Used motor oil-from my oil changes that I still do myself. Years and years of doing this with no regrets.
seriously!! That stuff is nasty and banks up your saws and makes a mess!! I was gonna joke and saw oil that I get out of my bulk waste 5gallon buckets. And that the old diesel tractor oil is especially good. Black so I can tell its working when its getting all over everything.
Use to use all Stihl... But found it doesnt like to come out of my Husky saws real good... Even when its just a cool fall day. So i just caught a sale at TSC on summer and winter weight bar and chain oil ! Im liking it better ! And for $6.99 a gallon... Instead of like $15 for the Stihl oil..... Im falling in love
That meynards stuff was the ticket at that price. I got 2 gallons at TSC on sale. But usually run poulan or supertec from Walmart and it seems the exact same. All works
X2. Who cares about the name on the jug.... Just as long as it does the job ! It took me too many years and dollars to come to that conclusion
For the winter, I read in some literature from Husky to mix 1/2 bar oil 1/2 diesel fuel for temps 32 and below. Works great! The trick seems to be mixing it in an area that isn't already at that freezing temprature to get it right. Runs just like full strength does in the summer. The one I was really impressed with was Tall Timber. Very good quality and IIRC, a 2 gallon jug was $8 or so. The store that carried it closed and I haven't found it again. The one I thought was the worst was Country Tuff at Orschelens. It acted more like 90 wt gear lube than bar oil.
I had to replace a partner 5000 oil pump from a friend running used freaking motor oil in a saw I gave him. When I took the pump apart you could could see very fine scratches on the metal parts. Coincidence? Man oh man how nasty that oil tank was too to flush out.
What were you using? Like I said, I (and others) have been using drain oil for years with no regrets or adverse effects. I was hesitant about it when I first started using it, but if you think about it, you didn't have any concerns with it right up till the moment you drained it from the vehicle. I don't see how using it for bar lube would hurt anything.
Mike said he bought a saw to flip. It obviously had been running used motor oil as it was full of it as was the liked which ruined the oiler. It was a saw he bought like that not one he did it too. Also there are nasty things in used oil like heavy metals and its not good to be slinging that stuff all through the woods. Oil that is new and clean is one thing used oil is totally different. And no I am not a tree hugging enviro hippy.
Guess I have been lucky then? Or maybe the oil pump was faulty to begin with? Or maybe the saw was a piece of junk to start with? Just like we both buy the same item; your lasts "forever" and mine craps out on the first year...no matter if it is cars, tv's, etc. As far as the oils being full of heavy metals, just where do they come from? The oil or the saw?
It was a stihl 460. There was a bunch of sludge in the tank like they drained oil from a 60s buick to run in it. It was easy to clean everything when I split the case. If I was going to run it to save $30 a year I'd spend a few hours filtering it somehow.
The heavy metals come out of the drained motor oil. As my understanding its part of either the combustion process and or additives but I think from wear parts in the engine. But I think its the same thing as you see the warning "repeated exposure to used motor oils can cause cancer" . It says nothing about clean motor oils just used/dirty.
Heavy metals are naturally occurring in the ground.Where does oil come from. In a vehicle engine how much wear and combustion takes place on the exhaust side of the cylinder ? How many gallons of gas (= oil) are combusted and spewed into the air. A chainsaw has no oil pan = lubrication oil is combusted and spewed into air. I don't wave my saw around in the air like Luke Skywalker or Jesse Dupree . My saw is in the wood or I don't make $ ,, thus the oil is absorbed by the wood and burnt in my stove.
The nasty stuff comes from the engine it was in before you drained it. Combustion byproducts, blow-by gasses, etc. It's the reason we drain the oil from an engine in the first place. Right. I've heard of folks using old denim to filter drain oil before using it elsewhere but that still only takes care of the suspended particulate contaminants. And even if you filter it until you'd consider running it in an engine again, it's still just motor oil which does not do as good of a job as bar oil with a tackifier additive would. Most saws probably would be able to pump enough to keep a 20" bar or smaller lubed with whatever, the increased wear would show up on longer bars most likely.
Any of you folks use magnetic drain plugs for your cars truck etc. Try it sometime and see all the crap that is on it during next oil change.
The issue is concentration. You burn all that fuel and collect small amounts of the pollutants in one place. Over time, you go from trace amounts to heavy concentrations. I work with a process that uses heavy metals in powder form. Sure, it all came from nature/the ground. But I still take measures to protect myself and others from the harm that we know it causes.
And that's just the ferrous (iron-bearing) material that comes out of the engine from wear. Not even the scary stuff.
