Cheap Bar Oil?

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We have tsc here. Not the others. Walmart super tech bar oil is labeled sae 30 looks like plain hydraulic oil and is more expensive. Very possible where you’re from they do have it. Here they don’t
 
This is what I typically use. It’s red so its an easy visual on bar oiling and it’s tacky. Last I looked it was $10 gal. I would never use dirty engine oil as bar oil, simply because I don’t want that running thru the oiler itself. Heavy metals and combustion byproducts, it’s just nasty stuff. View attachment 954517
I use the same bar oil in my saws and pick it up locally for ~$8 a gallon.
I see no need to use spiffy wiz-bang bar oil in my saws.
 
We have tsc here. Not the others. Walmart super tech bar oil is labeled sae 30 looks like plain hydraulic oil and is more expensive. Very possible where you’re from they do have it. Here they don’t
Hydro will work no doubt. I've ran it in a pinch.
It's typicaly cost more than bar oil last time I did so, which was back in the early 2000's.
 
$7.60/gal at Menards through Jan 15 during their 15% sale. Mine has Poulan Pro oil right now. The Rural King stuff smells too much like gear oil. I use canola oil during the winter when I'm cutting fairly often, then switch to petrol right before I stop cutting in the spring so it doesn't polymerize and harden on the bar and chain.
 
Mystik at farm and fleet on sale $4.99 a gallon , normal price $5.99 for members
Used to run the stihl stuff cause a gotta Deere dealer close buy
Mystik works great even in the cold I’m sold
 
This is absolutely true.

Some years back I was experimenting with using vegetable oil for bar oil. It was cheap, it worked fine, and there didn't seem to be any problems. For a while. Then we discovered how the oil aerosol was coating all the exterior of the saws, including the cooling fins of the engine, where it was quite difficult to clean off. Unlike petroleum oils, the vegetable oil would oxidize and form a sticky layer on every surface of the saws, including the plastic exterior. It was particularly bad in cold weather, and also gelled-up the oil reservoir in cold weather.

Needless to say, I abandoned my "organic" bar oil, and went with something that didn't cause any problems. You can bet, however, that you are inhaling that used motor oil.
 
This is absolutely true.

Some years back I was experimenting with using vegetable oil for bar oil. It was cheap, it worked fine, and there didn't seem to be any problems. For a while. Then we discovered how the oil aerosol was coating all the exterior of the saws, including the cooling fins of the engine, where it was quite difficult to clean off. Unlike petroleum oils, the vegetable oil would oxidize and form a sticky layer on every surface of the saws, including the plastic exterior. It was particularly bad in cold weather, and also gelled-up the oil reservoir in cold weather.

Needless to say, I abandoned my "organic" bar oil, and went with something that didn't cause any problems. You can bet, however, that you are inhaling that used motor oil.
Here here on the veg oil. Although I'm actually using used fryer oil from the local diner...so maybe its not straight canola.. smells like french fries though and my dogs love lapping it up...I use it often meaning every week in an aux oiler on a milling setup.. and the way it coats the bar and front of saw like an epoxy resin pour is something to note. I'd never ever put it in my saw oil tank. And the stuff is so darn hard to remove i swear it could be used as a wood finish.. odd thing about it is i was certain woodworkers only use oil on say cutting boards as veg oil is not supposed to ever dry. My saw says different.. fwiw
 
This is what I typically use. It’s red so its an easy visual on bar oiling and it’s tacky. Last I looked it was $10 gal. I would never use dirty engine oil as bar oil, simply because I don’t want that running thru the oiler itself. Heavy metals and combustion byproducts, it’s just nasty stuff. View attachment 954517
$14 USD currently online .
 
Here here on the veg oil. Although I'm actually using used fryer oil from the local diner...so maybe its not straight canola.. smells like french fries though and my dogs love lapping it up...I use it often meaning every week in an aux oiler on a milling setup.. and the way it coats the bar and front of saw like an epoxy resin pour is something to note. I'd never ever put it in my saw oil tank. And the stuff is so darn hard to remove i swear it could be used as a wood finish.. odd thing about it is i was certain woodworkers only use oil on say cutting boards as veg oil is not supposed to ever dry. My saw says different.. fwiw

Yes indeed. The dried vegetable oil is quite hard to get off the saws. The aerosol goes everywhere, too. Our carbs, throttle linkages, cooling fins, flywheel... everything acquired a coating, eventually. The fact that it would dry out caused a wood-dust impregnated layer that interfered with cooling, servicing, and even using the saws. I have no doubt that the type of vegetable oil makes a big difference, but I can assure you that clean, new, 5 gallon pails of liquid vegetable oil from Sam's club don't turn out too well.

1641767048378.png1641767093595.png

Both of these are vegetable oils that are used to finish furniture.
 
Professional chainsaw carvers(my girlfriend included) generally use canola in there electric/battery saws and it works great in that application but we run "normal" bar and chain in anything 2 stroke with the exception of my saw that gets used for trail building that gets sthil bio or motion-lotion bio oil as I'm almost always cutting on protected lands or very near water.
 
Yes indeed. The dried vegetable oil is quite hard to get off the saws. The aerosol goes everywhere, too. Our carbs, throttle linkages, cooling fins, flywheel... everything acquired a coating, eventually. The fact that it would dry out caused a wood-dust impregnated layer that interfered with cooling, servicing, and even using the saws. I have no doubt that the type of vegetable oil makes a big difference, but I can assure you that clean, new, 5 gallon pails of liquid vegetable oil from Sam's club don't turn out too well.

View attachment 955029View attachment 955033

Both of these are vegetable oils that are used to finish furniture.
The stihl bio-oil hardens up w/sawdust like concrete.
 
Yes indeed. The dried vegetable oil is quite hard to get off the saws. The aerosol goes everywhere, too. Our carbs, throttle linkages, cooling fins, flywheel... everything acquired a coating, eventually. The fact that it would dry out caused a wood-dust impregnated layer that interfered with cooling, servicing, and even using the saws. I have no doubt that the type of vegetable oil makes a big difference, but I can assure you that clean, new, 5 gallon pails of liquid vegetable oil from Sam's club don't turn out too well.

View attachment 955029View attachment 955033

Both of these are vegetable oils that are used to finish furniture.
Makes sense, anyone who has been in a commercial kitchen with a greasy hood has seen what aerosolized vegetable oil can do. Some of the absolute most stubborn crud I’ve had the displeasure of cleaning.off a surface.
 

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