Using vegtable oil instead of water

leeallen · October 05, 2011, 05:52:14 AM

I have a friend with a Thomas saw mill . He claims using vegtable oil works much better than water to cool and lubricate the blade. Any thoughts on this idea????

thecfarm · October 05, 2011, 06:58:54 AM

I would have no idea,but probably veggie oil would lube better than water.Probaly keep the blade cleaner too. The cooling part,who knows.

Brad_S. · October 05, 2011, 07:47:24 AM

It would seem to me veg oil would not dissapate like water and diesel do and you would end up with a sticky mess eventually?

paul case · October 05, 2011, 07:53:55 AM

isnt veg oil kinda pricey to just dump out on the ground? pc

zopi · October 05, 2011, 08:10:16 AM

Yeah...water works well...why mess with it, other than to add soap or washer fluid...and for that matter washer fluid is mostly water an a little ammonia...
Or pine sol for sticky crap...

Chuck White · October 05, 2011, 09:15:17 AM

Last year (for a while) my blade lube mix was 4 gallons of water, 1 gallon of used deep fryer oil (peanut) and 1 cup of dawn dish soap on a slow drip.

Seemed to work pretty good, the soap is/was supposed to allow the water and oil to mix. Well it worked pretty good until the weather started cooling off, then I could see that the water & oil weren't mixing and ended up (over time) with about 4 gallons of oil and 1 gallon of water. So, I just went back to water with a little soap.

If you were to use just the oil on a slow drip or a wiper, it would probably work pretty good.

EDIT: When it got cold, the oil would solidify and stay on top in the lube jug.

Kansas · October 05, 2011, 09:50:58 AM

We used soybean biodiesel for awhile at one point. I think thats pretty close to vegetable oil. We ran into three problems with it. One was, it was kind of a pain getting it, then getting the barrel in place, as opposed to using regular diesel out of the pump. Second was cost; its a bit higher than #2 diesel. The third one was gelling up. Biodiesel does not work well in the winter.

All three are solvable if you have access to used veggie oil, and live in a warmer clime. You might be able to use additives to solve number three in a colder clime.

red oaks lumber · October 05, 2011, 01:08:39 PM

water is free :D

eastberkshirecustoms · October 05, 2011, 01:45:12 PM

I run veggie oil year around in my diesels. Of course, it is filtered very well and thinned with kerosene to the same viscosity as diesel. I also have to use heated fuel filters in the colder weather. I get my oil free from 2 restaurants and have accumulated about 300 gallons. I think with the correct processing (filtering, thinning, etc.) it would work as a blade lube. However, it does have a tendency to get sticky and gum things up. I plan on using it to at least power my mill, but for lubing, I was going to try 'tire lube' which is used on the beads of tires when being installed. It is basically a think soap jelly that is mixed with water. I can get it in bulk and for cheap.