Bar Oil

[SteveH]

I run a Stihl 036 with a 20" bar and chipper chain. I've always used whatever bar oil I had around, most recently the Stihl brand until I ran out last week. But someone gave me a couple gallons of "Poulan" brand bar oil, and it doesn't seem to lube the bar and chain adequately. The level of the oil goes down normally with use of the saw, but the lower part of the bar heats up and once even smoked it was so hot. [After about a twenty min. of hard cutting.]

I was/am using brand new chipper chain. I dumped out the Poulan oil I had in the saw and substitued Echo brand, and it works perfectly now under identical circumstances...in fact, I was even cutting on the exact same tree, a 30" diameter blue spruce. [My supplier was out of stock on the Stihl oil.] I have always figured "bar oil is bar oil." Is there a difference? Anyone else had this problem...I have definitely lessened the life of my almost new $60 bar.

 

[spacemule]

I suspect you're suffering from a case of post hoc.

 

[Rotax Robert]

With a lower grade of bar oil I usualy add a cup of Amsoil.

Rotax

 

[computeruser]

I don't know the science of it, nor have I really even made a study of it, but some cheap bar oil doesn't act like the big-name stuff. My experiences with the off-brand stuff have been similar to yours.

Best advice on this topic: buy a half-dozen gallons and when you get back down to two gallons, buy another. After a couple times of running out, that's what I've done and haven't had a problem with running out/being able to find more since.

 

[lovetheoutdoors]

I bought some cheap bar oil one time and after 30 min of use my chain had burn oil marks on it. Now i use quality bar oil.

 

[TreeChopper1]

I ran a stihl dealership for 7 years and at the stihl schools they showed us that their oil is designed to be really tacky and that allows it to go around the bar tip and lubricate. Off brand oils fly off the tip and don't even make it to the underside of the bar.:deadhorse:

 

[HickoryNick]

Steve,

I was like you and thought bar oil was bar oil. When I got my Stihl I knew we were just about out of the old jug of el cheapo brand, so just out of convenience I picked up a jug of Stihl bar and chain oil. I noticed the difference right off the bat compared to what we had used with the Craftsman saw (some cheap $1 a gallon stuff we bought at Big Lots). The Stihl was "Stickier". It seemed to adhere to the chain. I believe they use oil stabalizers to achieve this. It's sort of like Lucas Oil and the little gear displays they have at some autoparts stores.

All in all, there is a definite difference in the cheap stuff and the brand name stuff.

Nick

 

[spacemule]

I've ran the Poulan stuff in about an even amount percentage wise as the Stihl stuff. I've been able to tell no difference. Of course, I keep my oilers turned up high and I'm not running the latest EPA saws, so perhaps that's why. However, I've never had burn marks on my chains from anything I've run. If you've got burn marks or smoking bars, you've got issues other than bar and chain oil.

 

[Patrick62]

For a few $$ more...

I have been using only the finest oil in my saw. Since Baileys doesn't carry this stuff yet, I am forced to order it in at a premium price :yoyo:

Hawaii's Gold Macadamia Nut Oil gallon, $45.00

It lubricates very well, and as a added bonus it has a very pleasant and agreeable odor to it.

This is but a small price to pay :hmm3grin2orange: to be enviromentally conscious. Far better than spewing plain old oil.

To really be "green" we need to go one step further. I would think it reasonable to request that the Rural Electrification Association run a network of buried cables supplying household power spaced not more than 200 feet apart. Then we can utilize electric chainsaws. There might be a few drawbacks, but I am quite sure that a 120V Remmington 14" chainsaw is capable of cutting down the largest of trees, given enough time....

-Pat

 

[Rspike]

I wonder if Poulan bar oil and gas mix oil is the same stuff as Husqvarna brand bar oil and mix oil ? Hummm . You think they have two different oil plants making oil ? I use the Poulan bar oil and Poulan synthetic oil gas mix at 40:1 Never a problem.

 

[bwalker]

Husky's bar oil is made by spectrum, which also made Walmarts bar oil.
I have used Walmart bar oil for several years and have never noticed anyproblems at all.
If your burning your bar your chain is dull.

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

I suspect you're suffering from a case of post hoc.

Watch out for those propters, space. There are a lot of them around.

 

[rbtree]

Husky's bar oil is made by spectrum, which also made Walmarts bar oil.
I have used Walmart bar oil for several years and have never noticed anyproblems at all.
If your burning your bar your chain is dull.

Really, ben.....but Rotax adds amsoil to his....:hmm3grin2orange:

Mebbe I should try some Opti...... my bars just get so hot on that Walmart oil I've been torturing them with these last few lean years...:biggrinbounce2:

 

[Crumm]

So bar oil is really something formulated just for the bar? I have always just used whatever I have. I think my latest bar oil that I have been using in my Homelite is some 15w-40 diesel engine oil. I just purchased a new Stihl and after reading this thread I am thinking I need to go back to the dealer and get some bar oil?

I have not heated with wood for for over 10 years but even back then I only cut about 2 or 3 cords a year and now I use less than 1 gallon of fuel a year. With my limited saw time I have never burned a bar or chain. They just seem to last forever with a occasional sharpening..

 

[RES]

Any opinion on Motion Lotion from Bailey's. I just bought a case of it.

 

[sawn_penn]

Saw manufacturers always recommended motor oil for the bar until someone came up with a way of marketting "special chainsaw oil". Yes, it does work better than plain old motor oil, but the chainsaw made it through the first 50 years of it's life without special bar oil.

I use Stihl or Husky bar oil beacause:

1. It works better than motor oil.
2. It's cheaper than motor oil.
3. It's cheaper than no-name brand bar oil from the local hardware store.
4. It's an excuse to go and eye off some new saws.

 

[WRW]

Saw manufacturers always recommended motor oil for the bar until someone came up with a way of marketting "special chainsaw oil". Yes, it does work better than plain old motor oil, but the chainsaw made it through the first 50 years of it's life without special bar oil.

I use Stihl or Husky bar oil beacause:

1. It works better than motor oil.
2. It's cheaper than motor oil.
3. It's cheaper than no-name brand bar oil from the local hardware store.
4. It's an excuse to go and eye off some new saws.

I remember a special anti-sling oil for motorcycle chains back in the 70's. I'm guessing that chainsaw manufacturers took their cue from that. I ,also, use bar oil because it is cheaper, but I'm not shy about mixing in the oil left over from filling small engines.

 

[Crumm]

the chainsaw made it through the first 50 years of it's life without special bar oil.

OK thats what I was thinking. I remember 30 years ago when I was a kid my granddad got his bar oil from a friend that owned a service station. At the service station when they changed the oil in a vehicle they would save the oil cans and tip them upside down in a funnel for a hour or so. This would get the last drops of oil out of the cans and create free bar oil.

Talk about a long time ago "service station" where you could get gas and a oil change. Now we have places where you can get gas and a soda pop. Then "oil can" heck oil has not came in a can for years and years, just when did they go to plastic bottles?

 

[Sethro]

How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? It contains anti-wear additives, extreme pressure additives, rust and oxidation inhibitors, and no-sling additives, low pour point.I get it for around $8.00 a gallon

 

[hornett22]

my partner is a cheap bastard when it comes to ........

maintenance.he says bar oil is bar oil.he runs pro mix from lowe's and his bars look like hammered ????.i used it and mine did to.i switched to husky oil and mine still have the paint on them and his still doesn,'t.my edges look good and his are black.