vegetable oil for bar oil ???

[HolmenTree]

Back on topic canola is virtually odorless.  Nice clean pure oil.
Never had a plugged up cylinder or buildup up of canola residue.
Whenever I service my saw I spray a light coating of Fluid Film underneath the sprocket cover avoiding the clutch drum and shoes. Once a year pop off the chain brake mechanisms cover and spray Fluid Film under there also.

[danbuendgen]

Primarily there is a caking problem that affects the cooling of the saw, and the ease of working on it. The veg oil mixes with the sawdust and literally bakes itself into a much harder substance than you get with conventional bar oil. In most cases this stuff can't be blown out with air and must be scraped out with tools. If not maintained properly it will build up and cook the saw.

This is a issue I had with the Stihl and Husky bio oil. I got baked into my bar rail big time. I would constantly have to clean out the bar rail or it would get plugged up with baked on oil and saw dust. And I could not remove it. I lost a few bars dew to this and said "screw it" back to the conventional oil.

Holmantree, looked at the veggie oil at the grocery store, I am not sure what things are like in Canada, but here the canola oil costs more then bio bar oil...

[DelawhereJoe]

Around here I can pick 1 gal of "great value" walmart brand 100% canola oil for $5.98...4.7 cents per oz...sounds like a deal to me. Perhaps you can purchase it and have it shipped to you, or pick up in store. What upscale grocery stores are you shopping at ?

[danbuendgen]

Around here I can pick 1 gal of "great value" walmart brand 100% canola oil for $5.98...4.7 cents per oz...sounds like a deal to me. Perhaps you can purchase it and have it shipped to you, or pick up in store. What upscale grocery stores are you shopping at ?

I will try wal-mart next time I am there. I go there for all my motor oil, both trucks need a oil change, so I will be there soon.

I am still concerned about the veggie oil issues...I may just stick with real oil and not mess around.

[jimbarry]

Never had a issue with bar tips, oil pumps or gumming up problems running canola. ....

I can say the same. Mind you, I only use the chainsaw maybe 100 hrs a year. I use the old oil (usually 100% veg) from the fryer at the house (after many batches of donuts)   Sometimes I use it straight, sometimes I mix it 50/50 with a cheap bar oil. Simply using it because I can, as there's no place to dispose of it. If the oil has crap in it, I'll first pass it (warmed up first, hot enough to the touch) through a paper towel resting in a sieve. When the saw comes apart for touching up the chain on the benchtop grinder, the saw gets inspected and cleaned out if necessary. I see no difference in caking whether its store bought oil, 50/50 or the fryer oil. My nickle's worth of experience.

[DelawhereJoe]

What is the temperature range that you are running the canola oil at, coldest to hottest days?

[Stuart Caruk]

I run a CNC machine shop and our Kitamura horizontal mill drinks way oil. It's used to create the sliding surface that moves the 16,000 pound spindle casting 2000 IPM. Just the way lube side of the machine uses about a gallon every couple days. The oil coing off the saddle is still absolutely clean. I just haven't got the guts to reuse it on the ways of a $480,000 machine, but it makes great bar oil.

I created a separate skimmer to catch the waste oil off the saddle so it doesn't contaminate the coolant. #2 way lube has loads of tackifiers that just happen to make it work very well as bar oil. It's all I've used for years. My friends who are professional loggers come grab my stash of 5 gallon pails as well.

[John Mc]

What is the temperature range that you are running the canola oil at, coldest to hottest days?

I don't run straight canola oil, I run the commercial veggie oil stuff (presently Stihl, but I have run other brands). I ran it in 90˚F for a few days recently, which is about as hot a day as I've ever run it. I've also run it at about 10 or 15˚F. I did not notice any problems. I don't often cut in those temperatures, however. A more typical range would be 20 - 80˚F.

Not sure if the commercial veggie bar oil has any additives in it to extend the temperature range or not.

[joe_indi]

I did a small experiment during the weekend.
Veggie oils don't have sticking/anti-fling properties as much as non-veggie oils unless an additive is used.
I was looking at several additives that have this  property, an essential in a chain lubricant. That was when I thought of sesame oil. We use it a lot on cast iron and iron cooking utensils for seasoning the cooking surface and as a protective coating on the side that faces the heat. Sesame oil unlike other oils does not wash off so easily.
So I added 10% sesame oil in vegetable oil and tried it in a chainsaw.
And it works! The oil sticks much better, as good as store bought chain oils.

[John Mc]

Interesting experiment! I never would have thought of it.

[cliffreaves]

I read through this post a while back and was convinced to try vegetable oil.   (Holmen had a very strong case for it)😀I'm very pleased with the results.   I use straight up the cheapest veg oil from Walmart for milling. I did turn my oiler down a bit because of the thinner consistency, but it rides along to the tip very nicely.  So far, I would recommend it over recommend it over reg bar oil for milling.  My bar and chain stay cooler with it.  (I have my opinions as to why, but I'm just guessing) .  By the way, I'm using a 36" bar on an 09 395xp. That's my $0.01.

[mrselfreliance]

Hmmm, very interesting.  I use saw dust from Junking my wood as mulch for my garden.  I'll be trying Veg Oil next weekend.

[Ada Shaker]

I did a small experiment during the weekend.
Veggie oils don't have sticking/anti-fling properties as much as non-veggie oils unless an additive is used.
I was looking at several additives that have this  property, an essential in a chain lubricant. That was when I thought of sesame oil. We use it a lot on cast iron and iron cooking utensils for seasoning the cooking surface and as a protective coating on the side that faces the heat. Sesame oil unlike other oils does not wash off so easily.
So I added 10% sesame oil in vegetable oil and tried it in a chainsaw.
And it works! The oil sticks much better, as good as store bought chain oils.

Good to see you got good rusults with your experiment. Not all vegetable oils are the same, I think the one that was mentioned earlier was canola oil being used. Now I think they have gm canola state side so it may be different again. Another vegetable oil that is causing havoc in the tropics is palm oil and a lot of that is being produced quite cheap, and labeled as vegetable oil also. Good to hear about the tackiness of sesame seed oil, I think by memory it not a cheap oil to buy here.

[mrselfreliance]

So how many people here actually just use Vegetable Oil?  So far I've only seen HolmenTree say that he uses it straight.

[Chainsaw10]

I've been using Canola oil exclusively for about ten years now.  I'm a full time chainsaw carver for over 20 years now,  and my saws get used almost every day, year round.  I see no reason to use anything other than Canola.  The only tiny drawback is the saw gets a bit dirtier more quickly.....just gotta do a quick cleaning a little more often.  "Tack Additives" in oil is a bunch of BS.  I want my bar/chain oiled....no need for tack.  My chains are never dry, they are always nice and oily when I use canola.   
  I used to have plugged/problematic oilers years ago on a regulat basis.    I have had almost no plugged oilers since I started using Canola

[John Mc]

Welcome to the Forestry Forum, Chainsaw10.

[Chainsaw10]

Thanks ;D

[HolmenTree]

Welcome Chainsaw 10 .

[killamplanes]

welcome chainsaw 10. But with chainsaw carving I believe your in a cleaner environment say than a logger. tree gets felled, skidded threw mud and creek sand to landing then bucked up. I would think that theres a big difference in the environment of the chains. Not argueing just thinking :P

[HolmenTree]

Killamplanes, after all that wood going through mud and sand on the way to the landing ....more thought will be on filing that chain then worrying about lubrication :D
Carving all day on long cuts in every direction to the grain is super strenuous on a sawchain and those dime tip carver bars. Especially hard on little 1/4" .043 chain.

[Chainsaw10]

I also use Canola oil in my stihl ms661 with a 32" bar for big cuts. I don't just have little saws with carving bars. I find Canola keeps everything lubricated well.....big or small. 

[michaell]

Hi all, after reading this forum on and off for years this thread has prompted me to register so that I can add my two cents worth about using vegetable oil for bar and chain lubrication.

I have been using various types of vegetable oil in my saws for over twenty years, mainly canola or sunflower, both new from the store and after it has been used for frying. Lately I have been using discarded cottonseed oil (someone gave me about 30 gallons).

I have not noticed any increase in bar/chain wear, and more importantly, breathing is much easier. :-)

Re the cottonseed oil, even though it is used, it seems to create less gum than the others. The gum is the result of a chemical process called polymerization where the individual molecules are linked together to form chains of molecules.

Polymerization occurs at normal temperatures but increases at higher temperatures and the more unsaturated* the oil, the faster the polymerization. Higher temperatures will also generally create a harder gum.

*This tallys with my seeing less gum when using cottonseed oil which has about 26% saturated fat, whereas canola has about 7% of the saturated stuff. Hey I looked it up on the internet.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cottonseed_oil

[John Mc]

Interesting info, Micheall.

... and welcome to the Forestry Forum. If you get a chance, fill in your user profile so we know where you are from.

[Kbeitz]

I run a CNC machine shop and our Kitamura horizontal mill drinks way oil. It's used to create the sliding surface that moves the 16,000 pound spindle casting 2000 IPM. Just the way lube side of the machine uses about a gallon every couple days. The oil coing off the saddle is still absolutely clean. I just haven't got the guts to reuse it on the ways of a $480,000 machine, but it makes great bar oil.

I created a separate skimmer to catch the waste oil off the saddle so it doesn't contaminate the coolant. #2 way lube has loads of tackifiers that just happen to make it work very well as bar oil. It's all I've used for years. My friends who are professional loggers come grab my stash of 5 gallon pails as well.

I'm also using way oil.  I a full 55 gal drum of new to use.
Works great.

[Wood Shed]

I read that too and really started thinking after buying some bar oil at TSC that was on sale, cheap.  Soon as I opened the bottle and started to fill a saw I wondered what I had,  the oil looked like something nasty I have seen come out of my newly acquired antique tractors.  Definitely going to try the vegetable oil and at least read the label on my Stihl bar oil.