Chain Saw Bar Lube - Veggie Oil !!!

[PAfluedoctor]

I can't wait to try it. I have a friend with a restaurant who will give me all the oil I want. After it sits it the 5 gallon jug for a while it separates out and you can draw the "good" stuff off the top and toss the fat and water that drops to the bottom.

Glad to see you're not stressed!


GO STEELERS!!

 

[PAfluedoctor]

Does this thing have a spell check on it? I need a spell check.....

 

[Runs With Scissors]

""Now a followup query - did you have to clean your oil tank prior to putting in the vegy oil? I’m not even sure that’s possible but I’ll ask.""

Need to flush you tank before? No. You will need to flush your tank after veg oil and before extended storage though.

Now for the part where I stick out like a polluting, sheik supporting thumb.

I used veg oil off the shelf one season and will never use it again. I had two NEW bars(32" and 26") ruined and had to spend over 4hr per saw to clean out the rancid oil from the lines and pump.

You cannot store your saw with this oil in the tank, lines or in the oil slot in the bar. I collect chainsaws as a hobby and I constantly rotate between different saws to lessen wear and just break things up a bit. On small homeowner type saws you may be fine with this, but with the bigger saws, parts are simply too expensive to try and experiment.

And if you are getting a bunch of junk in your bar groove you may not be sharpening your chain often enough or may be cutting dirty wood or just plain dirt.

In some situations the tacifiyers are a must 20"= bars/chains.


Just my .02c

 

[Sandor]

Have not tried it on a bar over 18" My cutting environment is certainly not-clean.

The quickest way I have found to ruin a bar is to cut with an improperly sharpened chain. You know, when you bucking a log and saw starts running at an angle.

 

[Eric Johnson]

I have to apologize for not understanding what you guys were talking about. I thought you were referring to the commercial vegetable-oil-based bar and chain oil that is sold by the major saw manufacturers. It's a special, "eco-friendly" blend that they sell for use with their saws. You can buy veg-based hydraulic oil for use in logging equipment, too.

The closest I ever come to using straight vegetable oil for cutting tools is when I occasionally use a little sesame oil on a whetstone for sharpening kitchen knives. I've never heard of using regular veg. oil for bar/chain lubrication and I think I would need to know a lot more about it before I tried it. I think Scissors makes a pretty valid point.

 

[cbrodsky]

Anyone try a blend with thicker preformulated oil to help improve the properties?

I have at least a gallon of used cooking oil that I have to dispose of, most of which was used for one batch of fish or some other pungent food that I can't refry in. If I could use it to cut wood, all the better.

I am not familiar with the mechanism to dispense the chainsaw oil - would thinner veggie oil flow through any faster to help offset the fact that it (probably) flings off the chain faster? What regulates the flow of oil onto the chain?

-Colin

 

[Sandor]

'Scissors certainly makes a valid point.

I also saw his post on another thread, and it looks like he can run an antique chain saw dealership. What a collection!

Both of my saws are used regulary, and have not had to deal with the issues he has. To each his own.

 

[carpniels]

Hi guys,

You would probably want to store a saw with veg oil in a heated space all the time. The oil tends to get very thick when it gets below 30.

I might rethink using veg oil instead of real bar oil since I use my saw irregularly and I cannot afford (nor do I have the expertise) to rebuild a saw. Plus I use less that 1/2 gallon per year so the cost savings are not really there.

Carpniels

 

[kd460]

Interesting topic.

I make biodiesel fuel out of used veg oil from the local choke and puke. (not to be confused with burning straight veggie oil in a diesel, biodiesel is different, no modifications are made to the vehicle).

The lubrication qualities of biodiesel are excellent! To the point of a typical diesel engine will run smoother and quieter. It is also an excellent solvent. It will actually clean an entire fuel system in short order. As a matter of fact, many people who switch to biodiesel have to change the fuel filter the first few tankfuls, as the biodiesel removes all of the crud that has built up in a fuel tank of a vehicle with some years on it (ashphaltines).

I agree with carpniels, veg oil gets really thick when cold, and it will go rancid. Trust me I know. Any thing below 32 degrees and your in trouble. Actually some veg oils get thick at higher temps than that. Definetely do not want to use animal fat based oil (tallow) they are solid at room temp.

I am gonna try some of my biodiesel mixed with bar and chain oil to see if it helps keep things clean and maybe add better lubrication to the chain. I'm sure it will lower the viscosity of the bar oil, but in cold weather that is probably not a bad thing. Biodiesel takes about a year or more to go bad, so that problem is solved. Easy water clean up as well, no nasty smell, non toxic (you can actually drink biodiesel, but probably need to stay close to the library cause it's gonna lubricate you as well). Some guys actually use it in a parts washer, others say it is an excellent cutting oil. It will remove some types of paint and soften certian plastics (biodiesel and veg oil) over time, so that is another down side.

Sorry did not mean to go off on a biodiesel infomercial, but just trying to make a point that the veg oil thing is not so whacko!

 

[ourhouse]

We use it when we have cut near wetlands.

 

[MuckSavage]

Husqvarna's description for their bar/chain oil:

"Uses special tacking agents to keep oil on the bar and chain even at high RPM
Pro Forest, made from a 78% base of sunflower seed oil"

 

[OldSnipe]

I'll stick with commercial chain & bar oil. For one thing the dye in it makes it easy to see that your chain is getting oiled correctly. For another my 10 year old Husky "55" still has the original bar on it and I don't know how many chains I've filed to nothing. Keeping your chain filed and paying attention to the raker height has a lot to do with bar & chain wear. Dull chain = leaning on the saw and the friction on the bar goes way up. Sharp chain and the saw only has to be guided. I file every tank of gas in the woods and any time it's grounded. It saves time & wear.

 

[Eric Johnson]

I'm with you, OldSnipe. I've got a '55 too. 1998. Sharpening after every tank is the key to happy cutting. That and sharpening correctly.

 

[MALogger]

It always makes me laugh when you hear a saw screaming when someone is cutting you can just tell by the sound it isn't cutting but they keep trying! It doesn't take long to file a chain and you sure make up for the time spent filing in production!

Craig

 

[Sandor]

It always makes me laugh when you hear a saw screaming when someone is cutting you can just tell by the sound it isn't cutting but they keep trying! It doesn't take long to file a chain and you sure make up for the time spent filing in production!

Craig

You are so right. Bucking a huge oak last month with another guy. His poor Poulan was screaming all day and my Stihl was making a pile a woodchips in a hurry.

I would say I was about 6 times more productive than him. He said he wants a Stihl, I offered to file his chain.

 

[dahut]

I am no chainsaw expert, by any means. In fact I was looking up a B&C;lube substitute when I stumbled on here - first time post!
I didn't even know there WAS a forum for chainheads! Hello all!

Now, I'm usually pretty keen on using what the maker recommends with things like chainsaws. Maybe not their proprietary product, but the right sort of thing. B&C;lube isn't all that costly - yet. It seems the thing to go with.
Just for giggles, though, I wanted to do a little investigating.

Amid all the wrangling and mud slinging on this topic (whod've thought?!), I did find one suggestion over on the forum @ DIY.com that suggested the following recipe:

"Mix STP oil treatment (or similar product), to regular motor oil. Mix ratio is 1/3rd STP to 2/3rds oil.
Works well. Provides the sticky/tacky adhesion required."

Note this addresses the adhesion issue so often cited. It at least holds promise for the homebrew types.

I confess to having doubts about plain old veggie oil, although it seems to have a devoted, albeit small, following.

For the near future, I'll use the recommended type of oil. It seems you need to add "crap" to whatever you brew yourself to make it perform and I'm not a biodieseal producer, nor much of an alchemist, either.

Like Dirty Harry says, "A man's got to know his limitations..."

 

[donatello]

Instead of the recommendation of adding STP oil treatment and motor oil, why not use gear oil (like used in automotive differentials), 90w gear oil or a 75w140 synthetic gear oil... Not enviro friendly but no worse than conventional B&C;oil.

 

[dahut]

Because its fun to mix your own!

 

[kd460]

Gear oil stinks! Personally I use Tractor's Supply bar oil 5 bucks for a gallon. Works well, chains don't complain. In the winter I toss in some tranny fluid to thin it down a little to compensate for the cold weather. KD

Edit: Dahut, if you really want to get into a "chainsaw" forum, check out this: http://www.arboristsite.com/forumdisplay.php?s=aa4cff2fbd449576685e2a1f2c3b5f2d&f=9

 

[Sealcove]

This is nearly ten years old, but here a Forest Service look at vegetable based bar oil. By the way, use of such oils was already common place in Europe by the early 1990's, so it is not a new concept.

(broken link removed)

Also put me on the list for touching up the chain after every tank, and I also never file unless I have the bar in a vice of some kind.

 

[Adios Pantalones]

If you go to www.fungi.com, you can also get bar oil with gormet mushroom spores already infused. Helps speed up woodland recovery after a cutover- plus you get mushrooms!

I just bought the Husky veggie based oil this weekend.

 

[Gooserider]

As a FWIW comment, my Dolmar saw manual talks about bar oils a fair bit...

1. Used motor oil voids ALL warranties on the saw immediately, and is not reccomended for the reasons mentioned (abrasive micro particles, engine acids, dirty, environment polluting, etc)

2. Vegetable based bar oils are OK, (but I think they were talking about commercial stuff not kitchen oil) but they advise against storing the saw with them in it for extended periods of non use - they said the Veggie oils tended to go bad after a while and gum up the pump and oil lines unless they are being replaced on a regular basis. The advice was that if storing the saw for more than 30 days, to drain the veggie oil out of the tank, put in dino-base, and run the saw long enough to flush the lines.

3. I know from experience that peanut oil as used for turkey frying will congeal below about 50*F, the colder it gets the thicker it gets, so I'd be a little concerned about using veggie oil in cold weather unless I know that it was liquid at the temperature I was cutting in.

Gooserider