When to cut bar oil

[willis09r]

Anyone have any suggestions as to when I need to cut my bar oil with
something to thin it out? I don't have, use, or buy winter oil. My oil seemed
pretty thick and hard to pour out this morning and it's about 33 degrees out.

Do you cut it with diesel?

 

[sly13]

I bought a gallon of winter oil from Stihl and I just use it to cut my bar oil. I keep mine in a squeeze bottle to help with mess, just mix it with regular bar oil to where I like it. I always thought it was a little to thin straight (course if it's that cold I try not to be out in it) just my HO.

 

[PA Plumber]

We don't get into real cold weather here, so I've never felt the need to thin bar oil.

Coldest days I can remember cutting are in the low single digits Fahrenheit.

I guess if it was minus 20 deg F or colder out, I might be so inclined. Would have to play that one by "ear."

I mostly run the orange bottle Stihl, for bar/chain lubrification.

 

[ehgauss]

I now buy Stihl winter grade bar oil and it works fine. Before that, I'd either leave the black jug that the Tractor Supply stuff comes in in the sun on sunny days, or under the hood of my pickup between uses, or when I was in the woods, on the head of the tractor.

 

[mikefunaro]

You can cut it with diesel, or winter weight stihl oil, or if you're using a particularly thick oil, just a lower grade thinner bar oil.

If you're going to be out cutting for an a short period of time just keep the bar oil somewhere warm (inside), and it should flow ok for a while outside even if it's pretty cold.

 

[stihlboy]

mix it with some wal-mart crap that bar oil is thin enough to mistake for beer

 

[eyolf]

My favorite brand (click here) actually comes in a summer and winter weight. The summer seems to have kinda loose standards, and is cheaper, but I use the winter weight which is about the equivalent on 20w oil, dyed red like tranny fluid, and seems to be fine year-round. I don't have trouble with burned bars, even slicing off stumps with old throw-away chains on a hard-nose.

I have used other brands, but I get this at the local farm store for a fairly reasonable price...the last 5 gal pail I bought was around $30 I think. Name brand oils from the Chain saw dealer might be better, but not by enough to really matter (and probably only better for the distributor), and are a lot more money.

I used to use whatever was laying around in the interest of cheap: I took home a 5 gallon pail of left-over air-compressor oil from work once. But, really, since I only use maybe 5 or 10 gallons of bar oil a year anymore, why scrimp?

When its really really cold out, like 25 below, nothing works well, and even starting a chain saw can be hard on them...plastic rewind spools get brittle, for example. I keep the saw inside if I want to be out then, and keep it in the truck cab to keep it warm until I'm ready to cut. The heat of the saw engine will keep the oil warm after that.

 

[dingeryote]

Anyone have any suggestions as to when I need to cut my bar oil with
something to thin it out? I don't have, use, or buy winter oil. My oil seemed
pretty thick and hard to pour out this morning and it's about 33 degrees out.

Do you cut it with diesel?

If it flow like Honey or slower, add diesel.
If it flows like cheap Syrup or faster, it's cut too much.

If you're gonna be doing LOTS of cold weather cutting, the winter blends make sense though.

No fussing and farting around.

Stay safe!
Dingeryote

 

[Chaz1]

I just use Husky winter bar oil.

 

[THALL10326]

The best bar oil thinner I've ever seen is a small cup of kerosene to a gallon of bar oil. Learned this trick from a real ole timer up in his 80's. Best part is the bar oil still stays on the chain and the chips seem to stick less. The oil/kerosene mix seems to flow no matter how cold it is.

 

[stihlboy]

The best bar oil thinner I've ever seen is a small cup of kerosene to a gallon of bar oil. Learned this trick from a real ole timer up in his 80's. Best part is the bar oil still stays on the chain and the chips seem to stick less. The oil/kerosene mix seems to flow no matter how cold it is.

Words of wisdom from the KING

 

[THALL10326]

Words of wisdom from the KING

Not really. I used to cut alot of firewood to sale maybe 30-35 years ago. Cold didn't matter. If it was zero or below I'd be out sawing. That kerosene trick worked great. Now that I'm a little bit older and wiser by some 30-35 years screw sawing in zero weather altogether. When I used firewood for heat I would take a week off every October and get it done. I haven't sawed wood in freezing weather for many many years.

 

[yooper]

When it gets really cold here even the winter oil is a bit thick, sometimes I wish I had a pair of scissors to snip it off between the jug and saw. I have used a bit of kerosene in a gallon to thin it.

 

[huskyhank]

I'm using ATF (automatic transmission fluid) because I had several partial quarts of it laying around since my son had an old leaking beater car many years ago. It works great at about 3:1 ratio, bar oil to ATF.

 

[nomak]

I read in my manual to use straight 30w oil in winter time..although I keep my saw inside and use the poulan brand oil till the jug is gone ( almost empty now) and it seems to flow fine. But can engine oils be used in winter time.. Has anyone done this or is the manual instructions not recommended...

 

[Boogieman142]

The best bar oil thinner I've ever seen is a small cup of kerosene to a gallon of bar oil. Learned this trick from a real ole timer up in his 80's. Best part is the bar oil still stays on the chain and the chips seem to stick less. The oil/kerosene mix seems to flow no matter how cold it is.

Thats what I do. I use the freezing point as the switchover temp

 

[CentaurG2]

We started today at 10F and ran straight 30w stihl bar oil in all saws without any problems. In my opinion, there is no need to switch or dilute bar oil till you get down to 0F or below. If you run huskys, you will be all set to about 10-15F below zero. Husky saws have way superior oilers and seem to tolerate much colder conditions. I have found that stihls seem to need winter weight oil if temps are below zero. Your mileage may vary.

 

[willis09r]

Centaur I think I will take your advice and just not worry about it. I didn't
check to see how oiled the bar or chain was, I just noticed it poured out
really slow. It was probably fine.

 

[Slamm]

What is really neat about bar oil threads is ........ it doesn't and won't really matter. So you can ask a question about bar oil .... any question about it .....and get 50+ different answers, and just about all of them will work without fail.

With bar oil threads we all get to be right, LOL.

Sam

 

[CentaurG2]

Centaur I think I will take your advice and just not worry about it. I didn't
check to see how oiled the bar or chain was, I just noticed it poured out
really slow. It was probably fine.

Don’t worry about it. Your saws will be fine. If it is not, then it was not worth owning. We usually keep the ms200Ts under the front seat of the bucket cuz they can be “sensitive” (and they are the money makers) but everything else rides in the side box. If you are really worried, just keep the bar oil warm (house and then in the cab of truck). I have never had problems. Good luck.