Is "Bar-Oil" made for *Suckers* ??

[Mr_Super-hunky]

Hear me out on this one.

I had just finished cutting approx 10 cords of wood. For simplicity's sake, I have my bar oiler set to exactly equal a full tank of gas...(i.e. I consume exactly the same amount of bar oil as fuel per tank).

At nearly $8.00 a gall for "Stihl" bar oil, I can't help but think that I/we are just getting ripped off. Here's why:

I fully understand and agree that the bar must be properly lubed at all times of operation to reduce heat, friction and wear....Kind of a no brainer.

If you think about it however, by going through a full tank of bar oil in approx 20 minutes of actual use, the amount of oil at any given time that actually remains on the bar is very very little.

What good does "premium" bar oil do when it is only in contact with the bar for a few seconds before getting spun off??

If the idea is to simply keep the bar properly lubricated to prevent heat, friction, wear, why can't any type of lubricating liquid/oil be used??.
It's just going to get spun off within a few seconds anyway!

Why not use a much more effective and much smaller quantity of a liquid teflon solution like gas powered hedge clippers or even livestock shears use?.

I realize that you just can't spray the bar with WD-40 before every use (although it would work for a minute or so), but I don't see why a more efficient type of lubricant cannot be used in a much smaller quantity thereby being more cost effective as well.

I mean $8.00 a gall for bar oil!!!. Why not even a similar weight Wal-Mart brand motor oil at around 1/2 to 1/3 the cost?.

When I am paying almost 3 times the price for my bar oil than premium unleaded fuel, I've got to wonder why!.

Any suggestions on alternate bar lubrication products?.

.Motor oil?
.Teflon?
.Glycerin?
.Baby oil?
.Melted Butter!!?
.Liquid wrench?

 

[GASoline71]

Gary

 

[stckciv]

Bar oil has a "sticky" additive that clings to your bar and chain. You will go through more "motor" oil than you will Bar oil, and also get more wear.

Use a cheaper bar oil, $8 seems a little high, but use a bar oil.

 

[Mr_Super-hunky]

Gary

what a jerk!

 

[SawTroll]

...... I mean $8.00 a gall for bar oil!!!. ....

That is about free, compared to our standards here - Husky Veg-Oil is the best one I have found - and not the most expensive one, but it is about 23$ for 4 litres (slightly less than a gallon, I believe).......


...but I also use some much cheaper bar oil in high summer, but it is bar oil....

 

[SawTroll]

Bar oil has a "sticky" additive that clings to your bar and chain. You will go through more "motor" oil than you will Bar oil, and also get more wear.

Use a cheaper bar oil, $8 seems a little high, but use a bar oil.

I agree with para one, but not para two.......:yoyo: :yoyo:

 

[Wood Hick]

I asked a similiar question a while back about thinner vs. thicker bar oil. I went to the cheaper stuff, and see an improvement, at least I think so. I am using TSC, it has a tacking agent, is MUCH more free flowing than Stihl, and is a little cheaper. Be very careful with your settings, most saws are set up for the tanks NOT to run out together, in case you get in a hurry and forget to fill the bar oil. Try the TSC and see what you think.

 

[Cedarkerf]

If ya notice bar oil doesn't get flung off. If ya keep your chain spinning notice it stays coverd cause its sticky. Go ahead and run your chains without it you will see why you use bar oil.

 

[RDT]

 

[jhellwig]

Hey you could use crude oil here also!!!!!! Then you wouldn't have to carry around 2 jugs!!!!!!!

 

[Sprig]

Thats a heck of a lot cheaper than here (about 20%), and I pay a bit extra now to run canola oil (several threads on it here, go search) as I'm working in a sensitive environmental area, don't like getting dino oil all over me, less mess, and neither my customers or me are breathing in 'mystery petro emmisions' when the wood is burning, also its a great selling point for the concerned folks around here (lots of greenish ones ).
Oh, W-D40 is a lousy lubricant btw, motor oil sux, teflon is toxic, and baby oil, well, expensive and you'll get off work smelling like you just had your diaper changed

My 0.02$ worth fer the afternoon.



Serge

 

[sawinredneck]

what a jerk!

Gary is alright, this has just been hashed out a lot.

I buy bar oil, but I buy the cheapest I can find. And yes BAR OIL is best, it has tackifieres in it to make it stick to the bar and chain better.

Don't like it? Use waste motor oil, don't mind the shavings eating up the bar though!

Start using SAE 30wt, it's more, and it just runs out!!!

NOW, some have been giving good feedback on canola oil (yes, the cooking kind) but there are a few things to note with that. If you are not going to use it in a while, you MUST clean out the bar oil tank!!!! And, on the same note, it will build up on the saw and can be a bit of a bear to get off! The reasons are that it will coagulate after time and harden like a rock, plugging you're oil lines etc.
Then the price factor, it seems to me, all said and done, it's about the same cost as bar oil. So unless you just want to save the environment, it's probably not to cost effective.

$ liters is more than a gallon, but not by much.

 

[ScottWojo]

I have a family member who uses used motor oil because he is cheap. He also waits too long to change the oil in his vehicles, because he is too cheap.
Same guy complains that chainsharpeners get way too much money. And this same guy complains that he uses too much gas and that 87 octain is all he runs cuz 93 is too expensive.
And yes he bought the smallest saw he felt would cut all his firewood, an 026 pro.
Long story short, you can see all the aggrivation he self inflicts upon himself.
The only motor oil I have seen with similar propeties as that of bar oil is that Lucas motor honey stuff.
Stihl is not making the oil they sell, they buy it from an oil company like everyone else. I just go to tractor supply company, its like $5 per gallon.

 

[Cut4fun]

Black bottle Poulan at wally world for $4 a gal, green bottle is $4 a gal too. Just depends on what section you are shopping in to what bottles you will find.

You know it seems like we go through this topic at least once every 2 weeks now.:help:
Man I can't wait till winter so we can bump it up to the winter grade stuff.:hmm3grin2orange:

 

[GASoline71]

what a jerk!

That's me!!!

Gary

 

[GASoline71]

Gary is alright, this has just been hashed out a lot.

Thanks son!!!!

Gary

 

[SawTroll]

Just have to get this out - how cheap can you be - to a non-pro (like me), the cost of fuel and bar oil is really totally uninteresting - just use the best you can get!!!!

 

[04ultra]

 

[Mr_Super-hunky]

Just have to get this out - how cheap can you be - to a non-pro (like me), the cost of fuel and bar oil is really totally uninteresting - just use the best you can get!!!!

It's not really as much being cheap as there just seems to be a better way to keep a bar lubricated instead of consuming so much of anything. It's not the price that is the principle.

I just know that we *spray* chain lube (very tacky) on our motorcycle chains and wonder why that same principle could not be used on a chain saw.

I just don't know.

 

[LarryTheCableGuy]

What good does "premium" bar oil do when it is only in contact with the bar for a few seconds before getting spun off??

Yeah, that's a good point but think how bad you are getting ripped off with the two stroke oil in your fuel mix. It's in the cylinder for what, a nano-second?

I suggest that you don't use either of those products just to prove that you won't stand for being ripped off!!



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