Bar & Chain oil

[jjmk98k]

For cold weather, i thought i read somewhere to mix a little kerosene in with the thicker Chain oil to allow it to flow better at around 30 degrees and colder?

[sawguy21]

Cutting chain oil with kerosene in cold weather is a common practice here. I only use chain oil in my saws, here it is still cheaper than oil pumps, bars and chains ;).

[joe_indi]

As rightlly pointed out  the oil needs to reach the bottom side of the bar and you need an oil which has some kind of 'anti-fling' added to it.
Viscosity is definitely an issue, the more viscous the oil the lesser the oil flow and results in under-lubrication.
If viscosity is too low the flow is high but the oil gets thrown off the nose.
I dont know if regulations forbid you from doing it but I have tried what I found to be the cheapest and most effective chain lube.
1 part 140 grade gear oil
2 parts vegetable oil
add kerosene or diesel 100ml or so(3oz.) to reduce viscosity if needed,
Gear oil has enough anti-fling agents in it so the lube definitely reaches the bottom side of the guide bar.
The chain runs much smoother and cooler.
Husqvarna recommends 90 grade gear oil as chain lube oil while Stihl says  and suitable grade of enine oil in case their lube oil is not available.

[jjmk98k]

I know the Husky oil is real clingy, especially when cold..... so is the Poulan PRO  red dyed oil at wally world

[Al_Smith]

My ,my what a difference the time span of a year and a half,the length of this thread,has,related to the prices of things.Stihl branded chain oil,for example has not raised nearly as much over this time span as others,or so it seems.

On that subject however,any petro based product has risen in price at an alarming rate .I think the days of 10 W 30 Valvoline at 69 cents a quart are gone forever,along with the 5 cent cigar and 25 cent hamburger.I'm gonna miss them. :(

[jjmk98k]

me being only 32, I remember the days of 97 cents a gallon for LEADED gas..... the McDonalds .29 cent burger days and when the Russians were our enemy!

And I never looked to see how old this topic was, but its always something we can talk / argue over.

[TexasTimbers]

When I started smoking I would take my 50¢ worth of lunch money and spend 45¢ on a pack of cigs and get a couple penny candies to cover my breath after school. When i quit smoking cigs were approaching $2 a pack. i hear you can pay over $5 now?
The Russians never were our enemies but the Russian government was, and still is our enemy because it supports our enemies.

As far as the bar chain oil this has been a great read. I have learned alot. I am trying to decide what bar oil to use on a 6' bar for cutting in a vertical position without additional oiling so I guess I need the same thing a regular bar needs. Lots of oil with lots of stickiness.

I have been using whatever I happen to be around when I need it. I currently have 3 different brands going. The Echo brand seems to stay in the truck. The Stihl gallon is in the shop and around the sawmill, and the Wally World Poulan is behind the seat in the skid steer. When it was real cold the Echo would come out in micro-clumps it seemed. Real clumpy. The Stihl was the same way. the poulan seend to come out smoother and stringy-er.

I have been told to consider using Lucas oil additive to the bar oil for the upright slabbing project. This sounds like a good idea to me and i am going to try it.

This has been a great thread.

[jjmk98k]

Good point, The Russian people were not / are not the enemy...

[Al_Smith]

In 1964 the price of regular gasoline was 27 cents a gallon.A pack of Camels,from a machine,was 25 cents,with two cents taped to the package,as change.A McDonalds hamburger was 15 cents.When Arbeys roast beef came on the scene,late 60's a giant sandwich was 49 cents,considered a bit high but the thing was huge.

The bar oil was around a buck and a half a gallon ,mid 70's.A big seller for a saw,the Mac pm 610 sold for $169.95 at K-Mart,late 70's.

Now,thinking back in history,the price of saws and gasoline,as much as I hate to admit it,have risen the least in terms of 2007 dollars.

[arojay]

What about adding something like STP?  Never tried it as I just use Husqvarna in summer(buy lots on spring sale price), but I thought about it while reading this thread.  No idea if it will 'mix'. I might just give it a try myself.

[TexasTimbers]

Al your memory is too good!  The two pennies taped to the camels is an interesting tidbit.

[Al_Smith]

Al your memory is too good!  The two pennies taped to the camels is an interesting tidbit.

Ha,I could fill this site up with trivia,saw related or otherwise.Back in the 2 cents on the Camel days,"Wings" were the cheap smokes,15 cents a pack.I think they were recycled cigar butts,yuck.Bugler sold 2 packs of "Rollins" with a belt roller for about 35 cents,as a promotional thing.

It may sound hard to believe but most people who used saws,did not sharpen thier own chains,and it was chipper chain too boot.The saws were mostly sold in this area by farm machinery dealers,who also did the repair work.It's sad to say but some of the farmers actually did run used crankcase oil for bar lube,cheap,I tell you,cheap.During the early 60's,the big names of course were McCulloch and Homelite and the brand loyalty was just as fierce then as it is now,some things never change.

[jonsered]

Dont know what all the fuss is about! For 15 years I have used every kind of oil I could get. Keeping an edge on your chain is far more important than the kind of oil! I only pay for chain oil to cover the warranty on a new saw when the guarintee is up any kind of oil will do. Save the price of the oil and buy a file never seen a bar overheat from any oil but see them distroyed by forcing a blunt chain.

[arojay]

The way I see it, chains are expendables, bars and rim sprockets are consumables, powerheads are equipment.  Lubes should not damage my equipment while extending the life of the expendables and consumables as far as economics can justify.  Oil just has to be able to pour at the temperature that I am working in and be clean enough to satisfy my oil pump in order to keep the powerhead happy.  All of my suppliers are about 100 miles away.  Husqvarna bar oil is about $12 Can. at my nearest dealer.  The major oil company distributors are not much cheaper.  I can buy at Walmart or a big box hardware, Canadian Tire, who have their own brands, but the quality seem to be inconsistent.  If I use Husqvarna oil I can turn my oiler down quite a bit and still get good lube results, but I'm paying a lot for the brand name.  The point is that if I can formulate a cheaper blend that gets decent results,and is very available,  I will use it.  From my perspective, the lube is working between chain and bar and chain segments.  Sharpness is always important to productivity, but it's a different discussion.

[Frickman]

My friend who I mentioned above, the one who wears out bars and chains when using Poulan oil, well, he figured out why. The Poulan oil foams up in the tank any time the temperature is above zero, which is most of the time. The oiler can't pump the foamed oil so the bar and chain wear out quickly. He went back to Stihl and hasn't had a problem.

I just put my first new bar on in about two years or so. With proper chain sharpening, chain tension, and lubrication a bar will last a long time.

[arojay]

I tried mixing stp in the big box oil the other day.  Seems to work great.  1 stp to 2 jugs of summer weight oil works out to about 9 bucks a jug.  As of yesterday, Husqvarna bar oil is now $14.95 a jug, if you were to buy singles!!!  Yes, a bar is hard to wear out if you look after the essentials.  I have had to replace a few that succumbed to blunt force trauma.  That really hurts when you know how long it would have lasted.

[jjmk98k]

Frickman,

can you explain the "foaming"? I sometimes (when I dont have Husqvarna oil) use Poulan Pro ( the red stuff) bar oil, but never had any problems or issues....

I just dont get how it can "foam" sitting in the tank...... or even when its pumped?

thanks, Jim

[Dale Hatfield]

My friend who I mentioned above, the one who wears out bars and chains when using Poulan oil, well, he figured out why. He went back to Stihl and hasn't had a problem.

I can agree on the poulan walmart oil wearing bars My carving bars a subject to alot of abuse. I had been usuing nothing but  Stihl oil. Only because i drove past them everyday. His price hit the sky so i went  with Wallyworld. Only to burn up 2 brand  new bars that would have lasted me  a year or longer at 60 and 80 bucks each
Dale

[jjmk98k]

hum, guess its another case of "getting what you pay for"..... or hows its perceived. 

Maybe Id be better off sticking with the Husqvarna stuff.

[Woodsroad]

...As of yesterday, Husqvarna bar oil is now $14.95 a jug, if you were to buy singles!!! 

Yipes.
Under $7/gal for Stihl bar oil, here in SE PA USA.

[arojay]

Yipes, that's something like what I said.  Husqvarna oil has gone up two bucks since early March.  They blame fuel surcharge on freight.  We are a long way from nowhere, but it still seems like a lot.  I wonder what guys are paying next door in Alaska, anyone out there?

[sawguy21]

You are getting hit by the infamous 'northern freight charge'. It retails for $10.99/ 4 litre jug, about one U.S. gallon, here but by the time we ship it to you yikes is right.  A larger dealer would be able to order enough to lessen the blow unless he is greedy.

[Knotdodger]

 Poulan bar oil is just under $7 a gallon 1 week ago at Meijers here in Midland Michigan!

[Frickman]

jjmk98k,

I didn't quite understand the foaming in the tank either, but my friend said that if you took the oil cap off after running the saw hard you could see some foam in the tank. I think where it really hurt the saw was that it foamed up in the oil pump and the oil didn't lubricate the bar properly. Perhaps some of the foam in the tank was just backwash off the oil pump inlet.

[Corley5]

I've had issues with tips on my Windsor bars that I've never had since I started this log job with the Poulan oil.  I'm thinking now that WalMart's Poulan oil may not be that good.  The bars don't show any any abnormal wear but the tips blow out.  I've got a couple Oregon bars that I'm gonna try to wear out with the cheap oil for a comparison before I try something more expensive.  I can also buy quite a few tips for the price difference in the oils.