non toxic bar oil??

[steeltree 1]

Thanks to all for the great advice on getting the new 395 up and running.

New question: I've just heard that there is vegtable based bar oil. Seems like a great idea. Anyone use it? Since most of my logs will be brought to my home base to mill, I like the thought of not having "crude oil" mixed in with all the sawdust. It would be environmentally freindly and not effect the gardens , chickens and trout pond.
Any major companies manufacturing this yet or is it a home brew?

Love this site.

 

[2506]

Veg Based Bar Oil

Stihl makes it, check with your local dealer. They call it "BioPlus". Bailey's (site sponsor) has a version of it in their catalog as well. I have read that you cannot leave it your saw as it has a tendency to harden after 30 days or so. Be sure to read the labels.

 

[aquan8tor]

I'm using canola oil and have been for the last several tanks of gas with no ill effects. There's a lot of threads in the chainsaw forum on this topic.

I should add for those that don't want to read the entire the threads that canola oil does not freeze at the same temps that other vegetable oils do, apparently, and all vegetable oils will start to gum up after long periods of storage, and some mfr's suggest running a tank of regular oil through the saw first if you're going to leave it for some time without using it.


Edit:

at $6/gallon, canola oil is even cheaper than regular bar oil. It seems to stay on the bar quite well, even without tackifiers.

 

[Husky137]

Local Husky dealer sells bio friendly bar oil at $18 a gallon.

 

[Semi-Hex]

We have only one park dept. who uses only "bio" oil for the bars. Since cost should not be an issue for them and it is for me, I haven't switched over yet. I think eventually it will be the oil of choice, just not yet. Chainsaws as a whole aren't very environmentally friendly overall anyway.

 

[F0xz0r]

Husquvarna also makes a bio friendly lube, and it's only like 8 bucks a gallon.

 

[Railomatic]

Non toxic bar oil beware !

I once tried some non toxic bar oil, it was veg based, boy did I regret it afterwards, the oil set like concrete and took a while to clean the chain down so it would run smoothly, it was called bio oil by castrol, not recommended.

 

[ray benson]

Canola oil search. Lots of good info.
http://www.arboristsite.com/search.php?searchid=1026558

 

[iratehippie]

mushroom spore in the oil...

heres something you might want to try, mushroom spore in the oiler...check out www.fungi.com/plugs/landowners.html

 

[SRT-Tech]

^ AWESOME! what a heck of an idea.....you can selective log your property, and seed mushroom plots on the stumps. Thanks for the link.

 

[26newtreeguy]

Any kind of cooking oil works really good. I used veg, corn , sum time olive oil. No olive oil it to expenisve

 

[Joshua]

Milling with veg oil

I just switched to veg oil last week and had no problems milling 32" wide sycamore slabs which suprised me.
I just used the cheapest stuff from the supermarket.
Great stuff, no mineral oil in the sawdust so it can be used on the garden.

 

[alloutdoorsboy]

used veg oil

So why not just use used veg oil from your local restaurant? Filter it and go. Plus its free!! Ive been wanting to do this for some time but havnt yet. It will solidify in winter but summer should be good....

Key word FREE

 

[clearance]

Don't be putting that crap in a 395, heresy. Use the Husky or Stihl dino oil, it works, if it ain't broke don't fix it.

 

[aquan8tor]

So why not just use used veg oil from your local restaurant? Filter it and go. Plus its free!! Ive been wanting to do this for some time but havnt yet. It will solidify in winter but summer should be good....

Key word FREE

Don't use that in your saw, man. It would be wonderful for making biodiesel, but I have to agree with clearance on THIS part. That said, I AM using canola oil, and love it. It still costs LESS than petroleum based oil, and the KEY for me is that I'm not spraying gallons of petroleum all over the woods. I do use the regular dino oil in the ms361 that is on the ripsaw, as I don't think that it should sit all over the gears. It does biodegrade quickly, and turns into a nice thick sludge (supposedly) if you let it sit for a long time. You're supposed to rinse your oil tank out with gasoline or alcohol, then refill with dino oil, and run a whole tank through, then refill with dino again before letting the canola/bio oil sit in your tank if you're leaving the saw idle for a long period of time. I find that it flows just fine, and oils just as well as regular oil. That said, I've always wanted more oil from my 394XP with a really long bar, even when I've got it turned to max, which is a LOT of oil. The chain was kinda dry when milling 28" slabs of hickory!

 

[Tree Machine]

So why not just use used veg oil from your local restaurant? Filter it and go. Plus its free!! Ive been wanting to do this for some time but havnt yet. It will solidify in winter but summer should be good....

Key word FREE

Don't do that. Free will cost you. Fryer oil is different than straight off the shelf grocery veggie oil, it is formulated to take high heat for sustained periods. Regular veggie (canola, cottonseed, soy, corn) is clean, inexpensive, available, non-toxic, renewable, biodegradable and friendly to the environment.

The 'bio-oils' out there have tack in them, commonly thought to enhance the performance of petroleum oil on a chainsaw bar and chain system, like it keeps the oil from flying off, or keeps it on the chain longer. This belief transferred over to vegetable based bio oil, only the stickier the oil, the more it sticks to saw parts. With oil that eventually biodegrades, you want the oil slippery, not sticky. You want deposited oil to fall off the saw, not stay stuck to it.

I really think tack is unnecessary and I'd go to the point of saying vegetable oil with tack is far worse (and more expensive) than straight vegetable oil.

I've been using straight vegetable oil in all my saws, now coming into my 5th year. The performance is great, it doesn't stink, doesn't stick all over other gear, doesn't coat your hands with toxic residue whenever you do maintenence, and you dont have to worry about cross-contaminating your family's laundry with yours.

If it didn't work well. I wouldn't endorse the idea. I have never 'rinsed' my oil tanks with anything other than fresh vegetable oil. I've never replaced an oil tank filter or any other part on a saw that I could directly attribute to store-bought veggie. Still using the same saws as years ago. Still runnin strong, thousands of tanks of veggie have been run through. If there was something wrong, I wouldn't continue, nor would I recommend a product that could harm the saw.

 

[wildbio]

I'm interested in using the bio-based bar&chain oil as well.
here's a link to a U.S. Forest Service Technology and Development Center publication on the performance of bio-based bar/chain oil. It's a bit (1998) dated (and limited to a couple of brands):
http://www.fs.fed.us/eng/pubs/pdf/98511316.pdf
the Stihl bio-oil came in at around $18 at the local dealer and had to be special ordered. I was able to find a locally produced canola-based bar/chain oil that was only $7.99 US / gallon (plus shipping it ended up costing me $13/gallon:
http://peaksandprairies.com/bio-based-oil-lubricants-products.html
higher cost by volume than dino oil but if I use less because of better qualities it may come in at about the same. Nothing against dinosaurs but I do feel better about not spreading dino oil out in the woods.....(and in the air, my lungs, clothing, etc.)

 

[BlueRider]

I picked up some Stihl Bio Plus along with some Stihl HP Ultra mix oil last weekend when I was out of town. My local dealer doesn't carry Stihl oils and isn't interested in ordering it for me.

Today was the first time I had a chance to mill any wood with the bio oil and the low smoke/bio degradable mix oil. the mix oil is a big hit with me. it is definatly lower in smoke than the Husky XP oil I have been using. The smell reminds me a bit of the old castor bean based mix oil's. I just finished pulling the cylinder off and cleaning all the carbon off it so I will have a pretty good idea of how clean it burns. Just for reference I am running this in an 051 that only gets used for milling. I will most likely end up tearing into it agin in a month or two, depending on when I get a new intake and muffler for a ts760 cylinder I will be putting on it.

The Bio Plus bar oil seems to work very well. it is significantly lower in viscossity and tack. I use an auxillary oiler and up untill now I have always cranked the valve all the way open, can't do that with the bio plus or it will dump too much oil on the tip. Now I can really appriciate Aggie's IV style drip regulator. I only cut 4 slabs so it is a bit too early to tell but it seems like there is less gunk build up on the chain. I still have the saw's oiler cranked all the way up so there likely will not be a savings in oil, but then I have always wanted more oil than I have been able to get.

I use my wood to build furniture professionaly and one of the marketing points of my work is source of the wood I use. My customers will apricate the bio oils so for me the cost diference is insignificant compared with how it fits ito my marketingt strategy and mission stratement. not to mention how much better it is for my health to be using these oils, especially the mix oil.