Diesel for lube

[Solomon]

I concure with poston ,  I use straight diesel for lube, however, I have a Logmaster LM4 wich has no rubber bandwheel tires just steel on steel.
This was a big selling point for me and was a large part of my decision to buy a Logmaster.
Using diesel will eliminate any and all problems with sap and pitch and the saw cuts like a dream.
But...  if you're running a machine with any type of rubber, silicone, or other petroleum product made bandwheel tire, you need to avoid any type of petroleum based lubricant for the obvious reason.   It will disolve your tires!
I hope this has been of educational benefit to you.     :P

[slider]

Solomon I respectfully disagree.I have used diesel only for over a year now and on a LT 70 with rubber belts with no problems.I saw mostly pine so pitch build up is a big issue.I turn the lubmizer down so i get about one shot every 6 to 8 seconds.With cypress or popular water and soap are fine but heart pine is much more difficult.

[Kbeitz]

But some belts or tires are not rubber but made from  urethane .

[woodmills1]

50/50 diesel and bar oil for many years from a spray bottle, local HDW store has old style metal lube cans

[4x4American]

50/50 diesel and bar oil for many years from a spray bottle, local HDW store has old style metal lube cans

X2 works great

[Dave Shepard]

I don't run diesel on my mill, but used to run it on the mill I learned on. That's all that was used, and never had any break down of the belts. I did have a transfer tank in my pickup once, and the rubber bed liner grew about eight inches after getting soaked in diesel. :D

[bkaimwood]

I reluctantly made the switch to diesel about 50 hours ago, when my lubemizer froze for the second time... I saw lots of pine, plenty that's pitchy, and some heart pine resaw jobs that were nearly impossible... All I could say, is that I wish I would have done it a LONG time ago...I tried the spray bottle method, but required frequent stops and tending to, doesn't take long, but time adds up, and time is $$$. You just need to watch how much you use, that's all, like others have said. If you run it as liberally as water, you likely will have problems.... And you don't need nearly as much...my 5 gallon jug is now empty...after 50 hours of sawing...

[Wisconsintimber]

I use a 50/50 mix of bar oil and diesel as well with a drip every couple of seconds.  I have sawn mostly white pine and haven't had too much trouble with pitch build up, but I do notice the blade is a lot noisier when I run less or run out of lube.  My wheels are rubber and I assume the extra noise is coming from the blade on the roller guides...

[SineWave]

I don't have a bandmill yet but I do build furniture, and it's a pretty routine thing to wipe down unfinished boards with mineral spirits for various reasons, and it dries pretty fast, so I seriously doubt diesel fuel in the amounts I hear people talking about here, is going to harm a thing.