Vegetable oil as bar oil

I think I will try canola oil; I am getting low on bar oil and my friend told me about using vegetable oil but I wanted the advice of the long-timers here in the forum.

 

Yep, canola seems to work fine. I like it in the dead of winter.

 

I am a sort timer i just cut only 2000- 2500 cubic meters every year , so dont take what i say seriusly ....................... i just buy and use the best bar oils that i can find in the market

best regards

 

All the cooling oils get sticky and nasty and mold when old and out.

I don't think I'd want a sticky mess of a saw, not to mention that it won't lube the bar well and that you can clog your oiler. Bar oil makes dirt stick as well as chips but you can blow it off with compressed air. The sticky mess that cooking oils leave and dirt stuck in them won't come off with air. It doesn't really even come off with degrade when old. Ever been around old fry equipment ? My turkey fry pot is permenently sticky and nasty and it gets washed and scrubbed. Think of that all over your saw. And theN the rancid and mold mess you will have in the summer after sitting.

 

i'm using costco canola oil in the echo cs600p with a 20" bar. it works fine, no apparent issues with oiling. i don't mind the noise and fumes of sawing. spewing petroleum oil over the earth is a different matter and it's nice to use something innocuous for the earth as well as the bit that gets thrown back on the operator. i had not had a saw for decades and this time around is the old kinder and gentler with canola oil.

 

Hate to tell you the small amount you use is inconcequentual. Logging leaves more oil residue than you ever could leave in a lifetime of cutting wood.

As foresters we sling out sometimes hundreds of gallons of gas and fuel a day in a burn. All does not burn also.

I also don't like to harm the environment that said. Why I don't use used oil..one it makes a mess and two the heavy metals that is contained in it.

 

In a pinch I might use some kind of cooking oil to get through, though I have my doubts. Cooking oil is to cook food, motor oil is for keeping things lubricated regardless of what it is. These days if you do run out of bar oil there are places that carry it which aren't that far away. Around here even gas stations carry it. And most of the time by the gallon. I just picked up another gallon from the local hardware store today. So really, there is no excuse for running something in a saw that could cause future problems in the machine your using.

It wouldn't matter if I were running a saw that cost me several thousand dollars or one that was given to me (free), it gets the proper fluids (gas and oil) or it doesn't get run until I get some.

Edited to add:
Wouldn't it be the same using motor oil to cook with? Fried eggs in motor oil, fried chicken using motor oil, or how about boiling some pasta and using a cap full of motor oil to keep it from boiling over. Or how about vinegar and motor oil for a salad dressing? Yep, yummmy. (gag)

 

Let's clear up a couple of things. There's 6000 bushels of canola here in my yard. Back when canola was rapeseed the oil was mainly used as a lubricant. Basically they bred the erucic acid out so it's safer for infants and pigs but not quite as good a lubricant. So using canola oil as a chain lube isn't a problem as long as you don't leave it sit too long and let it gum up. The Dolmar manual recommends draining the bio oil and flushing with dino motor oil before storage.

Straight mineral oil is still used as a laxative, although some of the additives in motor oil and gear oil probably aren't good for you. However I still don't see skull and crossbone warning labels on car or 2 cycle motor oil bottles. I'm not cooking with it although it's probably no worse than the over used cooking oil in most fast food restaurants. Used motor oil is a different matter as it has bearing lead and some nasty combustion byproducts in it.

I'm not using canola oil myself as I don't use my saws daily and not even weekly in the summer. Besides it costs almost as much as motor oil here.

 

So some say yes, some say no. We noticed this when using the saw; I had brought Walmart's brand of bar oil and my friend had some Poulan brand bar oil. My friend ran out of his oil and used my oil; he noticed the Walmart bar oil used up quicker in the saw than his Poulan bar oil.

 

Could be. Maybe the Poulan was a bit thicker? Both the Walmart and Poulan I think are both 30W. And in hot both runny and in cold both like honey in the summer.

The amout it used more was probably inconsequential, the oil tank usually has plenty of extra capacity.

 

Nope; the use was quite noticeable. We noticed the Poulan oil would leave a "string" when titling the jug back while the Walmart would not; so, the cheaper Walmart oil probably did not contain tactifiers that the Poulan oil contained; or that is my guess.

 

Yea I have noticed that Poulan oil is really good and tacky . I do think the Walmart oil has them just not as much? I have used gallons of both and know what your talking about. But I can't say that in any on the half dozen or saws I have that I noticed a "noticible" increase in oil use?

Stick with the Poulan then it's not a $1 more.