Do any professionals still do this?

[turnkey4099]

I owned and operated a small logging company and pulpwood company for a
number of years and worked as a saw man for several years. We bought 55
gallon drums of motor oil (cheapest kind we could get) for bar oil. I
have never seen a professional logger run any kind of bar oil in their
chain saws. 30 weight and cheap. I don't think I have ever used real
"bar" oil. However, I have not used "used" motor oil much. Never had
enough of it. But we would strain it through a filter and pour it in
the barrel when we had some. I would go through several gallons of oil
per week. About 1.5 gallons per day on average.

Professional Logger
<name snipped>

I took this off a 'home repair' forum in a discussion about, what else, bar oil.

I know it was a practice back in the 40s and 50s with the old gear drive monsters.

Harry K

 

[ross_scott]

I have seen 50/50 mixes of bar and waste oil used and I have also seen fresh hydraulic oil used as bar lube aswell

 

[Rookie1]

I cant wait to see where this goes. I knew a tree cutter that used motor oil for his bar oil. He never used used motor oil just fresh new stuff. Never had a ar or chain problem. Im not sure what to say about it.

 

[BloodOnTheIce]

I have several tree companies who just use 30w motor oil for bar oil, they do the same buy it by the 55 gallon drum.

 

[spike60]

Husky has 55 gal drums of bar oil, but I'm not sure what it costs because I've never sold one.

How much would you have to save to make it worthwhile to be bothered with filling the containers yourself everyday? And what quality motor oil is going to be cheaper than bar oil?

I sell a gallon of bar oil for $9. Four quarts of Kohler labeled motor oil @ $4 each puts you at $16 per gallon.

 

[MCW]

The cheapest new bar oil I can buy in Australia is still about 20% less than the cheapest new engine oil I can buy. I ran out of bar oil once and bought a 5 litre of 30 weight engine oil. In cold climates I'm sure it would be fine but I used it when it was hot and it simply wasn't up to the task, flying off everywhere. The bar and chain got that hot it couldn't be touched, probably not hot enough to actually wreck any tempering in the steel, but still too hot for my liking. In the old days I'm sure you'd use whatever you could get.

I'm pretty sure enough lube was available when going through 1.5 gallons a day no matter what oil you used

 

[CentaurG2]

I personally don’t know of any. Grandpa used to run just about anything for bar oil including used motor oil. He used to store old oil in one gallon plastic milk containers and use it for just about everything from lighting fires to filling the oil cups on the old saw rig.
A gallon a day is a lot of bar oil. I would think most companies are now running harvesters to do that kind of work. A supposed a large wood processer with a hydraulic saw could easily use that much but I don’t know what folks who run them use for bar lube.

 

[slowp]

Everybody here used to run used motor oil. That was during the 1980s when there were 6 mills taking logs within a 20 mile radius. Our little town, if you could call it that, had a gas station that doubled as a saw shop. They kept drums of filtered, used motor oil and even woodcutters like me could go there and buy it for cheap. Now, there are 3 mills, hardly anybody logs who lives here because the work is now on private lands to the west. There are only 2 mini-marts and no saw shops. Official ones. The guy who used to have the gas station will stil do work from his house.

I'm not sure what the fallers use for bar oil, but I'm sure they buy it in large quantities. Guess I could ask.

 

[Brian13]

My father was not a logger, but cut alot of firewood when he lived up north. He still has that way of thinking though and uses whatever oil he has in his shop. He always says Im wasting my money on bar oil because he has plenty of oil of various types.

 

[MCW]

I'm not sure what the fallers use for bar oil, but I'm sure they buy it in large quantities.

You can buy pallet lots of 20 litre generic (but good) Bar Oil in Australia for an absolute steal. Buying bulk certainly pays, I've considered it myself but 20 litres (just over 5 US gallons) of bar oil aren't the biggest seller in my region. One gallon containers are.

 

[ryan_marine]

Talked this over with a couple of Amish mills that I sell to. One of them told me about a crew that got fined up the yen-yang for running used motor oil near a small stream. Come to find out that some of the bar oil was going into the stream when cutting some trees. The epa tore them a new poop shoot.

Ray

 

[Arrowhead]

I have old Pioneer manuals from the 70's that actually recommend using 30wt motor oil. I don't see any problem with that. You might use more since it's thinner. I like the tacky-ness bar oil has, seems to not fling off as bad. My .02...

 

[jdemaris]

I
have never seen a professional logger run any kind of bar oil in their
chain saws. 30 weight and cheap.

When I worked for Asplundh late 60s, early 70s we used 30W motor oil for the gas mix and for bar oil. Never any issues that I was aware of. The saws were all Homelites with manual oilers.

I'm not a "professional" any more, but I have been cutting a lot of hardwood for many years. I heat two homes and an equipment workshop 100% with wood. I own around 170 acres of hardwoods and I do some logging and a lot of firewood cuting.

I have never in my life used anything sold as "bar oil" and I also rarely use any new motor oil. All I use is used motor-oil which I have way too much of anyway, drained out of cars, trucks, tractors, bulldozes, etc. Obviously, when it drains out of an engine, it's already been filtered over and over through the engine filter. I then run it through a paint filter and use it in all my saws. I run it in saws, and also throw some in my bulk diesel fuel tanks for my backhoes and farm tractors. I've never had any permature wear problems with chains or bars, not even my Stihl with the 32" or my Lombard with the 50". With all my "modern" saws including Stihl, Efco, and Dolmar, I keep the oil pumps turned up to the highest setting (when they have an adjuster). The oil is basically free anyway.

Funny thing is, I was a Stihl mechanic for many dealers. We sold a lot of bars to homeowners who were only buying the best "bar oil." That because #1, when a screwed-up chain cut cockeyed, they'd often blame it on the bar. And, many would keep trying to cut with a dull chain and put a lot of pressure on the bar and those bars often DID get ruined.

I'm still running some bars that homeowners chucked in the trash 40 years ago. Think I've got a stack of 40-50 Sthil and Homelite bars so I doubt I'm ever going to run out.

 

[indiansprings]

My granddad and dad for years just run whatever oil they had as bar oil.
Used motor oil, new motor oil, hydraulic fluid and never had a oiler go out that I know of. I buy a generic bar oil made by spectrum for 5.75 a gallon, it's cheaper than using anything else.

 

[smokinj]

I strain it through old blue jeans whenever I have any used 30 weight.

 

[gallegosmike]

I just buy napa branded bar and chain oil every fall. I goes on sale for 5.99 a gallon. Ive got 40 gals on hand right now.

On the flip side, if in dire need of bar and chain oil. I would use a make shift blend of 30wt with a good dose of lucas oil cling additive. And that is on a junk bar with a junk chain. NOT on my GB bars!

 

[Hddnis]

Where did all the guys who use nothing but big name bar oil go?:jawdrop:


Mr. HE

 

[banshee67]

i buy the big jugs of husqvarna bar oil from lowes for $10, then i use those to make a mix in an old "super tech" bar oil jug from walmart (much easier to pour) .. ill fill it up about half way with the husky bar oil then add some atf or motor oil or whatever i have laying around so make it stretch a bit more

 

[RandyMac]

I mixed my own, three cans STP in five gallons of 30W, a quart of diesel added when cutting pitchy wood.

 

[2dogs]

There a couple of bulk oil distributors here. On ocassion they will have a barrell of "spill oil", that is all the drippings and cleaned up spilled oil. It is new and clean and sells for $1.00 to $2.00 per gallon but you have to take the entire 55 gallons in your own truck. This is a great way to go if you can handle the drum.

I usually buy bar oil from the same jobber for $8.00 per gallon in my own 5 gallon cans. Usually 10 gallons at a time. For watershed work I use Stihl BioPlus. It is $80.00 for 5 gallons. The crew uses 30-40 gallons per year, less than in the past.

BTW the jobber does not call it spill oil. I forget the official term. I learned the term spill oil here on AS from TreeSling'r.