Agree with previous post.
I've never used graphite.
This comes from lock and safe persons over the decades that maintained safes. I used to be in a work where I dealt with safes all the time. I do mean safes, with time locks, multiple dials, day keys, etc. Some were walk in safes. The earliest caveat I can recall as a kid was to never, ever, use oil with graphite, as this makes a lapping compound, and reeks havoc on the locking mechanism.
Professional safe guy was telling me this, as he was installing a new system for a small safe, that he had to break into, as the safe "locked itself down". Graphite and oil had just worn out two pins, and hence caused the lock down.
As stated previously, a good CLP will flush out a padlock.
I have used mineral spirits to clean a padlock, that was getting gritty, such as happens here on the farm, using air, blow out, apply a CLP, then use air to distribute evenly, and to get rid of excess.
I have also used lighter fluid such as Zippo/Ronson in a pinch to get a gritty padlock to work, as no CLP or anything else was on hand.
