Non-lubricated keyholes could be wasting you seconds every day. Now, you might argue that the number of seconds required to research, acquire, and implement keyhole lubricant would easily outweigh the amount saved through optimal key insertion — and you'd probably be right.
But some seconds are worth more than others, and some seconds have little worth at all.
The seconds you choose to use now, to lubricate your keyholes, will allow you to save seconds when you choose to do something more important than lubricating your keyholes — and that's to say nothing of the seconds you use just sitting around not lubricating anything at all.
Imagine…
Your water has broken, you rush out to the front door to get yourself to hospital, only to realise you've forgotten your book.
You're coming home and you are desperate to use the toilet.
Your significant other is waiting for you at home and you value spending time with them.
In these moments, the seconds you'll save from having lubricated keyholes, combined with other egress optimizations, will be well worth todays effort.
How much time can you save by lubricating you keyholes
I timed how long it took to inset my key into one of the keyholes of our home five times — and then again after applying dry keyhole lubricant.
before application
after application
1.56
1.52
3.56
0.47
3.30
0.67
1.86
0.41
5.54
0.54
before average
after average
3.164 seconds
0.722 seconds
I was surprised by the effectiveness of this intervention. An average of 2.442 seconds saved per entry. If I enter that door every day for a year, that amounts to around 15 minutes. The keyhole is one of three, two of which are particularly sticky — so more time to save still.
How to lubricate your keyholes
Lubricating your keyholes is easy, but it requires dry graphite powder lubricant. Wet lubricant like WD40 will gather dust and could make your keyholes worse, it will also give you oily fingers.
Before you start you'll need to acquire some graphite lubricant, you can get this from any good hardware store, or from Amazon using the link below:
If you buy anything using this link, I will make a small amount of money at no extra cost to you. You will also be financing the interplanetary dreams of one of the worlds richest men.
Acquire graphite lubricant
Shake the tube
Open the lid
Carefully place the end of the tube into your keyhole
Give it a generous squeeze (be careful, don't breathe any in, it is a very fine powder)
Put the lid back on
Repeatedly insert your key into the keyhole to spread the powder around