Making Bar Oil...?

[spacemule]

How do you think that compares with the 2-cycle exhaust?

Used motor oil contains carcinogens, metals, and other nasties not present in new oil. What's ironic is you're breathing the #### in, but health and longevity is the last thing that crosses most nut-for-brains' comprehensions.

 

[Philbert]

Congrats on passing 13,000 posts! (The Rep Gods wouldn't let me hit you.)

Philbert

 

[rms61moparman]

The "old timers" that I grew up watching and learning from would filter their used motor oil through cheesecloth and use it for bar oil.
The thing is, they were almost all using saws that were manual oiler only so they had complete control over the flow. I would think it would be hard for the auto oilers to supply enough of the motor oil to provide the proper lubrication and adding STP or Casite Motor Honey to make up for the viscosity loss and tackifiers would QUICKLY become more expensive than bar oil.
I have cut my bar oil in the winter with 10w30 to make it flow better with good results and in EXTREME cold have used straight 10w40.

The prices of bars and chains has gotten so high that I consider a good bar oil cheap insurance. I bought a case (4 Gallons) of Dolmar B/C oil the other day for 30.00.
I didn't think that was bad at all for a good bar oil.

Here's an idea! You do the research and come up with a good "recipe" and let us know how it goes.

Mike

 

[john inglis]

bar oil

hi , i have been using old motor oil i filter thru some thick felt after i have let it settle in a 60 litre drum for a while . I have been using it in an 076 and my old mcculloch pm850(bought secondhand 1980 and worked hard) 's for 30 years without any problems , as for oil mist i think that you need to work your saw a bit harder as i only see wood chips and even working the manual oiler hard the chain is not flicking oil in the cut (mostly dry hardwood). I use bar oil in my 660 and 2 460 stihls but the husky 288 gets old oil with the others.The 076 runs a 36" and the two 850's 20" ,the 288 a 20" and 32" . no big problems with wear,never replaced an oil pump , the most crucial issue with oil feed is keep it clean.

 

[teacherman]

the worst thing I have run in to was 90 weight I hate !!!!! the smell of that crap

90 wt. ate the oil line of my old yellow JD/Echo, and the saw was useless after that. Too bad, because it was an aggressive cutter.

Learned that lesson the hard way.......

 

[kevlar]

I have worked on saws that have been run with used motor oil for chain lube and I can honestly say the saws looked okay, now with that being said I would NEVER run that crap in my saws and I hated every second of working on that dirty crap. I just use stihl chain oil and I like it! But If someone did come up with some, cheap, readily available alternitive (doubt it) I would be open to the idea.

 

[splitpost]

A few years ago i read something about this reusing old engine oil,if u let stand long enough yes most of the carbon and discoloration settles to the bottom ,the oil might look OK to reuse but it has lost it's lubricating properties,something to do with the molecule and its shear characteristics,not to mention it still full of carcinogenic baddies ,maybe our resident oil guru can shed some light on this

 

[rms61moparman]

A few years ago i read something about this reusing old engine oil,if u let stand long enough yes most of the carbon and discoloration settles to the bottom ,the oil might look OK to reuse but it has lost it's lubricating properties,something to do with the molecule and its shear characteristics,not to mention it still full of carcinogenic baddies ,maybe our resident oil guru can shed some light on this

Well,

I'm not the resident oil Guru by any means, but I can tell you for sure that is total B.S.!!!

OIL NEVER BREAKS DOWN OR LOSES ITS LUBRICITY!

It only becomes adulterated with impurities.
The father of a friend of mine worked for the L&N Railroad in the oil recovery plant. They had a filtering plant set up there and when they would change the oil in the locomotives they would run it through a series of filters of increasing fineness, under EXTREMELY high pressures.
Each batch was labratory tested and had to meet the same specs as new oil.

I also am friends with a man who holds the patent on an oil filtering process very similar to but FAR more rigorous where the final filtering media is a solid piece of wood and the oil is forced through it at over 7000 psi. If any of you would like to meet him I would be glad to arrange it.

Mike

 

[john inglis]

recycled oil

hi , an acqaintance of mine runs a fleet of buses and only uses recycled oil that he has reprocessed and he swears by it , has been using it for quite a few years and he is not young . says that the engines are noisier and use more oil when they are using new oil on the odd occassion that he cannot get recycled oil.

 

[sdowiat]

Ok... hears the deal...

Well ok, heres the deal...

I suspected that I'd get those replies that good bar oil is "cheap insurance", and I expected the stuff about motor oil being bad for the environment and that they wouldn't factor in that a lot less would be used if it was thicker, or that we're breathing two cycle exhaust anyway.

It just so happens that my girlfriend is a polymer chemist. ( not that I know that type of chemistry from any other ) I ran this idea by her and she was saying she thought there were lubrication properties in the bar oil that the used motor oil either didn't have or no longer has. She didn't like that idea, but she's female, and she's a Yankee, and she's got a little tree hugger in her, so you have to factor all that in.

She did tell me that making it the right viscosity and sticky was no problem and cheap as there are thickeners that go a long long long way. Im talking like 1 gallon in 30,000 gallons & I'm familure with that from some things we make at work.

I think her big issue was the one that she tried to play down the most.. the environmental one. It is true that the spent oil does get picked up by the water and eventrually all washed into the water supply & if that's the big holdup then I sure wish folks would just speak up instead of beating around the bush... I tried to convicnce her that it was jsut like with my old truck that leaks oil... its a method of recycling. The Arabs pump it out of the ground and I drip my part back. She didn't like it.... and I suspect ya'll won't either.

 

[porch monkey]

She didn't like that idea, but she's female, and she's a Yankee, and she's got a little tree hugger in her, so you have to factor all that in.

Good GAWD, son - you've got a lot bigger problems than how much you spend on bar and chain oil. Run while you can, son. Run like hell.

 

[lone wolf]

Forget the saw for a moment. You want all the aerosoled contaminants from used motor oil in your lungs?

bingo

 

[barneyrb]

Good GAWD, son - you've got a lot bigger problems than how much you spend on bar and chain oil. Run while you can, son. Run like hell.

Somebody rep this man, I tried and got to spread it around....

 

[cmarti]

I do add new 5w20 to bar oil at 25% when temps dip below 20,if I am out of winter oil. My hardware store carries bar oil and the nearest dealer (Dolmar) has bar oil. No winter bar oil. I have to make a special trip for it.

I know old timers who mixed STP with used or new oil. When you are on the farm, you get by without driving into town. It is a different/older mindset, probably not needed in today's convenient store world.

 

[Ljute]

Somebody rep this man, I tried and got to spread it around....

Done repped him.

 

[rms61moparman]

I think her big issue was the one that she tried to play down the most.. the environmental one. It is true that the spent oil does get picked up by the water and eventrually all washed into the water supply & if that's the big holdup then I sure wish folks would just speak up instead of beating around the bush... I tried to convicnce her that it was jsut like with my old truck that leaks oil... its a method of recycling. The Arabs pump it out of the ground and I drip my part back. She didn't like it.... and I suspect ya'll won't either.

I could care less about the amount of used oil that would be released into the environment by a chainsaw (or even thousands of chainsaws) using recycled crankcase oil for bar lube. That is a non issue to me and anyone spending time worrying about something that insignificant, obviously has very little going on in their life. I also agree that it came from the ground to begin with and going back to the ground is kinda like "ashes to ashes".

Mike

 

[Jimmy in NC]

I have seen what used motor oil can do to a saw and will never use it. My uncle would always borrow my grandfather's saw and run used motor oil for the bar. One day grandad said the bar oil wouldn't stay full. When we go to looking at it there was a tiny hole in the bottom of the oil tank. We took the saw apart and there was a ball of aluminum and other metals that had rolled up in the bottom of the oil tank and had vibrated a hole through the aluminum oil tank. That alone was enough to remind me never to run used oil through my saw, not that I have have or will. Bar lube or straight 30w is all I will run.

 

[rarefish383]

Back in the 70's I tried to save dad a few bucks by using all the oil out of our trucks and chipper for bar oil. By then most of our saws had automatic and thumb pumps. After a few days every one that worked for us was out to kill me. That junk flew off the tips of the saws and left black stripes on every thing. The Oil didn't look that dirty when I drained it, but since we all wore white tee shirts that stuff stood out. Not to mention in the short time of my little experiment all the saws got so filthy dirty no one wanted to pick one up.

If I don't have a jug of real bar oil I use Walmart or some other cheapy 5W30. Over the years I've heard different theories on how an oil should work. One was thick sticky oil to hold on the bar and the other was thin oil to fly off the bar to help cooling. Joe.

 

[belgian]

While I understand people feeling the need for an affordable bar oil, I think it's a bad idea to use used motor oil. If I were a dealer or saw tech, I would probably charge more or not work at all on saws that have run used motor oil.

apart from the environmental and health risks involved (which I do not really know), used motor oil leaves this awfull black residue on chains, pumps, and the entire saw, which makes it very dirty in general. I tried to recover a crankcase of an 041 recently that had run with this stuff, and it was disgusting how the bearings and everything had suffered (oil pump leaked oil into crankcase)

Bar oil is pretty expensive over here (much more than in the US), but I will never be tempted to run used oil. I don't drink cheap wine or beer either. My saws deserve a clean oil.

 

[john inglis]

recycled oil

hi . i am finding it a bit puzzling a that such strong feelings come out over the use of old oil , properly filtered it isnt that dirty and and works fine . if it is that bad then what is it doing to all those trucks and cars that are not getting regular oil changes now that service intervals are getting longer with each new model not to mention diff and gearbox oil which many people rarely change.

PS, chainsaw oil and fuel tanks should be regularly cleaned and filters cleaned or replaced so i find it hard to understand how properly serviced saws can build up so much junk in any tank.

PPS,another thing is that i buy my beer and wine depending on taste not price , i have tasted a lot of home brews that were very cheap but better than most pricey shop brews not to mention some of the overpriced wine that they try to pass of as drinkable but does not come near some home made wines i have tasted all over the world .