I tried it in an old cheap saw and can confirm if you don't clean it up religiously it will harden. I was still able to clean up the saw but can envision if one let this build up, harden, build up, harden, etc it could do some physical damage.
Bar oil SUBSTITUTES
- Thread starter Gab250
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Having trouble finding bar oil so i use filtered waste AW 32 hydraulic oil in my saws. There is oil in stock at the stihl dealer but it will be a cold day in hell before i give 27 per gallon on bar oil.
If you had canola oil harden in your saw it was not 100 percent canola. Canola doesn’t do that. A blend will
I’ve used plenty of hydro oil jelly. Used to buy the 303 for 25$ a 5 gallon bucket. Worked great honestly
I’ve used plenty of hydro oil jelly. Used to buy the 303 for 25$ a 5 gallon bucket. Worked great honestly
I think it does quite well considering and it is much cheaper i have not noticed any wear and It is from my friend who runs heavy equipment it is amsoil brand iso 32 i run it through a few paint filters and run it.
IME if you can get over how thin it is hydro oil works just fine.
An engineer from Windsor use to be on this site in the early days. He claimed hydro oil and atf where the best bar oils and that the thick tacky oil was a detriment.
Years ago I had a neighbor who used to own a gas station before he retired. He had two or three barrels of motor oil and cases of 'Motor Medic' and STP in his garage that he had brought home when he sold the business. He had a big fireplace and a wood stove to heat the garage with, so he was always cutting wood. His saw was an old David Bradley model from Sears.
It was loud, heavy, and completely soaked top to bottom with dusty oil and grease. It threw oil everywhere when it ran, plus he'd pour his home made mix all over it when he was cutting something big. The spot where he cut his fire wood in the back yard looked like it was paved with asphalt from all the years of dumping oil over the saw in the same spot. It was a mix of oil soaked dirt and saw dust matted down over time to the point it could pass for pavement.
When he passed, the new owners just paved over that spot with new asphalt to cover it up I guess.
I seem to recall his mix being 3:1, motor oil to STP or any thick oil additive he had there. The result was an amber sticky mess that flew off the chain in long streaks.
(Keep in mind this is the same guy who used to collect used newspapers and drain oil from a local heavy truck shop to burn in his fireplace. He'd sit for hours and roll up 'logs' out of tightly wound newspaper, he then glued the end roll and wrapped it in wire, then he'd soak those 'newspaper logs' in buckets of dark black diesel drain oil and use them in his fireplace in the house.
He said they burned super hot and that three of those would heat the whole house all night long.
His house was a mess, there was a film of that oil on everything, it smoked when it burned and it got on everything, not to mention simply from it getting dripped all over just putting them on the fire out of the old metal bucket of waste oil sitting next to the fireplace. He would spend all summer preparing paper logs like that for the next winter, he had buckets of them soaking all over he place.
The garage was full of barrels of oil and various solvents he brought home, plus some military surplus oil and chemicals. He also would use the drain oil in a few smaller saws, and he'd pour the waste oil around the property to kill weeds. To him it was sort of an all purpose solution to everything
It was loud, heavy, and completely soaked top to bottom with dusty oil and grease. It threw oil everywhere when it ran, plus he'd pour his home made mix all over it when he was cutting something big. The spot where he cut his fire wood in the back yard looked like it was paved with asphalt from all the years of dumping oil over the saw in the same spot. It was a mix of oil soaked dirt and saw dust matted down over time to the point it could pass for pavement.
When he passed, the new owners just paved over that spot with new asphalt to cover it up I guess.
I seem to recall his mix being 3:1, motor oil to STP or any thick oil additive he had there. The result was an amber sticky mess that flew off the chain in long streaks.
(Keep in mind this is the same guy who used to collect used newspapers and drain oil from a local heavy truck shop to burn in his fireplace. He'd sit for hours and roll up 'logs' out of tightly wound newspaper, he then glued the end roll and wrapped it in wire, then he'd soak those 'newspaper logs' in buckets of dark black diesel drain oil and use them in his fireplace in the house.
He said they burned super hot and that three of those would heat the whole house all night long.
His house was a mess, there was a film of that oil on everything, it smoked when it burned and it got on everything, not to mention simply from it getting dripped all over just putting them on the fire out of the old metal bucket of waste oil sitting next to the fireplace. He would spend all summer preparing paper logs like that for the next winter, he had buckets of them soaking all over he place.
The garage was full of barrels of oil and various solvents he brought home, plus some military surplus oil and chemicals. He also would use the drain oil in a few smaller saws, and he'd pour the waste oil around the property to kill weeds. To him it was sort of an all purpose solution to everything
With tacky bar oils i have noticed the clutch cover and bar groves would get plugged with sawdust. Not so running hydraulic oil.
I’d agree with that. Seems to pump the regular oil better (hydro oil)
A month ago you could get Echo bar oil for $14 something a gallon and $12.47 if you bought 4 gallons at Home Depot. Today it's $19.47 or $17.52 if you buy 4, dang that's some price increase. Geez I can buy Rotella T4 diesel engine oil for under $17/gallon.
I'll stick with Rural King Cam2 at $9 or True-Flo Winter Grade at $8/gallon.
Seems bar oil is like WD40, WD40 was $1-2/can for frickin' 20 years and then boom it's $6-8/can. It's like someone decided they could make good money off of it LOL!
I'll stick with Rural King Cam2 at $9 or True-Flo Winter Grade at $8/gallon.
Seems bar oil is like WD40, WD40 was $1-2/can for frickin' 20 years and then boom it's $6-8/can. It's like someone decided they could make good money off of it LOL!
I had the same experience.
My saws never plug up the oiler hole in the bar if I use thin oil that slings off the bar everywhere.
If I use proper bar oil the oil holes plug up when cutting dry hardwood.
With thinner oil your going to get more flow for certain.
Justice Jack
New Member
yes its fu$king bullcrap what the people pulling the strings at the top have done to destroy the working man and continue to put more money in their pocket.
I learned about that the hard way in 1984. Diff oil will dissolve the oil line. At least it did in my little John Deere (Echo), and I was very disappointed... I had about zero money, and my little $100 saw was now not worth fixing.
Still running canola. Still works good
tyburn
New Member
waste motor oil for me, with a little cheap 90 weight thrown in. don't notice much difference in my milling application, though the black color can leave smudges on the wood at times.
