Bar oil quality

[John_Mc]

The price of the Stihl BioPlus bar oil seems to have shot up these days (veggie based oil). The local hardware store had it listed at $29.99/gallon. It's never been inexpensive, but that is getting ridiculous. I couple of the places on which I cut wood require veggie-based bar oil, so I've just been using it everywhere I cut. Glad I have a bit of a supply in stock already.

I’d say you could buy fryer oil for half that cost.

I certainly could, and I have tried Canola oil in the past. It lubricates very well if you use it right away. The problem is how it stiffens up if you leave it sitting in the saw for an extended period. I've had things so locked up that it felt as though the brake was on when I tried to run the saw. The early veggie-based bar oils I tried years ago had the same problem. The Stihl BioPlus oil and a coupe other veggie-based oils I've tried more recently don't have that problem. Unfortunately, the Stihl oil is the only veggie-based oil readily available in my area these days.

 

[OldPaint]

Sure wish I could find what is used to cause oil to cling like chain oil does. I bet it is something really simple.
Be it sugar? alum?
Any ideas.

Pine resin is what used to be the additive. I remember seeing different ads for what kind of pine and which coast it came off as selling points. We used to dissolve some with kerosene to make a paste, then mix in used motor oil. Or, scrape some fresh pitch off a cut and use that. I ain't got cancer yet, and most of our bars lasted a lot longer than the chain. Now, I don't use a saw enough to wear out a bar before something else goes wrong with it making it cheaper to replace the saw than to repair it. Gonna wear out the chain from sharpening long before the bar does if you keep enough oil on the bar.

I'm not sure I understand the all the complaints about 'nasty mess', either. A chain saw gets oily/nasty in the sprocket box, period. It's designed to dump oil into a slot that a chain is travelling in excess of 200 MPH through it and around two sprockets. How can it possibly stay clean and shiny? A parts washer will fix that mess right up if need be. That should be part of the normal maintenance routine for a saw anyway. No different from starting it up occasionally just to get fresh fuel in the carb. Take the bar/chain off and put the saw head in a shallow pan and use a little kerosene and a paint brush. That's a perfect time to make any tooth corrections on the chain and check the bar for wear. It'll look brand new in a few minutes. Better results can be had with the chain in a vice if there's a need to correct the feed guides, too. Certainly, more consistent sharpening techniques can be achieved than doing it on the saw..

Keep the chain sharp and the pitch teeth filed right, the bar edges flat and perpendicular to the sides, and clean out the lube hole on the bar frequently. Saws are a lot of maintenance. Too many people mistake a plugged-up lube galley in a bar for a malfunctioning oil pump. As one person has already pointed out, it really doesn't matter what you put on there with the speed that chain is going. It will sling off. Just make sure there's more chasing what slings off.

 

[PILOON]

Well I've owned my fair share of chain saws and I never knew one to not be messy.
One thing I always treat my saw to is a good compressed air blast after each use.

As to chain oil, well I like to do garage sales and there always seem to some cottagers that had rented a saw and had the best part of a gallon of oil left over.
I rarely ever had to pay more than a dollar.

 

[ericm979]

With bar oil you get a sludge of sawdust and oil on the saw. If you run used oil, it's a sludge of sawdust and dirty used oil.

 

[OldPaint]

With bar oil you get a sludge of sawdust and oil on the saw. If you run used oil, it's a sludge of sawdust and dirty used oil.

That was my point, exactly. What difference does it make if the oil is used oil or bar oil? It's still going to make a mess wherever it oozes out if the saw isn't cleaned up after use. I have a pretty good carry case for mine which limits how much of the stuff gets on the floor of my shop, and rarely take the saw out of the case in the shop unless it's for --- cleaning it up with kerosene and a brush in a shallow pan on top of a metal worktable that's easy to clean up.

 

[5030]

I always use bar specific oil, never used motor oil. Reason being is bar oil is clingy and stays in the chain groove in a bar. Keep my saws sitting on a towel on the bench. When the towel becomes saturated with oi, it goes to the burn plie as it's always a good accelerant to get the fire going.

 

[ArlyA]

I always use bar specific oil, never used motor oil. Reason being is bar oil is clingy and stays in the chain groove in a bar. Keep my saws sitting on a towel on the bench. When the towel becomes saturated with oi, it goes to the burn plie as it's always a good accelerant to get the fire going.

Exactly, bar oil is different and formulated to work on our saws chain/bar. We saw quite a bit each summer, yet bar oil is the lowest expenditure while doing that, and that's using Stihl oil.

Plus I'll be dammed to have this carcinogenic chemical sprayed on me, or on my hands just to save $3.

 

[5030]

Besides, I have a waste oil burner in the shop that provides additional heat so all my used oil goes in the tank that supplies it. Kind of frugal with oil anyway. My tractors get the new stuff and get changed very regularly (with an oil analysis as well) and if the oil still has a high TBN number, some of it gets used in the other power equipment like my pressure washer and lawnmower for instance, before going to the waste oil tank to be burned. Modern engine oils really don't 'wear out', they become loaded with combustion by products like soot for instance and the additive package in them gets depleted over time. I change out mine well before the oil is loaded with by products of combustion and the additive package is depleted so it gets used in the smaller engines before discarding.

I don't use cheap oil, never have, but I believe in getting the most 'mileage' from it anyway. Quality bar oil isn't all that costly in the first place so why use dirty motor oil as a bar lubricant. Seems like false economy to me and used oil don't have the cling additive that bar oil does in the first place.

Probably why I only run greaseable roller nose bars as well.

 

[5030]

Exactly, bar oil is different and formulated to work on our saws chain/bar. We saw quite a bit each summer, yet bar oil is the lowest expenditure while doing that, and that's using Stihl oil.

Plus I'll be dammed to have this carcinogenic chemical sprayed on me, or on my hands just to save $3.

I tend to use the Menards house brand versus the Stihl. Just as clingy and nowhere as costly as the OEM Stihl oil either. I do use the Stihl pre mix bottles of engine lubricant. The Stihl pre mix has gas stabilizers in it as well and the bottles are very convenient to dispense as well.

Keep my bar oil in one of those restaurant style ketchup squeeze bottles with the spout. Makes for much easier and cleaner filling of the bar oil tank plus you can easily see when it almost full. Nothing worse than overfilling the oil tank and having the oil run all over your bench or your clothes or whatever.

 

[KennyG]

Nothing worse than overfilling the oil tank and having the oil run all over your bench or your clothes or whatever.

You mean I'm not the only one?