Bar oil

[HolmenTree]

How do most people think tackifiers work? I think the general idea is that tack is supposed to help keep oil attached to a chain, why would it leave gunk all over the saw? If I look at the chain after revving the engine, the chain is coated and it isn't running down the side of the bar (film strength). I think that is how it is supposed to work. Isn't the point of a tackifier better adherent? Without it, it seems like you might be getting more oil where you don't need it, adding to greater waste. I think tackifiers also add to water resistance.

I've used regular machine oil that I put into the gearbox of my metal turning lathe. Like a lot of machine oils it has a tack agent in it. I ran out of other stuff so i used it. I don't know if it is long term good or bad to use, but it definitely seemed to work ok, and cheaper than proper bar oil.

In my travels I heard many different theories about gunk haha.
Yes when you rev up your saw hold the bar nose close to the ground and see a little strip of oil deposited. Just flings off the end and none runs down the bar.
The chains chassis is designed to hold and carry the oil so tacktifier isn't needed and no extra oil is used without it, only the preset oil pump adjustment determines that.

 

[Pelorus]

Will look into trying canola next Spring. Anyone tried other veggie oils such as peanut, corn, sunflower, etc?
Is canola preferred because it is the cheapest, or is it better than others?

 

[HolmenTree]

Will look into trying canola next Spring. Anyone tried other veggie oils such as peanut, corn, sunflower, etc?
Is canola preferred because it is the cheapest, or is it better than others?

Well here in Canada like a lot of other countries trans fats have pretty well been banned within the fast food industry , like the oil for deep frying potatoe fries for instance.
Canola oil has no trans fats [good for the heart and arteries].......so I guess that's why it makes good clean bar oil with no deposits.

 

[HolmenTree]

I'm curious if there is something special about proper bar oil, compared to a lot of other oils sold with a tackifier in them for machine applications? I know that there are a number of different tack agents used in oils and greases, different compatibility and degrees of tack.

At the large sawmill I graded lumber at, [500,000 bf a day production] they had hundreds of feet of large deck chain that had to be oiled. In inventory was 45 gal drums of clear chain oil with heavy gooey tacktifiers. These huge chains ran slow and cold and the oil adhered nicely.

Chainsaw chain at 4100 ft per minute with lots of heat different story. The chainsaw oil pump saturates the sawchain, chassis helps retain it [Oil O Matic, Lubri Link , Lubri Well], the cutting action in the logs kerf causing heat along the bar rails, thins out and releases the tacktifier agent and the excess oil flys off the upper quadrant of the bar nose and the lower quadrant of the drive sprocket.

 

[woodworkingboy]

The oil also moves up onto the links and cutters when the chain revolves when not in the cut. How much time a chain is moving when not cutting obviously varies, and also how much at slower and faster revolution. I know that when repairing saws I can be out there blasting them and not cutting. I can see a tackifier helping oil from running or dripping off the chain (I think tack is also called anti-drip or something) when the saw is running and not cutting. It may not be a big factor, but I have to think that a tack agent helps in this regard to some degree. Even with a tack agent, if a chain runs long enough while not cutting, oil sometimes will start running down along the sides of the bar. Whether that is from the chassis and cutters, or spilling out of the groove, I don't know. Have to question whether tackifier can be completely dismissed as not needed. Oil also gets on other parts of the saw for one reason or another, better to not have it running all over the place. With the new designed drive link and chassis. I see the point about a tack agent not so important as it once was. I'm running some Woodsman Pro chains, in some sizes and types it is all that Bailey's offers, like quarter pitch with no ramps. They may not have the oil holding thing going on, can't recall.

 

[Jack]

Canola

 

[Burnham]

Never!!! It smacks of nasty newism powered by enviro-wacko urbanism. I hate those -isms!
Or maybe I will, who knows.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

You and me both B

 

[Burnham]

Canola oil worked out just fine for sauteing my prawns and crushed garlic cloves tonight...spooned over a nice pot of double boiler cooked southern grits with half and half to richen.

Somehow that just stiffens my resolve to refrain from running canola in my saws, I don't exactly know why, but there it is.
.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Ha!

 

[CurSedVoyce]

I prefer Olive oil myself... But not in my saws

 

[SouthSoundTree]

Canola for bars.

Someone once explained to me that canola is unsaturated, but gets clumpy in blood vessels all the same. Dunno.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

No More GMO !!!

 

[Peter]

I use it for deep frying, then strain and put it in the saws. Tend to get mighty hungry around 10 am when using recycled oil though....

 

[woodworkingboy]

Using Canola oil might attract Bears.

 

[Page]

Using Canola oil might attract Bears.

at least you'll have a chainsaw in your hands!

 

[MasterBlaster]

Teach em to drag brush!!!

 

[Stumper]

I ran veggie(grocery store canola primarily) for a couple of years and had very good results regarding bar and chain wear.....but after a couple of years I cooked a couple of oilers in saws that weren't being run every day. There was rubbery oxidized oil all over the sprocket covers and I decided to go back to petroleum oil. I got 12 gallons of compressor oil for 2 bucks a gallon and ran it (worked fine) then went back to "bar oil". It all works.

 

[stig]

That has been my experience, too.
The polesaw and the 880 NEVER get filled with canola, since we don't run them often.
In all others we'll run it when we have to ( State forest contracts) otherwise I far prefer dead dinos.

 

[Nate a Surveyor]

Well, that explains the jammed up oiler tube, on the old Husky 335 XPT. Some sort of vegetable oil, all dried up, and clogged it. Hmmmm maybe a bit of real oil through it, before putting it away for a while, could have prevented it. (At least that's my best guess, at what happened, as I just got the saw.)

 

[HolmenTree]

In 40 years of running saws for a living I've only had one oil pump go faulty, that was back in the early '80s when I put used gear oil from my logging partners skidder into my Jonsered 920. The steel filings still suspended in the gear oil destroyed the pump.
On the topic of canola oil I did find it seized up a bar nose sprocket on a bar that has been hanging on the wall of my shop for the last 6 years. All I had to do was rub the bar nose on a piece of lumber and it was free again.
It all comes to reason if you leave a saw sit for a few months or longer it's best not to leave bio- degradable canola oil stored in the saw. Empty the oil tank and fill up with petro oil then run the saw until the oil pump clears it self.
But having said that , I fired up the old Stihl 066 that hadn't been run for 4 years and it still had canola in the oil tank........and the thing still oiled fine.

 

[PCTREE]

Im a cheap SOB. Years ago I ran used motor oil, kept it in 2 litre ginger ale bottles that I drank a lot of at the time. Watched a newbie pick one up on a very hot summer day and take a big swig. Quit that due to worry about inhaling it and having my pants drenched in the crap too many times but never noticed any undue bar wear or any pump failure. Tried Canola oil for a few years and it worked fine but it did tend to really gum stuff up pretty bad if you left it for a bit. For about 5 years now Ive been running used hydro fluid out of my equipment. I have an 8' 4" PVC pipe that I push a toilet roll in the bottom of and pore the oil in and leave it over a 5 gallon pail. Takes a week or so to drain through but comes out filtered to about 4 microns which is cleaner than your bar oil!! I now mix it with about 20% water with a bit of dish soap to help them mix. I do this because water (and I) is cheap and maybe because it lowers bar temps. Never noticed any adverse effects from this and my saws keep cleaner than the canola.

I guess all things considered I would guess canola emulsified with water would probably be best other than very cold climates but Im lazy and the hydraulic oil works for me.

 

[squisher]

I use Stihl bar oil. Heavy in the summer, medium right now, and light in the full on winter. I guess I'm lazier than I am cheap because they keep boxes of it beside the door in the local saw shop.

 

[HolmenTree]

Stihl and Husqvarna bar oil today is good oil, we get it here in 3 weight grades, summer, fall and winter and it's clear now.....great for carving sculptures.
I'm no expert on bar oil, just use what is best for me mostly for my health, from hearing and reading about the warnings of petroleum bar oil mist and yes both Stihl and Husky print that in their saw manuals.
When your 55 with small children you look at life expentcy options a lot closer
But I would like to know what Stihl adds to their BIO Plus veggie oil to make it more user friendly for the cold temps and anti gumming.

 

[bstewert]

Canola for about three years. It's MUCH easier to clean up when I don't have the cap on right, and I spill it all over my pants, shoes, shop table and floor. . .