Waste motor oil as bar oil

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Yes, I realize using old oil directly from your tractor vs. recycled oil is very different. From lubrication point of view once used oil is still very good but impurities are not helpful and can indeed cause health issues.

One should however remember that oil recycling plants are not generally getting rid of old oil (dumping etc. it). They are making new products from it. And there is huge quantity of used oil to be recycled every year. So, even without realizing it one might be using "used" oil in various less than critical applications such as a bar oil. Not just in Finland but in other countries too. Read the small print on the bottle. And if the can is not transparent, look into the container for stuff that has settled to the bottom of it. Not all recycling or filtering processes are equal. 😉
10-4 !
 
Used motor oil is too valuable for me. It keeps my 21st Century low-bidder-junk GM truck from turning to scrap in 5 years from road salt, so long as I find the time to get it on the lift and blast the undercarriage with it. I also burn it in my home-built waste oil burner I nicknamed, "The Face Melter". Free heat! A little bit of work screening larger crap out of it, but boy does it COOK!
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Re-refined oil, I have zero problem with at all. If the end product meets original specs, it meets original specs.

I checked into a waste oil burner to heat my shop, but it would have to be code compliant, EPA compliant, etc or my homeowner's insurance wouldn't cover any issues. If it was just my shop out in the middle of nowhere burning down, I'd probably do it and accept the risk. As it is, if my shop goes, then my house is going too, and likely also several neighbor's out buildings and fences. I want the insurance coverage, and will decline to do anything stupid out there.
 
We're "out in the sticks" as my suburban & city buddies say. We can get away with things that most can't in this state. That said, I won't run this thing unless I'm working out there. Common sense goes a long way here. Sometimes I don't know what's in the oil, so whenever I refill the feed bucket, I'll hang around next to it to be sure there isn't any gasoline at the bottom. That makes a nice unconfined fire out in FRONT of the stove, instead of inside of it. :laugh: Concrete floor and nothing flammable around it, so just turn on the fans, cut the fuel supply way down, and let things air out. This definitely isn't a "set it and forget it" setup. Once I know the fuel is stable, I can walk away from it, go in the house and eat lunch while keeping an eye on my camera. Once warmed up and with a good fuel source, it'll burn for hours without constant fiddling.
 
I have asthma. If the stuff was that bad, I'd have been dead years ago. I've been up to my elbows in it since I was around 12. Same with grandpa - he lived to be just shy of 86.

Just like with the virus - everyone's different. If it runs in your family that anyone that touches oil dies, then I'd avoid it. My dad smoked for 57 years. He's 81 now, still hanging in there.
 
I would never run used motor oil as bar oil, I think it's pretty well known as to why you shouldn't do it at this point. Every now and then I get a saw come through my shop with used motor oil in it and it honestly pisses me off. Why someone wold spend good money on a nice saw and put dirty black motor oil in it is beyond me.
 
I would never run used motor oil as bar oil, I think it's pretty well known as to why you shouldn't do it at this point. Every now and then I get a saw come through my shop with used motor oil in it and it honestly pisses me off. Why someone wold spend good money on a nice saw and put dirty black motor oil in it is beyond me.
I call horseshit. by association.. you sell, you lie. end of discussion. not to mention you misspelled would... so much for your lesbian seagull dancing degree.
 
Here is a question though:
Say you get up Sunday morning and are loading up for a half day of cutting up your neighbor's tree that fell over, but find out your bar oil bottle is empty, and you forgot to buy more. Is there another product you could use in a pinch to get you through the day?
clean motor oil 20-40W works the best in a pinch
 
I assume that some company has tried Teflon coated bars over the years?

Wouldn’t lube the chain, but might reduce other bar oiling needs?

Philbert
Teflon is slick, but not tough. HDMW Polyethylene is used to line the ore chutes on the Great Lakes ore carriers, and also as blade edges on loaders when you can't tear up the surface (e.g. removing the dirt from an arena after a motocross race.) It's not steel.

Oil has several functions on a chain:

* Lube the channel on the bar.
* Keep the chain links filled to keep dirt out of chain
* Cool the bar.

Used motor oil has PCAs poly cyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, some of which are pretty nasty. Depending on the use, it may have varying amounts of metal in it. While steel is mostly iron, nickel and carbon, it will also have chromium, vanadium, molybdenum, and more. First two are quite toxic.

It's also not very sticky. A lot of it whips of rounding the nose and drive sprocket. The first disperses it into the air. The second increases the mess inside your saw.
 
clean motor oil 20-40W works the best in a pinch
Gear oil?

Baby oil?

Deep fryer oil?

More to the point:
Bar oil here is available at every farm supply store, every hardware store. Someone is going to be open on Sunday. It's not as cheap as the forestry supply store where you have an account.

You wouldn't substitute melted margarine for your engine mix oil would you? Even if it did make the woods smell like hot buttered biscuits? No. It would wreck the saw.

So keep one jug of oil ahead. Soon as you open the last one, add 'bar oil' to the errand list.
 
Oil has several functions on a chain
A key thing that many people do not understand, is that each rivet is also a bearing. The center portion is hardened, and this needs to be lubricated. If movement occurs at the softer part of the rivets, where they join the tie straps, they wear quickly, and this leads to “chain stretch“.

This is why STIHL, and some other companies, had small grooves in the drive links, to direct oil to these bearings.

Philbert
 
I hear the used hydraulic oil works good and maybe less impurities than used motor oil. I always use bar oil. Usually you can pick it up for not much $. Or sometimes stores have weird types of engine oils that go on clearance that I sometime pick up for pennies on the dollar. I tried the used motor oil and it made a mess and some of those fine particles could potentially wear out parts or clog things up. I'm no expert though by any means.
 
Two good examples of why you should not put used motor oil in your chainsaw. A Husqvarna 570 and a 51 have been subjected to it and they are a filthy mess. The oil is actually hard and crusty under the clutch cover of the 570, not looking forward to working on these things.
Wow those are duuuuuurteeee!!!! Can't believe you brought those into wherever that is at. If that's a workshop that's the cleanest nicest one I ever seen!
 
Gear oil?

Baby oil?

Deep fryer oil?

More to the point:
Bar oil here is available at every farm supply store, every hardware store. Someone is going to be open on Sunday. It's not as cheap as the forestry supply store where you have an account.

You wouldn't substitute melted margarine for your engine mix oil would you? Even if it did make the woods smell like hot buttered biscuits? No. It would wreck the saw.

So keep one jug of oil ahead. Soon as you open the last one, add 'bar oil' to the errand list.
The jobs of bar oil, cool chain, lube bar. Motor oil is for a pinch. It get the job done and does the same as bar oil.
 
I hear the used hydraulic oil works good and maybe less impurities than used motor oil. I always use bar oil. Usually you can pick it up for not much $. Or sometimes stores have weird types of engine oils that go on clearance that I sometime pick up for pennies on the dollar. I tried the used motor oil and it made a mess and some of those fine particles could potentially wear out parts or clog things up. I'm no expert though by any means.
I'd be completely comfortable using clean new motor oil. Good idea.
 
I'd be completely comfortable using clean new motor oil. Good idea.
Thanks! Yea i learned that on a real cold day. My regular echo bar oil was like molasses. Winter formula county line from tsc was out of stock. Luckily I keep a couple quarts of motor oil in the truck since it burns a quart or 2 between changes. It got me through the day.
 
Thanks! Yea i learned that on a real cold day. My regular echo bar oil was like molasses. Winter formula county line from tsc was out of stock. Luckily I keep a couple quarts of motor oil in the truck since it burns a quart or 2 between changes. It got me through the day.
Several owner’s manuals will note the option to thin bar and chain oil, up to 25%, with kerosene or diesel fuel in cold temps.

I don’t like the smell of diesel fuel, so I bought a gallon of kerosene for this purpose. Especially important with battery and corded electric chainsaws, which do not generate any heat to thin the oil.

Philbert
 
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