Do you use bar oil in your chainsaw?

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Stihl, for one, does have a vegetable based oil

[Doug Miller]

Just the same, it should be obvious that you're not doing your chain saw any good by running used motor oil through it.

[JuanKnighter]

FWIW. I'm not an expert on chain saws, although I do own a Stihl. When I was racing dirt bikes offroad, I always used what the bike shop recommended on the chain. This stuff was stickier than dog shit but it didnt fly off the chain and IT DIDNT PICK UP CRAP like motor oil.

[Duane Bozarth]

By the same token, I don't think it at all obvious there would be much difference observable one way or the other as opposed to clean motor oil...

Seems to me like the "stale gas" thread or the "diluted 2-cycle gas in

4-cycle engine" threads of recent history... :(

[Modat22]

There is a resin based bar lube that is bio safe but it will turn to a solid if you left it sit too long.

[mjwallace]

I rented a chainsaw this weekend. Ran out of bar oil, went to the rental shop. They filled the bar oil bottle with 30w oil because they didn't have any bar oil left. This was done by the lead supervisor on the job so it must be ok.

Michael

[Duane Bozarth]

Well, that's a stretch to conclude... :)

(Although I don't disagree w/ particular action, just to draw the conclusion the action of a "supervisor" implies knowledge is a stretch imo).

Although I will say it's the first rental place I've heard of that wouldn't consider the lube oil a "consumable" for which the renter is responsible, just like the fuel...

[Garrett Fulton]

Duane, I've got a 25 yr. old Poulan that has an 18 yr. old bar. I've used the hell out of that saw on_big_trees over the years. Only reason I changed the bar was it got bent when a tree pinched it when I was cutting on a hillside. I've always filled the bar oil tank with used motor oil. My chains last a long time and it should be evident that it sure didn't do any damage to the bar. I do pump the oiler quite a bit on the saw and keep the bar well lubed. Now................................wait for it. Some horse's ass will tell me I'm spreading carcinogens to the little forest creatures who might come and lick the stump that has used motor oil on it.

Garrett Fulton

[timbirr]

Good luck with finding the biolube. None of the local dealers stock it. None want to bother ordering it.

[Duane Bozarth]

Garrett Fulton wrote: ...

Sound like your thinking parallels mine... :)

I'd never thought of it as a use for the old oil and since each of the large tractors takes 16 qts/change, it adds up pretty quickly here on the farm... :(

There's only so much that can be used on combine chains, etc. I'll probably go to a used oil burner for some heat in the shop here in another winter or so when I get the rest of the barn refurb far enough along to have actually got it close to tight...at present no windows in anything except the shop itself, etc., so far so not much purpose 'til can get farther along and farming comes first this time of year.

[Norma Desmond]

using 10W30 engine

was just

environment it's

lubricating

choice]...

what in the world makes you think oil is not biodegradable?

[Modat22]

Asphalt releases more oil into the environment than chain saws ever will.

[George]

Or for that matter, what difference does it make? I'll tell you another thing that isn't "biodegradable" and stays forever - dirt.

[Don Bruder]

Never mind the hundred-plus years worth of oil-leaking jalopies that have been driven on those asphalt roads...

[Mark and Kim Smith]

Hey Doug,

Check this out as for the hardness of wood. Check out the third picture down!!

[Robert Allison]

Having owned a small logging company for about 2 years, and having used numerous chain saws, I vote for the cheapest oil that you can get. NOTHING can be more abrasive to the bar than the chain itself. The oil serves to keep it cool and lubricated. Any oil will do that.

We bought 5 gallon buckets of reconstituted oil and mixed it with used (strained through a paint strainer) motor oil mixed in to make it go further. We used about 20 gallons a week.

I still have an old Poulan Countervibe 3500 from those days that is still going strong, and that was in the 70s.

[Jeff Wisnia]

Interesting site too..

Reminded me of the marvelous PBS Nova program about the attempt to recover the B-29 "Kee Bird" from Greenland.

IIRC they did something creative with the wheels on that one too. Having no source of compressed air they filled the tires with propane they had on hand for cooking.

If you never heard about this 1994-95 rescue attempt and its unhappy ending, here's a link:

Jeff

[alvinj]

:)

"if a guy doesn't figure he's as much of an asshole as half the guys out there he prob'ly ain't thinkin so good" -alvin

What I see, most guys figure they are in the top 1% of "good guys" or so! :(

Leads to trouble, one perfect little momma's boy dealing with another perfect little momma's boy.

If they figured they were so "good" that they fit in the top 10% I could go along with that if they were a fairy. I figure the top 10% of "good" guys out there are all fairies. Are you a fairy? ;)

It's ok if you are, I'm not making a judgement on that, ok?

You judge yourself.

When a guy uses the word "proper" it kind of gives me the creeps. That was my grandma's word and the way she saw everything, in terms of "proper" or not. Never knew guys used that word until I got on usenet. :/

You find it kind of creepy? Or is it just me? :/

Alvin a real asshole (typical dumb-ass guy) in AZ

[George E. Cawthon]

Huh? Bar oil is CHEAPER than 10W30 oil, if you are buying regular 10W30. If you have excess or essentially free 10W30 add a few ounces of Motor Honey per gallon of oil to hold it on the bar. There is nothing special about bar oil in the way of lubrication.

[George E. Cawthon]

Walmart sells Poulan branded bar oil for less than $3 per gallon. Still on your first gallon? Don't use than saw much huh? If you burn wood and get your own, that gallon of oil will be gone fairly quickly (or the blade will be gone).