Do you use bar oil in your chainsaw?

Because every professional user I have ever seen is using 10W30 engine oil. Now I'm not about to put that into my Stihls but I was just wondering if I am wasting money on expensive bar oil?

Any comments?

Dean

Reply to
dean
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I worked with a professional tree service for 7 years. We used the bar oil or motor oil . Whatever was available at the time.. Using motor oil never hurt any saw we had. We used Stihls, we had Huskys, Echos (long time ago). Never hurt any of them. the main thing is to make sure that the bar gets oil. Theres a slot that the chain runs in.. sometimes it's good to clean that out. It can get gunked up a bit. That'll help keep the bar lubed up.

Reply to
zelix

Used 10W30 in my Stihl from the time I bought it until it was "borrowed" by an uninvited guest - about five- years - and it worked well for me.

-- Morris Dovey DeSoto Solar DeSoto, Iowa USA

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Reply to
Morris Dovey

I put used motor oil in my saw. Good way to get rig of it.

Reply to
Al Reid

I've seen all sort of crappy oil used, even used motor oil. It works. OTOH, I'm still on my first gallon of bar oil that I paid about $5.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

The oil on the chain will be distributed in you environment it's totally unacceptable to use a non-biodegradable oil for lubricating the saw. The pro's you have seen obviously don't care a dam about the rest of the world and should be [insert punishment of choice]...

Reply to
Juergen Hannappel

I use stihl bar lube and stp mixed 10 to 1, it might sound silly but my chain seems to stay sharp longer with less stretch. I cut alot of locust trees for posts and firewood each season.

Reply to
Modat22

I use Poulan bar oil from Walmart. Its 30 weight with a tackifier (sp?) in it so it sticks to the chain better than motor oil. Since it doesn't have any of the additives needed to keep an engine clean, its cheaper than motor oil too.

Reply to
someone

No, not really.

The suspended solids and other junk (such as combustion byproducts) in used motor oil don't do either the bar or the chain any good. That gunk is better off being recycled and disposed of properly.

Reply to
Doug Miller

Bar & chain oil is a *lot* thicker and stickier than motor oil. This helps it stay on the chain. Motor oil will work, but it gets slung off the chain pretty quickly, so you have to replenish the oil reservoir more often. And it makes a hell of a mess.

Bottom line: motor oil is cheaper, but you use more of it. I'm guessing it's about even, price-wise.

Reply to
Doug Miller

Doug,

I have never actually put used motor oil in my saws, although I have been told that it can be done. I was just testing a theory that if I said I did that Doug Miller would be the first one to tell me that I was wrong to do so.

Theory proven correct ;^)

Reply to
Al Reid

Scrotum or bladder cancer. No thanks ! Whatever you use as an oil, you're also breathing it as an aerosol. I won't use engine oil and I certainly won't use used engine oil.

There's also the issue of staining valuable timber with it.

Reply to
Andy Dingley

Are you a jerk in real life, too, or just on Usenet?

Reply to
Doug Miller

ROFLMAO!

Reply to
Al Reid

Actually, I never thought of it, but I really doubt it's really doing any harm--it's not a demanding lubrication problem and the solids suspended in the oil aren't anything much to compare to the junk that's being collected on the bar anyway...

imo, $0.02, ymmv, etc., .... :)

Reply to
Duane Bozarth

So should I be using canola oil, peanut oil, soybean oil, olive oil, or is there something better?

Reply to
Elmo

Well, they cutting trees, aren't they, the scum... :)

I really doubt the base of bar oil is any different than that for engine oil...just viscosity and (perhaps) some specific additives, but I'd not expect much there as the lubrication requirements are not onerous in terms of temperature, pressure, tolerances, etc.

Reply to
Duane Bozarth

Husqvarna were selling a bar oil based on vegetable oil. I have recently heard that the performance was/is considered unsatisfactory but this is very second hand info, just some guy whose brother does logging in Bavaria. Guess it probably would be more environmentally friendly, somewhat.

-P.

Reply to
Peter Huebner

The suspended solids in used engine oil are, for the most part, fine particles of metal. The junk that collects on the bar during use is wood dust. Surely you don't imagine that the two produce the same degree of wear on the chain and bar.

Reply to
Doug Miller

Doug Miller wrote: ....

A lot of the chips and dust are wood, but a lot isn't--the inevitable dirt and other grime is at least as abrasive as the much smaller diameter particles that made it through the engine oil filter...after all, you wouldn't be particularly concerned to run your auto another 500 or even 1000 miles above the 3000 mi mark if you were on a trip and needed that to get home for a more convenient oil change, would you? The lube requirements of any modern engine are more onerous...

Reply to
Duane Bozarth

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