question about using used motor oil for chain lube

[windthrown]

30 Wt

Sorry, new oil doesn't count. It's got to be old with grit in it. Actually, isn't bar oil 30 weight oil with tackifiers in it?
AFAIF, outboard oil in an aircooled engine is asking for a cooking. It's made for a watercooled engine. Maybe somebody who knows what I'm talking about can splain it inteligently.

I read on another thread that you can add some oil additive stuff to 30 Wt to make it tacky... sort of like super STP. But if you look at it, bar oil is about as cheap as 30 WT ND oil (cheapest oil on the shelf at most auto stores). Note that I used ND, or non detergent motor oil. Detergent is in oil to dissolve small particles, and on a bar and chain, the oil just flies off so no need or desire for detergent.

 

[GASoline71]

hi my name is bill howe. i was wondering if anyone would give me some advice on starting a tree care service? i have read the books the fundamentals of general tree work the tree climbers companion, and the isa offici arborist study guide. i know how to take wraps to rig a limb or secetion of tree,i know how to climb and how to make proper pruning cuts.i figured i would do the climbing myself because i enjoy it.i also figured on doing it all my self for a couple of years until a friend of mine told me it was illegal to do it that way. is that true? i have a back belt not a saddle i also have 2 chainsaws. a husqvarna 141 and a husqvarna 51. if anyone would take the time to give me some advice i would greatly appreciate it. bill howe:newbie:

Post this same question in a new thread... you'll get more answers.

Gary

 

[GASoline71]

Back in the day... it seemed like all the guys that used the big ol' Macs used old crankcase oil. It didn't matter if it came out of a Log Truck, Skidder, Cat, or the family sedan... They strained the oil through cheese cloth to get the "bad stuff" out of it.

You could always tell a faller/bucker that ran a Mac... his riggin' was black from the knees down.

Gary

 

[Jumper]

I worked for one cheapskate, same idiot who spiked everything, who used used oil that had been in his diesel trucks, blacker than tar, and smelled worse. PEEEEEEYOU! I reeked worse than normal at the end of the day, not to mention had been covered by all kinds of engine combustion byproduct, many carcinogens. Plain bar oil is if nothing else cleaner.



Think of the guy using the saw.

 

[Tree Machine]

I used to use the spent oil that came out of my chipper, that was a long time ago, thinking just as a previous poster, that I was somehow doing a service to the environment. I did not know then that all petro-oil is recyclable. My unique way of 'reusing' was having the opposite effect on the environment as my intent. I was polluting.

So the difference in bar oil to used motor oil is one has tack while the other has grunge from the engine, still pretty much the same oil though. I understood that bar oil is the bottom-of-the-barrel inferior grade junk from the refinery, which would make sense since all it has to do is lubricate well and not contain foreign particles.

Ideally the oil should be non-toxic to you and the environment. Used motor oil and regular bar oil share indifference in this way. They're both the same oil, molecularly speaking. The environment, after the oil flies off the bar, sees them both the same.

 

[GASoline71]

I So the difference in bar oil to used motor oil is one has tack while the other has grunge from the engine, still pretty much the same oil though. I understood that bar oil is the bottom-of-the-barrel inferior grade junk from the refinery, which would make sense since all it has to do is lubricate well and not contain foreign particles.

Not so much...

Gary

 

[Treetom]

Way back in the "hemp rope days" I recall trying to save money by siphoning used oil through a cheese cloth and running it in my Echo 8000. On one job I was cutting a trunk close to a client's house (white siding). The high-sling drain oil ended up all over the side of the house. Not good for business, besides all the evironmetal concerns and damage to your saw.

 

[windthrown]

Drippings...

Back in the day... it seemed like all the guys that used the big ol' Macs used old crankcase oil. It didn't matter if it came out of a Log Truck, Skidder, Cat, or the family sedan... They strained the oil through cheese cloth to get the "bad stuff" out of it.

You could always tell a faller/bucker that ran a Mac... his riggin' was black from the knees down.

Gary

Yah, that was pretty 'normal' in the 60's. My father used to use 'oil drippings' as he called them for all kinds of stuff. If he did not have another use for it, he would pour it on the driveway to keep the dust down. We had a gallon jug of used oil that we would let the drippings settle in. Then use the top oil poured through some type of coffee like filter that my dad got from a diesel mechanic. Used that for bar oil in the Homelite chainsaw on his property out in Gresham, which then was way out in the boonies. Used motor oil was "good stuff" in those days. *sigh*

 

[GASoline71]

Yah, that was pretty 'normal' in the 60's. My father used to use 'oil drippings' as he called them for all kinds of stuff. If he did not have another use for it, he would pour it on the driveway to keep the dust down. We had a gallon jug of used oil that we would let the drippings settle in. Then use the top oil poured through some type of coffee like filter that my dad got from a diesel mechanic. Used that for bar oil in the Homelite chainsaw on his property out in Gresham, which then was way out in the boonies. Used motor oil was "good stuff" in those days. *sigh*

My Gramps also had what he called a "reclaimer" that was a gravity fed oil dripper that went to the furnace in his shop. We would pour crankcase, gear oil, hydraulic fluid... you name it in that thing. It was a 55 gallon drum mounted to the outside of the shop about 6 feet off the ground. Then had a copper line that ran through the wall to the stove. There was an inline petcock that we used to adjust how fast it dripped into the furnace.

Prolly not many of those around anymore (illegal).

Gary

 

[Gologit]

My Gramps also had what he called a "reclaimer" that was a gravity fed oil dripper that went to the furnace in his shop. We would pour crankcase, gear oil, hydraulic fluid... you name it in that thing. It was a 55 gallon drum mounted to the outside of the shop about 6 feet off the ground. Then had a copper line that ran through the wall to the stove. There was an inline petcock that we used to adjust how fast it dripped into the furnace.

Prolly not many of those around anymore (illegal).

Gary

LOL. I can remember my dad saving all the used motor oil from the dusters. He had a couple of fifty five gallon barrels and a homemade spreader/sprayer bar. When they got full we'd put them in the back of the pickup and oil the runway. Man...they'd just take you out and shoot you if they caught you doing that today.

 

[ben14826]

Back when I was younger and using my dad's saws he would always say to just use hydraulic oil for bar oil. I think it worked pretty good, but certainly not as well as bar oil. I hate spendin $7 a gallon on stihl oil, but I think the benefits outway the cost of a couple bucks more per gallon. How many of the rest of you use name brand oil vs. off brand stuff?

 

[newguy18]

dont do it and a stupid story

i worked as a farmhand and that was all the guy would let me use in all four of his chainsaws.even though poulan chain oil is only 2 bucks a gallon at the local wal mart. my stupid story came from my uncle butch.he loaned a guy a craftsman chainsaw and the man didnt use any chain oil whatsoever.burnt up the clutch and the chain i was able to save the bar. bill howe huskys 141 and 51 and a little homelite.:monkey: :hmm3grin2orange:

 

[windthrown]

Toxic runways...

LOL. I can remember my dad saving all the used motor oil from the dusters. He had a couple of fifty five gallon barrels and a homemade spreader/sprayer bar. When they got full we'd put them in the back of the pickup and oil the runway. Man...they'd just take you out and shoot you if they caught you doing that today.

Yah, here in the barn I have like 20 gallons of used hydrolic fluid from changing our Kubota "garden" tractor. The auto tranny and entire hydrolic system run off of one sump. I have to keep it stored here in 5 gallon cans and wait until hazardous waste day to get rid of it.

Also, when I was a tyke we used to go to BC in the summer. Usually after a stop in Orcas Island at my uncle's we would go to Vancouver Island or maybe over to the interior of BC, up to Banff, or 100 Mile house. Fishing, camping, and breathing DDT. So many bugs up there, they used to have these trucks that sprayed DDT into the air all along the roads and in towns.

Ah... the toxic days of my youth! No wonder I am so screwed up and logging into AS for amusement in my middle age days.

 

[windthrown]

Generic vs brand

Back when I was younger and using my dad's saws he would always say to just use hydraulic oil for bar oil. I think it worked pretty good, but certainly not as well as bar oil. I hate spendin $7 a gallon on stihl oil, but I think the benefits outway the cost of a couple bucks more per gallon. How many of the rest of you use name brand oil vs. off brand stuff?

I use whatever is on sale. Poulon. Husky. Pro Power. Generic. Maybe someday I will go for better env oil if I can find it under $10 a gallon. There is no quality standard on bar oil, so there is no way to really tell what is better or not. Not like 2-stroke oil, where I can buy oil with some type of approved quality.

I would also avoid using hydrolic or auto tranny fluid. That stuff is full of detergent. Detergent dissolves crud and junk and crap and keeps it in suspension by design. In suspension, junk will just wear your bar and chain faster.

 

[Schultzz]

Used motor oil contains bits and pieces of metal which will clog the chain oil delivery system. Been there, done that.

 

[windthrown]

A confession?

Used motor oil contains bits and pieces of metal which will clog the chain oil delivery system. Been there, done that.

Are you saying that you are actually making a confession of using used motor oil as bar oil to the AS Chainsaw Inquisition?

 

[tawilson]

Ok, so now it's 43 don't use to 3 do or did use used oil. I'm not really keeping track, I just like saying "use used".

 

[ben14826]

Ok, so now it's 43 don't use to 3 do or did use used oil. I'm not really keeping track, I just like saying "use used".

I see you changed your avatar, was the previous one a pic of you?

 

[tawilson]

Trying to think of something witty and amusing to say. Drawin a blank. So, yes it was me. I'm sure some other wiseazz will fill in my blank.

 

[treechopper123]

I wouldn't let my friend with a Poulan 2750 run motor oil..used or new for bar lube. :greenchainsaw: