. That pays off but the wax helps.Tip: any work on ladder put a sheet
down first or better still taken ladder off (we can, easily) and take into
garden on a nice sunny warmish day.

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