Chain Oil or Motor Oil

I may make a few of you cringe on here. But for over 20 years now I'v always used motor oil in place of chain oil. Why? because when getting into the industry they guy who was my mentor used it so I just always have. I know chain oil has properties that are better but it's never been any problem.

The reason why I ask the question is today a guy saw me putting it in and warned of a saw failure very soon. I told him the saw I was tipping it into was over 10 years old and I don't think he believed me. This has got me thinking how much better is chain oil, I suppose there is the environmental concern now with bio degradable oils etc... should I change?

If you get motor oil cheap enough to add a bottle of knock off STP (wallmart brand) per gallon it should be better than straight motor oil. If not I would just buy B&C oil to begin with as it has a tackyness and anti-wear additive that should help your B&C wear less.

Im wondering if my bar and chain do wear any quicker? A bar can last me a good 12 to 18 months with the correct maintenance and I'v worked along side guy's and never felt my chain was any less of a chain.

The motor oil you are using - used or new? Used motor oil is a sure fire way to lessen the life of your bar and chain. I would never recommend anything other than a GOOD quality bar and chain oil (no, not all bar oils are created equal!), but I have customers who routinely use NEW motor oil in OLD saws without a problem. The reason - old saws did not turn the RPM's that new saws do, and most of the old timers like to use solid tip bars. What I look for in a quality bar oil is its tackiness. Put some oil between your fingers and pull them apart slowly. You should see strands of oil between them. The longer the strands, the tackier the oil. Newer saws, spinning at RPM's well above 10,000, need a bar oil that sticks to the chain as it turns around the nose of the bar. Otherwise the bottom half of the bar never sees lubrication, and the log in front of the one you are cutting has a nice wet oil line running down it. I realize that bar oil is expensive, and that the price has done nothing but go up, but the price of bars and chain isn't't getting any cheaper either. There is no way to tell how long a bar and chain should last, because everyone cuts differently. However, I have switched a bunch of customers over to a high-tack bar oil, and they are reporting an increase of about 50% in bar nose life. Once that is taken into consideration, the price of bar oil does not seem as bad.

bar oil isnt that spendy considering that motor oil is 8-10 dollars a gallon and husky bar oil is 6-8 a gallon here. I would say that bar oil is cheaper than motor oil

Well I run old ms039 and 044, plus a 2 year old MS200t, MS230 and a MS441 not a problem on any of them. In fact not even had a bar chage on the MS200t which has seen some use.

Just done a price check on oil. Cheapest I can find for chain oil and it is standard not bio 5lt £12.38 and 25ltr £37.01. Thats double what I can pay for new motor oil. Always use new oil never old.

If you are not experiancing excessive wear and you are happy with the performance then maybe you don't need B&C oil. Oil must be getting to the bottom of the bar to keep the wear down. You might give B&C oil a try to see if you can reduce the amount of oil you are pumping and therefore save some oil in the process. I just bought some Stihl oil and paid $10 dollars a gallon, this was the same as Echo brand oil. Here in the states walmart sells some house brand for a little over $6 a gallon but I have been using only name brand lately and don't mind the extra cost as I don't cut that much.

The cost of your oils seems the same. But if any one in the uk can cut in here im sure we are paying a high price for it. I will get a litre of good chain oil to settle the argument in my own mind.

DMShaver;
why would better bar oil make nose life longer, do you sell a lot of hard nose bars?

Stihl 041S said:

DMShaver;
why would better bar oil make nose life longer, do you sell a lot of hard nose bars?

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What I meant is that customers using the oil I am currently selling are seeing longer nose life on sprocket nose bars. Typically the rails will wear right before and right after the sprocket, and we are seeing less wear in these areas with the bar oil we are currently selling.

Sorry for the confusion.

Many thanks.

I use my drain oil out of my TDI jetta it's 505.1 synthetic high sheer oil and it works great! I can't see throwing away eight dollar a quart oil.

A buddy has a 55 Husky. He always uses bar oil. Than, he pours the oil directly on the chain and bar. Been doing it for years. Swears by it.

neither one... use veggie oil.. except in winter

used motor oil is no good.... unless you filter it really good... too dirty for me

stevieb said:

I may make a few of you cringe on here. But for over 20 years now I'v always used motor oil in place of chain oil. Why? because when getting into the industry they guy who was my mentor used it so I just always have. I know chain oil has properties that are better but it's never been any problem.

The reason why I ask the question is today a guy saw me putting it in and warned of a saw failure very soon. I told him the saw I was tipping it into was over 10 years old and I don't think he believed me. This has got me thinking how much better is chain oil, I suppose there is the environmental concern now with bio degradable oils etc... should I change?

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I also used new motor oil for years. Then I discovered the benefits of real bar oil - stays on better, chain and bar runs cooler, less wear, less chain retensioning. Bar oil for me from now on.

Well i'd love to argue the point against chain oil. But I have no argument as never used it but im about to change that so after that I can put up good rounded point view.

buzz sawyer said:

I also used new motor oil for years. Then I discovered the benefits of real bar oil - stays on better, chain and bar runs cooler, less wear, less chain retensioning. Bar oil for me from now on.

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Right, and preferably veggie bar oil - for several reasons...

-Environment issues
-Washes off clothes in a normal wash
-Oiler puts out more, specially in cold (freezing) weather
-Less is needed on the bar and chain.

I have cut bar oil with veggie oil in the winter 75% bar oil / 25% veggie. It works well.

stevieb said:

Im wondering if my bar and chain do wear any quicker? A bar can last me a good 12 to 18 months with the correct maintenance and I'v worked along side guy's and never felt my chain was any less of a chain.

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I always use bar oil but I just noticed in the manual I got with a new RedMax saw I bought it says to use 10W30 motor oil for bar oil... I doubt that I'm going to use motor oil but if the manufacturer is calling for it then it must not be to bad.

I've been using ATF fluid for years - some times mix it w/motor oil . But lately I started using Stihl chain oil and the Husky chain oil. Cost is about the same now. Performance seems the same.