Bar oil!

[jetsam]

So I've done a bunch of googling about bar oils. Everyone wants something cheap; everyone wants something that'll stick to the chain and not wear out their bar; and most of us would prefer not to use a petroleum product.

My saw's manual suggests a lube that costs €5 a liter, and I am pretty sure my car won't float long enough for me to paddle to the store to get it. (Plus I imagine I could run into some issues with the spanish navy, if they can still afford diesel for their boats.) Also, I would get fired from my job for being gone for three years while I paddled my car to Germany, and then I wouldn't be able to afford any more bar oil.)

There's a veggie lube on Amazon, which even if it works is $29 a gallon.

El cheapo bar oil works fine and is $9 a gallon at Home Depot, a bit more on Amazon.

Grocery store canola oil- I have read people saying it works great and people saying it ruined their bar. Not sure what to think. Costs a little more than bar oil, ($10 a gallon, both at my grocery store and on Amazon), but no petroleum products. I plan to try this on my small saw and see how it works.

SO- Has anyone found a bar oil that's cheap, good, and non-petroleum? How about just cheap and good? What do you use?

 

[peakbagger]

Unless you plan to sell the wood to a barbeque connoisseur, or in an environmentally sensitive area, no need to go with expensive "green" bar oil. The majority of the oil ends up on the wood you are cutting and its burns fine. The reason for using "green" bar oil in environmentally sensitive areas is mostly that the containers get kicked around on occasion and spill their contents in bulk or the person filling the saw overfills it and it drips in mass on the ground.

 

[duramaxman05]

I use the county line oil from tractor supply. $6 a gallon. I have had good luck out of it. My father in law cuts timber and he uses the same stuff and he likes it

 

[TreePointer]

Yeah, the least expensive around here is CountyLine or similar from farm supply stores. Sometimes I'll buy Poulan from Walmart or other BB stores when I find it on sale.

 

[saskwoodburner]

This one was fun lol and yes it will work.

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/veggie-oil-for-chainsaw.151905/page-2

 

[Sprinter]

I doubt if makes a lick of difference between expensive brand names and cheap names. But It does make a difference to use a bar oil made for the purpose. The environment is harsh and you need the sticky factor. Plus, if you use a thinner product like veg oil or even automotive oil, it seems like you would need to increase the volume the saw pumps out at the very least.

Now, if there is a veg based product out there that has been modified for bar use, then great.

 

[TreePointer]

There indeed is vegetable oil based bar & chain oil (Stihl BioPlus, Motion Lotion, et al.), but I can't justify paying a premium for it.

If I need a more environmentally friendly bar oil, I use canola. If you buy a larger volume of canola oil from a warehouse club or restaurant supply store, it may be had about $5/gallon.

 

[Sprinter]

I can totally see how veg oils may be useful in sensitive areas (I have some swampy areas) but trying to use old auto oil to save money makes no sense to me. In fact, used automotive oils are a nasty mix of carcinogens an other toxins I wouldn't dream of spraying on the ground, especially sensitive areas. Not to mention that they have lost a lot of the lubricating properties you need.

Has anyone tried to use veg oil like canola and add a tackifier to it? I seems like that would be pretty important, but I would have no idea about proportions, etc.

 

[TreePointer]

I never found a need to add a tackifier to canola oil. Just open the saw's oiler and let it fly. Veggie oil can go rancid after a while and gum up things, so I don't leave it in saws for a long time.

 

[jetsam]

Used engine oil is full of abrasive little bits of metal. If nothing else, that should give you some pause!

I ran grocery store canola oil in my little 30cc Echo and did some limbing today. It went fine. I got some a little on the muffler because it poured faster than I expected, and that smoked alarmingly at first.

The bar and chain didn't get hot, so I am going to call it a successful test run.

It kind of sucks that the oil is more expensive than bar oil AND it's not as good, but I like the biodegradable aspect. I don't think I'll use it on my big saw, but I might use it regularly on the little saw.

 

[Sprinter]

Veggie oil can go rancid after a while and gum up things, so I don't leave it in saws for a long time.

I've heard that. I suppose if you are a heavy user and can replenish the oil often enough, it wouldn't be a problem. But light users like me often have to keep the bar oil in for long periods.

Do those expensive veggie bar oils last a long time or do they degrade? Seems like they would have to be treated but even then have a limited shelf life.

 

[jetsam]

I've heard that. I suppose if you are a heavy user and can replenish the oil often enough, it wouldn't be a problem. But light users like me often have to keep the bar oil in for long periods.

Do those expensive veggie bar oils last a long time or do they degrade? Seems like they would have to be treated but even then have a limited shelf life.

Dolmar says of their own veggie oil: "Bio-degradable oil is stable only for a limited period of time. It should be used within 2 years from the date of manufacture (printed on the container)."

 

[Sprinter]

Dolmar says of their own veggie oil: "Bio-degradable oil is stable only for a limited period of time. It should be used within 2 years from the date of manufacture (printed on the container)."

Thanks. That's not too bad. For a light user like me (3 cords/yr) and with some wet area with a lot of wildlife, I may get a half gallon or so if it's available in that quantity.

I just read of another advantage. Someone said it makes him smell like french fries. Yum.

 

[three feathers]

I bought a gallon of Poulan bar oil and it does not have the tackiness that Husqvarna bar oil has. The Poulan seems more like a 30 weight motor oil.

 

[Sprinter]

I bought a gallon of Poulan bar oil and it does not have the tackiness that Husqvarna bar oil has. The Poulan seems more like a 30 weight motor oil.

That's interesting. I've only used Husqvarna oil (mostly because the dealer included a gallon of it for me), and it feels almost like honey. I always assumed they were all the same consistency more or less. I would think that would be fairly standardized so that manufacturers could make their pumps to handle different brands.

 

[ElmBurner]

I have used canola oil for two years and cut roughly 10 cords of wood. Still on original bar, but switched the chain to a semi-chisel (speeds up my cutting). I have no complaints...seems to work well. The main thing for me is that all that bar oil becomes a spray/mist as it comes off the chain and I have to breath it. I'd rather breath vegetable oil than petroleum.

Also, I take forest stewardship pretty seriously and choosing something that is biodegradable and won't kill the vegetation is important to me. Don't use any herbicides/pesticides either. I do it all manually.

 

[StihlKicking]

Guys I'm all for doing my share, being environmentally aware as my livelihood depends on it. However do you guys really believe that enough petroleum is used to hurt the environment where you guys are cutting? You would probably have to cut the whole Forrest 100,000 times over before you dropped enough bar oil on the soil to make a significant difference. Now cutting wood that is to be used in contact with food is a different matter.
Get you a gallon of this stuff for $8.99 and let it rip!

 

[saskwoodburner]

I ran grocery store canola oil in my little 30cc Echo and did some limbing today. It went fine. I got some a little on the muffler because it poured faster than I expected, and that smoked alarmingly at first.

The bar and chain didn't get hot, so I am going to call it a successful test run.

It kind of sucks that the oil is more expensive than bar oil AND it's not as good, but I like the biodegradable aspect. I don't think I'll use it on my big saw, but I might use it regularly on the little saw.

The important thing is, that you actually tried it for yourself. There's an awful lot of opinion on the internet by people who don't try things, but figure they know better than those who have. Would I go into heavy duty logging or use canola oil for milling? Probably not. But that's not the question.

It was my same experience that my bar wasn't heating up any more than with regular bar oil. A more curious person could paint black dots on the bar, to shoot with an IR thermometer unit to really know I suppose.

 

[jetsam]

Guys I'm all for doing my share, being environmentally aware as my livelihood depends on it. However do you guys really believe that enough petroleum is used to hurt the environment where you guys are cutting? You would probably have to cut the whole Forrest 100,000 times over before you dropped enough bar oil on the soil to make a significant difference. Now cutting wood that is to be used in contact with food is a different matter. View attachment 176606
Get you a gallon of this stuff for $8.99 and let it rip!

Eh, either it ends up on the ground, aerosolized for me to breathe in, or I burn it in my stove. No matter where it ends up, I'd rather have veggie oil there than petroleum oil.

I'll grant you that if I use 15 gallons a year, that's a lot less poison than anyone else in town is putting on their lawn, but it's nice to cut down if I can.

I used canola oil on my small saw again today for some limbing, and it seemed to work fine. I ran the little 14" bar and the godawful low profile safety chain that came on it, got them dirty and canola-ey, and hung them on a nail in the garage to see how the chain fares as the canola dries out.

(As a side note, I used a low profile safety chain followed by a regular yellow semichisel back to back on that saw, and it's really a day and night difference. Both were sharp, but it feels like a whole other saw with a real chain on it.)

 

[jetsam]

The important thing is, that you actually tried it for yourself. There's an awful lot of opinion on the internet by people who don't try things, but figure they know better than those who have. Would I go into heavy duty logging or use canola oil for milling? Probably not. But that's not the question.

It was my same experience that my bar wasn't heating up any more than with regular bar oil. A more curious person could paint black dots on the bar, to shoot with an IR thermometer unit to really know I suppose.

I think my oiler puts out noticeably more oil with canola too, so its thin consistency actually helps make up for its lack of stickiness.

Still probably won't run it on the big saw because I don't want to gunk it up, but it might do OK there too.

 

[saskwoodburner]

I think my oiler puts out noticeably more oil with canola too, so its thin consistency actually helps make up for its lack of stickiness.

Still probably won't run it on the big saw because I don't want to gunk it up, but it might do OK there too.

It does flow easier, that's for sure. If you use it in your other saw, just run the canola oil low, and top off with regular bar oil. I'm sure most would push through, or dilute enough not to matter.

 

[woodhog73]

I've been reading this thread and it's interesting.

Isn't canola oil expensive ? If I were cutting wood to use for food and BBQ then I would use canola oil. Wouldn't want regular oil on the wood I'm using to smoke meat with.

I just use cheap regular bar oil myself.

 

[three feathers]

There is so much talk about bar oils contaminating the environment and the dangers of getting oil on the wood. I am almost 70 and all my life we have used wood for heat and for lots of my younger years we used wood to cook all of our meals.Think about how much oil is leaked from skidders and atvs and all of the other equipment that runs in the woods and parks all over the country. I know we need to try to keep our environment as green as possible, but the bar oil is a very small problem when you consider all the fertilizers and other stuff being used in keeping all the crops and pretty lawns looking good. Just my thoughts.

 

[jetsam]

Isn't canola oil expensive ?

it's $1/gallon more for me, buying canola at the grocery store and bar oil at home depot. (I actually got the canola for $2 less than bar oil, but it was on sale.). A couple of people have said that you can get canola half price in 5 gallon jugs at those sam's club/cosco type places.

I know we need to try to keep our environment as green as possible, but the bar oil is a very small problem when you consider..

Agreed, but my bar oil is *my* little problem that is in my control. I can't make my neighbor not to dump 10 tons of poison on his lawn every year because he thinks it makes it "look good". I can't make the car repair shop down the street stop dumping used motor oil down the storm sewer at night, or make the government stop exempting anyone who buys enough senators from environmental rules. I can control a few little things on my own property, though.

It's a tiny pebble on a giant mountain, but it's my pebble.

Add to that the fact that you're probably breathing a small amount of aerosolized bar oil when you're cutting.

I'm not out telling people they're wrong for using regular bar oil either- just finding out what choices there are. I am pretty sure I won't be switching to canola for most of the things I use petroleum for.

 

[TreePointer]

The big problem I have is with used motor oil. The heavy metal toxins are something that I don't want in our water or on the ground where I plant crops or have my vegetable garden. I certainly don't want to breathe them in aerosol form.