Stihl Bar Oil- Is it really worth the price?

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When it comes to bar oil I have generally used the brand that manufactured the saw. My reasoning was that I figured that the factory had designed it to meter out of the oil pump correctly for their saws and that has seemed true for me. However, nowadays, my saws oiling systems are adjustable so that's not much of a concern any more.

Myself I wouldn't use any type of oil that wasn't designed for chainsaws. Motor oil for example doesn't have the necessary tackifiers in it to make the oil stick to the chain while spinning even at lower RPM's.

The real problem with bar oils on a chainsaw is the the lubrication system is a total loss system. For the most part it gets slung off almost as fast as you use it. With that it is very possible that many types of motor oils will seem to work well enough but I think it's still worthwhile to use an oil designed for chainsaws.
 
Nah BF is a Canucklehead once removed ! :laughing:

Mineral oil has always been a polyaromatic hydrocarbon health concern , recognized carcinogen & suspected mutgen . Interesting that it is routinely within the ingredients of numerous lip balms , moisturizing creams & baby oils . Further interesting is that has very little actual moisturizing effect , rather is more effective as a barrier as in petroleum jelly for protection of a baby's bottom from diaper rash . Yeah , refrain from rubbing it on the family jewels !
Requirments for motor oils have gotten so stringent that these days PAH's are pretty much removed from most oils. Most of the oils actually marketed as synthetic now actually start out as mineral oils, but are so processed they can be called synthetic. They work as well and better than true Synthetics in some cases too. Petro Canada and Chevron make some really great group 3+ base oils for instance.
Of course after you have run them through a motor PAH's contimate the oil from the fuel the motor is ran on and to levels much higher than would typically be found in the base oils back in the day.
As such I wear nitril gloves when dealing with used oil and won't run it as bar oil. I'm exposed to enough nasty **** in my working life that I avoid piling on top of it in my personal life.
 
Good scientific data there,,,

You know words like garbage, and morons,, give real insight to your thoughts,, Thanks for the input.

I’m trying to figure out how/why Stihl Ultra 2-stroke oil was even brought into this thread - when it is about BAR OIL…. I guess some folks just have an ax to grind and will toss it in to whatever thread they can find…


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Was digging around the net tonight looking at different studies of the Carcinogenic potential ofnused oil and stumbled on the quote posted below.

"Exposure to mineral oils is strongly associated with an increased risk of nonmelanoma skin cancer, particularly of the scrotum."

It's all fun and games until your balls become one big cancerous mass.

Then don’t be rubbing it on your testicles and you should be good…


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I’m trying to figure out how/why Stihl Ultra 2-stroke oil was even brought into this thread - when it is about BAR OIL…. I guess some folks just have an ax to grind and will toss it in to whatever thread they can find…

Are you telling me some threads on this forum stay on topic?
 
If you think the roof vent does not suck air,, put a plug in your roof vent(s) and watch the sinks stop working,,
While the roof vents are plugged, when a sink of water is emptied, all the water will be sucked from the trap
and while the vents are plugged,, watch how the water is sucked out of the toilet bowl EACH time it is flushed.

Absolutely air is sucked in every time (more than a little) water is introduced into the drain,,

We used to watch the Canadian Mike Holmes,, on his show,, Holmes on Homes,,
about every other episode, someone had an improperly installed (or missing) roof vent,,
Mike was almost famous on his show for saying "Air Follows Water",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

I don't think you understood my response. Whether or not any air with oil gets aspirated into the sewer system of the house is irrelevant. Said air isn't going to go backwards up the p-trap of a toilet.
 
I’m trying to figure out how/why Stihl Ultra 2-stroke oil was even brought into this thread - when it is about BAR OIL…. I guess some folks just have an ax to grind and will toss it in to whatever thread they can find…


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There is an underlying theme of "oil is oil." As such it fits in perfectly. ;)
 
I’m trying to figure out how/why Stihl Ultra 2-stroke oil was even brought into this thread - when it is about BAR OIL…. I guess some folks just have an ax to grind and will toss it in to whatever thread they can find…


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Because it was mentioned and because as with any forum thread they tend to wander all over the place.
 
I was thinking about the recycled oil,,
With transportation costs, risks, and insurance,, the slow process of prep to resell, possible water or gas etc contamination,,
it is more than likely that new crude made into chainsaw oil would be cheaper than recycled..

I would bet most used oil is simply burned in some type of furnace,, much like a local generating facility uses wood chips as fuel.

A local cement plant wanted to use tires as fuel,, but, the stack contamination due to alloying and plating on the steel cords stopped that.

Heck, they wanted permission to put TONS of cadmium and nickel into the air each year,,

I guess used oil poses similar problems.
About a decade or so ago, some heating oil company (in NY,, I believe) was dumping used motor oil into the heating oil,, and selling it.
The heating oil company was being paid a disposal fee,, then turning around and selling the oil as heating oil.
I would bet that you could add 5% or 10% used oil to fuel oil,, and it would burn perfectly.

IIRC,, there was jail-time involved when those guys got caught.
I'm of the same opinion.
 
I don't think you understood my response. Whether or not any air with oil gets aspirated into the sewer system of the house is irrelevant. Said air isn't going to go backwards up the p-trap of a toilet.
Exactly.
I would call BS on the engineers comment in the first place. Diesel engines can combust oil very easily. In fact Cummins had a system called centinal years ago that pumped some of the crank case oil into the fuel supply a little bit at a time. You never had to change the oil. The filters where changed on schedule and the oil just needed to be topped up.
Diesel exhaust has nasties in it, but unbrunt hydrocarbons isn't really a problem to the point it would cause the situation mentioned.
 
When it comes to bar oil I have generally used the brand that manufactured the saw. My reasoning was that I figured that the factory had designed it to meter out of the oil pump correctly for their saws and that has seemed true for me. However, nowadays, my saws oiling systems are adjustable so that's not much of a concern any more.

Myself I wouldn't use any type of oil that wasn't designed for chainsaws. Motor oil for example doesn't have the necessary tackifiers in it to make the oil stick to the chain while spinning even at lower RPM's.

The real problem with bar oils on a chainsaw is the the lubrication system is a total loss system. For the most part it gets slung off almost as fast as you use it. With that it is very possible that many types of motor oils will seem to work well enough but I think it's still worthwhile to use an oil designed for chainsaws.
There was a time before proper bar oils just like their wasabi time before proper mix oils. I have put a garbage picked poulan(johnsard) through hell it mainly seen used motor oil as bar oil. Heck for those worry warts I spray my trucks early fall with used motor oil and summer bar oil mixed 50/50 to help slow the salt from eating them.
 
Yup, that's me, I run premix. Burn ~2 gallons per year max, and may not fire up a saw until doing firewood again the next year. $40/yr for a complete elimination of carb and fuel problems is money well spent for me.

Good point. I burn that much every day or two. So I couldn't consider any of that high$$ stuff.

My final mix is probably better than anything you get at the store though. But that topic is for another already bickered-to-death-thread.
 
Was digging around the net tonight looking at different studies of the Carcinogenic potential ofnused oil and stumbled on the quote posted below.

"Exposure to mineral oils is strongly associated with an increased risk of nonmelanoma skin cancer, particularly of the scrotum."

It's all fun and games until your balls become one big cancerous mass.

I don't see any references to "used". So... The clean, new oil might be as much risk as the old stuff.

I'd suggest using a different lube for that kind of usage, whether used or not. Maybe washing your hands before you scratch, too.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimney_sweeps'_carcinoma
 
My final mix is probably better than anything you get at the store though. But that topic is for another already bickered-to-death-thread.
The oil in premix, possibly.

The fuel itself, not a chance. If you can find alkylate petrol, blended specifically for small engines, and doesn't cost $20/gal, I'm all ears. I'd mix my own too.
 
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