vegetable oil for bar oil ???

[thecfarm]

Been buying TSC bar and chain oil for years. I think I have 20 gallons? or more? When it it was on sale I would buy 4 bottles when I went by.
It has always looked the same. So far.  ;D  Who knows what will show up in my stash.
I have not bought any for 6 months. Going to work my stash down some.

[ppine]

My uncle Alaska Bob used to use vegetable oil in his saw for butchering large animals like moose and caribou because it would not taint the meat.  Otherwise it seems like a bad idea.  You need high viscosity to keep the oil on the chain and bar at high revolutions.

[Carson-saws]

A friend of mine uses his motor oil after he changes the oil in his truck.  I have yet to hear him tell me of any trouble using that.  Yet...but he has been doing it for years.

[coxy]

i used it for years with no issues i now have 25 5gal buckets of iso 100 chevron oil i got off CL for 5 bucks a pail they say its rock drill oil that stuff is some tacky

[nativewolf]

Ok I wakened this old thread.  Just read about canola oil in place of bar oil.  Sounded neat, did some reading of old threads. 

The facts are:

Canola oil can be had for about $6/gallon at Walmart and other superstores (costco, sams, etc)
Some folks don't like the bio bar oils
Lots of reports of folks using all manner of recycled veg oil for years
Some folks added higher saturated fat oil to canola to get a bit more tackiness

Question:

Has any logger ever used canola oil or the like full time? 


I have an 11 year old that needs a science experiment and we're going to cut 12-15 acres and could start with new chains and compare at the end of the cut (bar oil vs veg oil- this logger hand cuts).  Be a neat experiment, could do a microscope examination of the chains after the crew finished.

[John Mc]

It may be tough to control other variables: a dull chain will cause more wear on the bar than a sharp one, and there is no guarantee that the two chains will see the same action. But still, it will be an interesting experiment.

I've used the commercially sold veggie bar oil for years, which is basically canola oil with some additives. (It's required on one of the properties where I cut firewood.) The manufacturers claim that it lubricates better than the petroleum-based oils.

[TreeStandHunter]

I had a Husqvarna rep at Arborcon tell me that if you buy a husqy run husqy oil, if a stihl than run stihl oil, etc...he said they each design their oil pumps to be used with their oil. You will get longer bar/chain life if you run the oil designed for your saw. Besides if you are a homeowner that $12 gallon of bar oil should last awhile. I dont get why you would spend several hundred on a saw and than run a different bar oil to try and save a few dollars.

[teakwood]

 I have never ever run sthil bar oil in any of my 5 stihl's in the last 20years and never had a pump failure. You can't even buy original stihl bar oil here. Just put in whatever serves you best.
I have a drum of hyd oil left from the oil change on my big excavator, so instead of buying bar oil (which in Costa Rica is a cheap motoroil sold even by the chainsaw dealers at 10$/gal ) i just use this oil. before i used soya oil for about 6 years and it works also very good, it's just every veggie oil is going to rancid and they make a sticky mess on every part of the saw who touches oil, and it's hard to clean.

[TreeStandHunter]

I have never ever run sthil bar oil in any of my 5 stihl's in the last 20years and never had a pump failure. You can't even buy original stihl bar oil here. Just put in whatever serves you best. Ip
I have a drum of hyd oil left from the oil change on my big excavator, so instead of buying bar oil (which in Costa Rica is a cheap motoroil sold even by the chainsaw dealers at 10$/gal ) i just use this oil. before i used soya oil for about 6 years and it works also very good, it's just every veggie oil is going to rancid and they make a sticky mess on every part of the saw who touches oil, and it's hard to clean.

I didnt say you can't I'm just saying you shouldnt. Hell put old motor oil in it if you wabt idc. But for the average joe that does not do regular bar maintenance they should use oil designed for that system...I can just paint the end grain of my logs with walmart paint but Anchorseal will do a better job...all I'm sayin.

[HemlockKing]

Dated thread but this thread is how I found this site, I would like to expand on veggie oil for future folks looking into this. After running about 10 jugs of canola oil through my saw I can say I'm happy with it, I notice zero difference other than in mid cut it will smell like I'm cooking a batch of frys. Much cheaper than 19$ CAD a jug(7$ a jug). It almost seems to good to be true.
In the summer months I suspect I may half to mix a little actual B/C oil in it to thicken it up. but it has been great for me so far in -10 up to +10 C temps.

[John Mc]

Welcome to the Forestry Forum, @HemlockKing 

The only drawback I've found with running straight veggie oil is that it can eventually harden onto the chain if it sits for too long. (Much like that residual crust that forms in the bottom of a cast iron frying pan.) If you are using the saw regularly, that doesn't seem to be much of an issue. When I did try straight veggie oil for a time, if I knew I would not be using the saw for a while, I'd fill up the last tank with petroleum based oil, and run enough through to get that out on the chain before storing.

The commercially sold "bio-blend" chainsaw oils seem to have solved this issue, I assume through some additives. I leave the Stihl green jug Bio-oil in my saws year round. It is thinner than their summer weight oil, so it works well in the winter, but I use it year round, and if anything, it seems to lubricate better than the petroleum oil, even in the summer - enough so that I turn the oiler down a notch on my saw with no ill effects.

[mike_belben]

I've not used straight veggie oil, but a friend has. He does say he's occasionally experienced it stiffening up on the chain (not problem with what is in the tank). If he knows it won't be used for a while, he just runs some petro-oil through it before storing it.

Just thought with it stiffening up on the chain some heat "might" make it soften up and flow better. Just an idea.

I think it's more that the veggie oil dried out and hardened up than a temperature thing. (I see the same thing on the griddle I use for my pancakes. I just can't get that hardened on veggie oil off it. Hmmm... I haven't tried spraying it with WD-40)

Im jumping ahead here.. Maybe ive read the thread way back i dont recall.. But its polymerization.  Vegetable oils react to metals.  Copper/brass the worst, stainless and alumin the least and plastic not at all.  Heat accelerates the process.  It makes a plastic that people call "poly" and smells like oil based paint, which is linseed oil reacting with oxygen to make a cap that the sublayers harden under. 
Anyway veggie oils are very high in lubricity and fairly clingy.  Flows well hot but the muffler heat will make a tank want to skin up so i would dump it at the end of the day.  
You could make up a PVC cylinder back at the shop full of old gas or something to dip the bar and chain in at the end of the day to rinse off the bulk of the veggie so it doesnt poly up.  If you see green and black goo its found some copper. 

[DeerMeadowFarm]

I've been running pure to 50/50 mix canola oil/bar oil for years now with no issues. YMMV...

[Al_Smith]

There is as much big ado with bar lube  about like oil /gas mix ratios and aviation gasoline used in a chainsaw engine instead of regular old buy it anywhere pump gas .
I suppose some people who are extremely into eco friendly alternatives would be interested in using cooking/salad oils .More so than who would consider using bar oil on a tossed salad .
Regular old buy it any where bar oil is just oil with a tacking agent .Cheap works just as well as that stuff that comes in an orange bottle .The brand loyal types will always go with the brand ,it's a Ford Chevy thing IMO .
It's not like a chainsaw is like the wreck  Exon Valdez on the rocks .What little they blow on the ground will be gone in very quick order .It's none of my business though what they use except the amusement factor . :D

[HemlockKing]

There is as much big ado with bar lube  about like oil /gas mix ratios and aviation gasoline used in a chainsaw engine instead of regular old buy it anywhere pump gas .
I suppose some people who are extremely into eco friendly alternatives would be interested in using cooking/salad oils .More so than who would consider using bar oil on a tossed salad .
Regular old buy it any where bar oil is just oil with a tacking agent .Cheap works just as well as that stuff that comes in an orange bottle .The brand loyal types will always go with the brand ,it's a Ford Chevy thing IMO .
It's not like a chainsaw is like the wreck  Exon Valdez on the rocks .What little they blow on the ground will be gone in very quick order .It's none of my business though what they use except the amusement factor . :D

For me, the eco friendly part was a plus,
Mainly for me though it comes down to cost. I can’t afford a 15$ jug of bar oil every day or 2. Also mentioned earlier the mist oil that sprays off the bar is less toxic to inhale
Anyhoot, I’m still running 100% veggie oil in almost summer heat recently, still no problems. Probably 30-40 jugs in

[Al_Smith]

They say used crankcase oil works but even being a tight wad I'm not that tight .You could probably use eco friendly stuff which is basically thinned down KY jelly .Water with a thickener agent added .Come to think of it that stuff might be the hot ticket to use when slipping a tire on a rim being water based 

I just wait until I find some petro based oil on sale and buy 4-5-8 gallons whatever .TSC used to have it on the cheap but locally all they had was high priced oil from a manufacturer  located in Sweden which is just as high priced as a saw maker in Germany .

[thecfarm]

Al, I just went into TSC. I found their brand of oil way up high. Those orange gallons was down low so a customer could found it. ;)
I had over 20 gallons of TSC, at one time. Every time it would come on sale I would buy 4-6 gallons of it.     

[petefrom bearswamp]

Vegetable oil for seasoning the cast iron frying pan and TSC for bar oil here.
I only go through about a gallon a year here  cutting just firewood.

[welderskelter]

Not trying to be a smarty but trying to figure on my saw how much I saved over the years. I use 100 % used bar oil. My 066 is 17 now and going strong. I usually cut about 10 to 12 cords a year. So that is approximately say 180 cords of wood. Can anyone tell me how many gallons of oil they would have used on that job? I never figured my oil to cord of wood before. This is blocking up the wood also and using chainsaw to split big ugly crotches. Cany leave them in the woods ya know. Mabe some of you have kept better track of things.

[mike_belben]

Whenever i see sub $6 a gallon bar oil at rural king i get one.  Usually cam2 or RK brand.  But ive run many gallons of motor oil and have totes and drums full of french fry oil.  I guess i should just switch to that all around.  No idea why i never have. Ill cut it with a little diesel to flow. 

[BradMarks]

I've always used the tacky stuff, but when Mount St. Helens blew in 1980(?), it was a requirement on gov't. land to use veggie oil in the saws for enviro purposes. It was pretty goofy, like they were treating the ravaged area as a sterile environment, the bubble boy if you will. The biggest concern for the cutters though was chain, with the pumice dust on everything. Everybody wanted carbide tip chain.

[tawilson]

I always figured a little sheen of oil on the mud puddles helps keep the mosquitoes down.

[John Mc]

I always figured a little sheen of oil on the mud puddles helps keep the mosquitoes down.

Helps keep the fish and other wildlife down as well.

[Tacotodd]

 :D

[Real1shepherd]

I've always used the tacky stuff, but when Mount St. Helens blew in 1980(?), it was a requirement on gov't. land to use veggie oil in the saws for enviro purposes. It was pretty goofy, like they were treating the ravaged area as a sterile environment, the bubble boy if you will. The biggest concern for the cutters though was chain, with the pumice dust on everything. Everybody wanted carbide tip chain.

I was offered a job up there bucking the OG that blew down. I was having trouble breathing just walking around Portland, so.....
Even my young, dumb dare-brain said, nah.

I always wondered about those guys and how they came out later in life...health wise.

The ash was small enough to trash most air breathing motors in short order.....you had to have oiled, foam filters at the least. Yeah, I imagine the chain was a real obstacle in that ash.

Kevin