Winter time blade lube.

[sawyerkirk]

As some of you may know we run vegetable oil as blade lube, works great except when temps drop below 40 degrees. I have found that canola oil has a lower freezing point, it was 10 degrees the other morning and it flowed just fine. Dollar General store has either oils for $1.50/pint and that will last all day of sawing. Just a random thought as I set in the office in front of the stove!

[bull]

I use windshield washer fluid .88 cents a gallon at Wally Mart
also about 1 tablespoon of Octagon lemon soap .79 cents a quart at Wallt Mart.....

 Shut Down the Mill when it gets below 20 degrees,plenty of other things to do with out trying to break anything in the real cold weather...
 give it a few days and it'll WARM UP, I Hope :D

[bull]

 Oh yeh it's a balmy 7 below Here in Sterling MA.
 will be spending alot of time next to the stove 8) 8)

[Tom]

You seem to have the same philosophy that I do Bull.

Except, I go inside to the stove when it gets into the 40's.  If it's in the 30's I wouldn't leave the house and if it gets colder than that, I need to be somewhere else. :D

[OneWithWood]

Hey, Kirk.  Good to see you posting again.
I would imagine those oils would be handy to have around in the spring when the greens are coming on young and tender. :D

[sawyerkirk]

Oh yeah, we use to go through gallons of water a day, which meant dragging the hose over, filling the tank, getting water all over myself then doing it again shortly later. When I was custom sawing onsite, I had a 50 gallon drum that I kept full in the back of the truck!! Now, I just pour a bottle in once a day and it's good to go. I like it because you can just barely let it drip, and it keeps the blade shiney and clean.

One with wood: I didn't overwork Luke to much, sawed a few days, rebuilt the kiln and got pig poop all over us, but that's another story!

[Swede]

I just posted this mess. on an other place, here it comes again! *lasy* :

The man who I used my saw mill before me used vegetable oil. I had a hard time with high pressure washer, diffrent tools and fluids to find the band guides, to figure out how they shold work and get them adjustable again. The frame will never be clean but it´s OK to paint on the layer of dust/oil cakes. They´ll never leave the bars and I´ll never use that d***n stuff!

50% chain oil and 50% diesel fuel works good for me, half a Litre a day. (^__^)

Swede.

PS 1/2 Litre a day=10-20 drips/minute

[sawyerkirk]

I've always thought about using diesel fuel, but I have this horrible fear of anything flamable and hitting a nail or some other spark creating part of my mill. That and I stink bad enough at the end of the week when it's bath time! I get kinda set in my ways and have trouble changing. When I bought this pair of underwear, they were the most comfortable thing I ever felt! I do hear you about the build up on the mill!!

[Swede]

sawyerkirk
 
1. Sawdust burn easier than diesel.
2. Oil is an excellet lubrication and diesel keeps Your blade clean and cool.
3. Keep Your pants dry and get healthier.
4. Don´t bath Yourself or the sawmill in the diesel but some drips a minute on the blade don´t hurt.
5. Any way, buy an fire-extinguisher

 ;D Swede.

[RevCant]

For those still trying to use water as a coolant the best thing to add is windshield washer fluid.  I can usually get by with 5 gallons of water a day.  Below freezing I mix 4 gal water to 1 gal of w/w fluid.  This can be adjusted for you fellas up north.

[OneWithWood]

Kirk,
Glad you were able to re-acquaint Luke with some sawdust.  I know he was jones'n it big time.  Hopefully when he gets back up here we will be making lots of it
Glad to hear about the piggy slop too - probably makes the stuff I get him involved in look a bit better  :D :D

[sawyerkirk]

We had some pretty cold days while he was home.  He is sure impressed with your place up there. Sounds like your gonna have a great set up. I'll have to run up there when y'all get it ready.

[Percy]

I've always thought about using diesel fuel, but I have this horrible fear of anything flamable and hitting a nail or some other spark creating part of my mill. That and I stink bad enough at the end of the week when it's bath time! I get kinda set in my ways and have trouble changing. When I bought this pair of underwear, they were the most comfortable thing I ever felt! I do hear you about the build up on the mill!!

Heya Sawyerkirk
 
I hadda LT40 for 6 years and all I ever used was diesel as a blade lube. Aside from the environmenta issue, it is by far, the best blade lube I have ever used. Now that I have an LT70, I use more environmentally freindly stuff allthough I wonder on the environmental stuff. When using diesel, I would go thru about one container(5 gallons) every 50-60 hours. All you need is a drip per second or even less. The blade guide rollers run way quieter, last twice as long, and I cut many a nail and never had  a fire. Now that Im using soap/alchohol/whatever wont freeze, I go thru as much as 10 gallons in 8 hours or less. I wonder which is worse. You couldnt smell diesel on my old mill. On the LT70, I was hosing it off last fall and there were soap bubbles everywhere let alone the constant smell of Dawn Spring fresh dishwashing detergent(not a bad smell at all).  While diesel isnt a good thing to spread allover the place, it isnt forever and I ponder the actuall danger to the environment when used in small quantities. Just an opinion.

Later
Percy

 

[woodchip]

Mix some r.v. antifreeze with your water and dish soap.works fine for me.

[ronwood]

I use a gallon of windshield washer fluid, one cup of Murphy oil soap to 5 gallons of water. Seems to work well for me. I saw mostly hardwoods so I don't have an idea of how it works on softwoods. Don't seem to have any problems with the water freezing when the temp is in the 20's. Usually don't cut much colder than that.

[woodmills1]

Just go deisel/bar oil.  Doesnt smell or burn and so far never had a finishing problem.  Been using it since the second winter froze the water line.  I might worry just a bit Ifin I never moved the mill at all due to a concentration issue, though I think the residue is in the sawdust.

[Russ]

I machined my bandwheels and am using sulfolk machines urethane tires and kerosene & oil for lube. It takes very little to quiet the blade and doesn't freeze. I used to use gallons of ww fluid mixed w/soap.I would have tryed veg oil if I thought of it, but I'm happy with the results from kerosene.

[Norwiscutter]

The RV antifreeze works well for me... heading out to cut today because of the warm weather...(upper teens, maybe even over 20 8) 8) 8). I stick with strait RV ainti freeze because I have already recked a cap to the lube tank when I had too much water in the mix. Stinks to go out on a day like today and find that ya won't be able to take advantange of the weather.