Bio-degradable bar oil

[mcdonals]

Does anyone use bio-degradeable bar oil?

I'd like to, so my woodcutting area doesn't become contaminated as the woodchips and sawdust accumulate over the years.
Bought a new bar this week from my Husky dealer. He doesn't sell any but has a product available made by Oregon. This stuff is made to mix one part with 4 parts water. I don't know that Oregon has ever made any junk ...... but water ? Those bars and chains get HOT! The dealer sure wasn't pushing the stuff - he just said he had some to sell if I wanted to buy it. He's going to talk more about it with his Husky rep.
What about other products - perhaps made from vegetable oil? Just looking for experience based information

Steve

 

[smokinj]

I have read about this stuff seems pretty cool. ( This stuff has only been out for about a month)

 

[blades]

The boi stiff has been available for about a year or more, just have not seen it at the local stores. It was in the dealer flyers I get since last summer.

 

[Gooserider]

This has come up a few times in the past, I'd suggest using the search...

Among other things some folks have reported using vegetable oils w/ good luck (that is what a lot of the commercial biodegradables are made from)

I would point out that Dolmar had a blurb in my owners manual suggesting that if using a biodegradable, to run enough dino based through the saw to flush out the oil system if you were planning to store it for more than a couple weeks - they said otherwise there was a risk the oil could break down and gum up the plumbing... I don't know of anything that different that Dolmar does with their oiling system that would suggest the same thing wouldn't apply to other brands as well...

I'm also not all that sure I'd worry about this as an issue, especially if using regular chain oil - there seems to be pretty good evidence that existing bacteria and other such critters can deal with small amounts of oil intermittently applied and break it down as part of their normal biological processes... It would be a problem if using crankcase drain oil (a bad idea for MANY reasons IMHO) since that has other contaminants in it that natural processes will have a harder time dealing with.

Gooserider

 

[CaddyUser]

I started using the Husky bio oil this year. Seems to work OK for me. It is pricy (about $30 a gallon) and the dealers around here typically don't stock it. My dealer did order it in for me, and it took about two weeks for it to come in.

Would I continue using it? Yes. I too am conscious of the ecological issues from dino bar oil. Even though I probably go through only two gallons a year, that's two less gallons building up on the wood's floor.

The only thing that I have read about using bio oil is the possibility of gum in in the saw if it sits for a long while (over winter for instance). My plan is to run a tankful of dino oil in the saw before I put it away for the winter, and that should do the trick, or so I hope.

Hope this helps!

 

[Gooserider]

Does anyone use bio-degradeable bar oil?

I'd like to, so my woodcutting area doesn't become contaminated as the woodchips and sawdust accumulate over the years.
Bought a new bar this week from my Husky dealer. He doesn't sell any but has a product available made by Oregon. This stuff is made to mix one part with 4 parts water. I don't know that Oregon has ever made any junk ...... but water ? Those bars and chains get HOT! The dealer sure wasn't pushing the stuff - he just said he had some to sell if I wanted to buy it. He's going to talk more about it with his Husky rep.
What about other products - perhaps made from vegetable oil? Just looking for experience based information

Steve

I meant to add that the concept of using a water / oil mix for bar lube doesn't seem completely bizzare to me... I know that metal machinists have use "soluble oil", which is an oil that gets mixed with water, for years as a technique for cooling / lubricating machine tools when cutting metals on a lathe or milling machine... I have such a setup on my little "Smithy" multi function machine, and it works quite nicely. I don't know how it would work for the internal parts of the chain, but it would seem like it would do fine for the bar - chain interface, and might even be better than oil... As you mention, the B&C;gets very hot, and part of the function of the chain lube is to cool it - but oil doesn't have that great a cooling capacity... OTOH, water has a very high specific heat capacity, and an even higher heat of vaporization - so attempting to boil off the water would suck a lot of heat out of the bar, leaving the oil behind as a lube.... Almost like two-stroke mix for chains :coolsmile:

Doesn't mean I'm going to rush out and try the stuff tomorrow, but it might be worth looking into once I've used up my current collection of several gallons of chain-oil and see what the experience with it has been...

Gooserider

 

[fire_N_ice]

When I cut @ home, I use food store bought canola oil for my electric chainsaw with the manual oiler. Seems to have a natural tackyness to it. No problems. grass is green the next day.

never tryed it in the Husqy.