Could you just use the tip of a pencil same thing ?
It is the same stuff. But easier to get it in the key hole if you have a bottle of graphite powder. Most hardware stores keep it. Or a decent locksmith should sell it. The bottle is like a puffer bottle and it squirts it out when you squeeze it.
Dri Slide is some magic stuff. I've been using it since the 70's. You're right, a bottle will last for years. Lubing cables is where it really shines. A friend had a jet boat and the thrust adjuster cable was froze up and wouldn't move. The dealer wanted $250 for a new cable. He brought the cable by the shop and I hung it up and started putting drops of Dri Slide in the top every couple of hours and it wasn't long before it was running out the bottom. Saved the cable and him a bunch of cash. Dri Slide really works as advertised.I would clean the key with +#0000 steel wool and use Dri Slide on the key……a bottle from your local dealer will last a lifetime.
Mine use to look like that. The little sliding door was jammed. Someone had pressed down on the metal at the top and jammed it. Some careful adjusting with a small flat blade screw driver did the trick. In spite of my suggestion to use graphite, a dry lube aerosol is probably a better bet.
A good place to start. However the dry lubes people here have suggested might be a good alternative I think.
Just to be clear, I’m not talking about that little door that moves aside, I mean that whole top turns independently. If you put the key in by one or two mm, it turns and shuts off the key slot, taking the door with it. When you re-align the opening with the rest of the barrel there’s a clear click as they fall back into place. If they’re not lined up as they should be the key doesn’t want to fully engage.
