"Green" Bar oil question?

[B_Turner]

I use straight canola or sometimes a blend of canola and a little commercial bio added in like Stihl bio in my noodling saws when I am running them alot.

Is cheaper, works well and cleans up even better both on cloths and the saw.

I am conservative with it, and don't run it when the saw might sit more than say a week. Annecdotally, there are reports that canola can react with certain pitch or resin in wood if left sitting.

Periodically I run a tank of dino bar oil through each saw just for good measure.

Also I store the jugs of canola and bio in my shed fridge which I believes greatly reduces any crosslinking.

I used to roll my eyes when people talked about running bio or even straight canola oil, but under normal conditions it works great. Not sure I'd run it milling, but some say it works well for them there a well.

 

[BobL]

Regular bar oil is biodegradable to some degree. Each year billions of gallons of oil seep up from the ocean floor and is dissipated with minimal impact. On our family ranch there has been steady cutting of firewood every year with chainsaws for over 50 years and I can see no evident impact from the 100's of gallons of bar oil used in just a dozen or so acres where we cut. I would not use it unless I were mandated to do so.

I agree, the impact of bar oil on the environment is somewhat over hyped. It's also not like we're spraying it directly into the environment. 99% of bar oil ends up being intimately mixed with the freshest sawdust or wood which absorbs and holds the oil very well and together they help break each other down. Fresh sawdust is a very good oil absorber and would be used more widely for major oil spills if enough of it was available and could be more easily handled once it had absorbed the oil, which is why stuff like straw is used.

All that aside I do use canola in the auxiliary oiler of my mill because its cheaper but I always use a quality regular bar oil in my saws.

 

[Metals406]

It seems bar oil can be made using rape oil, and polyisobutylene as a tackifier... Now to find a cheap source for polyisobutylene...

 

[volks-man]

It seems bar oil can be made using rape oil, and polyisobutylene as a tackifier... Now to find a cheap source for polyisobutylene...

i think that is the base oil for stihl branded lubricants!

seriously,
i think you can also use stp oil treatment or lucas as a tackifier. but you are adding dino back to the mix.

 

[Metals406]

i think that is the base oil for stihl branded lubricants!

seriously,
i think you can also use stp oil treatment or lucas as a tackifier. but you are adding dino back to the mix.

You are correct... The two main manufacturers of Polyisobutylene are Dupont and Exxon. I'm sure they'd sell a guy a few thousand gallons. LOL

Other tackifiers I found by Bio-Bar oil companies we proprietary and not listed.

Lucas is a good idea, but like you said it kind of defeats the whole "Bio" thing.

 

[Adirondack]

Where is a good source to buy bio bar oil?

 

[Taxmantoo]

With the decline in the use of oil based paint, they are now marketing linseed as flax seed oil to the health nuts. They can even buy dog foods with it.

OK, so it's the hardener/catalyst in the "boiled" linseed that's poisonous, not the linseed oil itself. Makes sense.

 

[HolmenTree]

How often do you stand at the end of the bar with the motor running flat out? The oil mist is considered hazardous (not just from bar oil), because the oil would cover the surface of the alveoli preventing the transfer of oxygen to blood. It won't matter whether you use green freak oil or organic dino based oil. Now if the chain is in the wood, how much mist is created? Better slow it down if worried about it.

Why not use peanut oil? At least it smells good.

I see your a chemist, but I question your experience running a chainsaw, I think you have been working in doors maybe a little too long. Now when you are out doors running a saw with wind blowing all around you, do you have to stand at the end of the bar to catch any chainoil mist? Your warming your saw up out of the cut, your limbing and topping your trees...mist is every where right? Put 8 hrs in running a saw and see how much chainoil you have on your clothes. Another argument I have is if you had a choice for your own safety, what would you rather sit in, a bathtub full of ...dino oil or veggy oil. Hell I find olive oil makes great hand lotion for dry skin, I would never lather on dino oil. You make it sound it doesn't matter.

 

[Rftreeman]

are you guys serious? I'll stick to the good ole thick bar oil sold by wal-mart.

I don't get oil on me unless it spills because I didn't put the cap on I don't walk around with the saw at wot slinging oil for hours not that that would even matter.

 

[volks-man]

noteworthy:
someone mentioned a reaction with tree resins....

one bar on one saw had a brown crust cooked on around the edges. it took some off brand purple cleaner equivelent at full strength to remove it. never happened to any of my other saws and it is only on the bar.
i think i ran out of oil in the cut and heated it up. and resins may have been a factor.

 

[woodchopper]

I've used the stihl veggie oil in my 066 when milling, works great.

The main reason was so I can mulch my blueberries with the sawdust.

As a beekeeper I'd like to be able to use my saw chips in my smoker without poisoning my bees and contaminating the honey. I'll probably switch over to the Stihl veggie oil for just that reason.

 

[2dogs]

I am curious how the water based bar oil mix that Bailey's sells will work out. It makes sense to me.

Here is how I make sure I run a cool bar and chain.

 

[BobL]

Your warming your saw up out of the cut, your limbing and topping your trees...mist is every where right? Put 8 hrs in running a saw and see how much chainoil you have on your clothes. Another argument I have is if you had a choice for your own safety, what would you rather sit in, a bathtub full of ...dino oil or veggy oil. Hell I find olive oil makes great hand lotion for dry skin, I would never lather on dino oil. You make it sound it doesn't matter.

An operator typically warms up the saw up for ~10 seconds out of the cut then runs the saw for 20 minutes in/on the wood. That's 10 out of 1200 seconds or 99% of the time in/on the wood. As soon as the chain touches wood what comes of the end of bar nose should be not just oil mist, its a mix of oil and sawdust. If it's more oil than dust then the oiler needs to be turned down. As soon as the bar oil is in contact with sawdust it is sort of contained and is far less of a problem than what I discuss below. If at the end of the day the operator ends up oil all over their clothes then maybe they are just being a little too ham fisted than they need, or there is something else going on.

I am more concerned about the unburnt hydrocarbons that that continually comes out of the exhaust for 1200 seconds than 10 seconds of dino bar oil mist. These hydrocarbons will cover everything around - that's the stuff that gets all over your skin, clothes and lungs. I spent a few days milling with someone that runs 25:1 in their saws and I came home with headaches and covered in a greasy film. My normally cleanish red chaps were almost black and greasy and I have not been able to get them clean since. I use 40:1 with my saws and never have these problems. But just because it can't be seen doesn't mean it isn't there. Because CS operators work so close to the exhaust it doesn't matter if a 100:1 mix is used there would still be unburnt hydrocarbons in the exhaust. I try to counteract this by setting up my log/milling so the saw is downwind from me but most CS operators rarely have this option.