Bar oil alternative

[rogue60]

In a pinch I've used used motor oil (nice black used diesel oil at that) as mix oil at 25:1 when I've had no other options and needed to finish what I was doing or 6 men would have been standing around with nothing to do all day.
I bet there would have been a great disturbance in the force the day I did that my bad lol

 

[qurotro]

In a pinch I've used used motor oil (nice black used diesel oil at that) as mix oil at 25:1 when I've had no other options and needed to finish what I was doing or 6 men would have been standing around with nothing to do all day.
I bet there would have been a great disturbance in the force the day I did that my bad lol

Did anything blow up?

 

[Wonkydonkey]

I’ve had got a few saws in the past, that clearly have been run on old engine oil.

WAFM

 

[Duce]

In a pinch I've used used motor oil (nice black used diesel oil at that) as mix oil at 25:1 when I've had no other options and needed to finish what I was doing or 6 men would have been standing around with nothing to do all day.
I bet there would have been a great disturbance in the force the day I did that my bad lol

So, you took a chance on ruining your equipment you use daily, instead of just losing 6 guys pay. You must pay very well, for those 6 hours to be worth more than your equipment, or you run cheap equipment. Your call, it's your money.

 

[rogue60]

Did anything blow up?

No it was fine.
Probably wouldn't want run it long term.

 

[rogue60]

So, you took a chance on ruining your equipment you use daily, instead of just losing 6 guys pay. You must pay very well, for those 6 hours to be worth more than your equipment, or you run cheap equipment. Your call, it's your money.

I didn't take a chance ran the same kind of sump oil in an old 2T old ag bike years ago for a week out bush, it continued to run for many years after that so mustn not have done any great harm. I based my decision on that and It worked in the saw fine.

Sure could have sent everyone home and lose making 10-20k for the day depending on what we would of been cutting.
If it didn't work I just would have just grabbed another saw and tried a different oil like used diff oil or something would have eventually found something that worked.


Guy's act like chainsaws are some delicate fragile to be babied toy.
In the real world ya don't have to babie em as long as ya have a half decent oil mixed at more oil than 50:1 they will run reliably for years on end.
I personally have never blown up seized a saw in over 25 years running them myself I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong? lol
50:1 leaves you with zero margin of error run more oil than that the bloody things go forever.
Maybe you are the one running cheap equipment stressing it's going to blow not something I've ever stressed about personally.

And Don't get me wrong nothing wrong with guys taking good care of there saws. I just like to show a different side that they are tough and can take a beating that should help guys sleep easy that take good care of there saws knowing they will get a lifetime out of em.

 

[rogue60]

So, you took a chance on ruining your equipment you use daily, instead of just losing 6 guys pay. You must pay very well, for those 6 hours to be worth more than your equipment, or you run cheap equipment. Your call, it's your money.

On a completely different topic ya don't even realise how easy ya have it..
6 hours really?? Yeah I never did get the you guys are buggered doing 6 hr days lol
In the sawmill 9hr days.. going bush the logging side 10-12 hr days with driving could be a 300km round trip just to get to the paddock and back we be logging..
6 hrs in down here most guys wouldn't even be warmed up lol

 

[jakethesnake]

So, you took a chance on ruining your equipment you use daily, instead of just losing 6 guys pay. You must pay very well, for those 6 hours to be worth more than your equipment, or you run cheap equipment. Your call, it's your money.

6hours x20. 120 x6 people 720. Just for pay at 20$ hour. I’d make my stuff run I think

not bashing or anything. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

that doesn’t include profits for the day. That’s just a base #.

I wouldn’t prefer to run my saws on that but more than likely that oil still had some life to it. Only real negative would be some ash build up in the cylinder. From running non Ashless oil. I’ve used clean motor oil several times.

 

[jakethesnake]

Canola seems to work fine... What about used fryer oil (sunflower in my case)? How to filter it?

you can run used fry oil. I filtered about a gallon through a coffee filter. I wouldn’t leave it in the tank

The gumming issue I ran into years ago (oil rotted) was just new veggie oil. Unknown blend

I’m sure the remaining food in the oil would likely cause it to go rancid faster

if you ran some bar oil /maybe even the canola immediately after using the dry oil I’d suspect you’d be fine.

 

[jakethesnake]

Little update on the canola. It’s sat in the tank for months now in this saw without any run time. Chain gets kinda sticky/stiff. Few throttle blips and smooth as silk. Kinda like the stuff. I opened the oil tank and have it a sniff. (Cause I’m a weirdo). Didn’t rot or gel up. Had some super high heat for months. Overall I’m happy with the canola. Back when this thread started bar oil was basically impossible to buy here. I can get it local now but honestly I’m probably gonna compare cost next time I’m low. I have gallons of the canola to use up

 

[B440]

I've been using hydraulic oil. $34.99 for 5 gallons. I've also been using oil I picked up cheap at swap meets. Got 10 new quarts of 20W-50 for $20. I'm done buying actual bar oil until it goes back to $7/gallon.

 

[Lnk]

I've been using hydraulic oil. $34.99 for 5 gallons. I've also been using oil I picked up cheap at swap meets. Got 10 new quarts of 20W-50 for $20. I'm done buying actual bar oil until it goes back to $7/gallon.

Been buying it right along at rural king for $7 a gallon. I think I have about 8 gallons now, which is way more than I need. It doesn't go bad, and I have the room. I know you don't have rural king in North Grosvenordale!

 

[B440]

....I know you don't have rural king in North Grosvenordale!

Makes me wonder if the price would still be $7 if there was a RK in my area.

 

[Woodslasher]

I've been using "swill pail" stuff from under the bench (random oil and bar oil drained out of projects), it gets on the saw a bit more but no issues to speak of. I won't run it on a 42" bar, but for 28" and shorter so far so good.

 

[CR888]

Canola is fine for worksaws used daily in a professional setting, even for a guy who cuts a lot of firewood. Where you come unstuck with it is on occasional use saw particularly top handles or rear handle versions with weak plastic worm drives. The oil gums up on plastic worm gear, you start saw and rev it....and bam the plastic threads get turned to mush. Happened to me on a MS150c, and some Makita 231t's. Much less likely on saws with metal worm running off clutch drum like what a stihl has. Other thing is any saw when you strip it down behind clutch drum the whole drive side of the case will have gummy gel build up which needs to be scraped off lol. Now as for Rogue using diesel sump oil as mix to make chit happen so six men get their pay check....hell yeah, I'd do it in an instant, especially a saw with hundreds of hours thats paid for itself many times. Probably even do it on a newer saw if I had to. Saws while fairly pricey here are pittance compared to the money people make in the industry whether its residential tree crews or logging operations. None of these folks work for $20per hour lol. Saws are very tough a tank or two on some muddy sump mix wont be a big deal in the long run.

 

[ferris]

I've been using hydraulic oil. $34.99 for 5 gallons. I've also been using oil I picked up cheap at swap meets. Got 10 new quarts of 20W-50 for $20. I'm done buying actual bar oil until it goes back to $7/gallon.

Why don’t you try canola oil?
Or does it cost more then 7 $ a gallon?

 

[B440]

Canola is $9/gallon in my area and some of my saws sit for long periods.

 

[jakethesnake]

Follow up.

So saw sat again after last update until recently. Some time in January. Got Covid in January and went by myself to go cut firewood to not spread the sickness. I still kinda like the stuff.
Chains were all free. Maybe they felt like they’d been dipped in a super light wax. Like car wax. But nothing “stuck”. I’ve got several saws sitting again with canola in the oiler. I’m pretty confident in the stuff.

I laughed at you canola users for years. It’s decent stuff in my opinion. Considering cost is about the same with canola vs bar oil. I think I’d grab another gallon of canola if I needed it today.

Maybe if a saw was gonna sit for 3-4 years it might potentially be an issue but I start my stuff I’m not even using at least one time a year so I’m not too worried about any of that

 

[FederalQ]

I purchased a quart of the Stihl Bio Plus for $10.50 locally. They could not give me any information on storage when left in the saw so I contacted StihlUSA. They stated unopened containers have a 4 year shelf life as well as opened containers if sealed properly and stored in a cool, dark place. Their advice on use in the saw is to drain the oil tank back into the container if the unit is not going to be used for more than 30 days. I’m going to give it a try seeing any bar oil nowadays has gotten pricey. It flows very well after an overnight test outside when temps were around 0F. I’m toying with the idea of mixing it with canola oil to get extra mileage out of it.

 

[so il logger]

Dude I run the cheapest hydraulic fluid I can find 303 in the yellow bucket usually. It’s cheaper than bar oil by a fair amount. Not sure what the price is right now but I’ll bet it’s worth looking into. Usually gotta but a bucket to save anything but I’ve been doing it for years

^^^ This works. I've ran plenty of used hydraulic oil that was drained from skidders. It's got 1 job that's not very technical