Bar & Chain oil

[Larry]

Latest price.  Poulan $4.49/gallon...Stihl $7.49/gallon.  So what is the secret ingredient Stihl uses that makes there oil $3.00 more per gallon?   Does anybody think the price difference is warranted? 

[jokers]

Nope, but you can`t get Poulan oil at the Stihl dealer either.

[Rocky_J]

Bar lube is bar lube. It's all good and it only needs to work for one or two trips around the bar. Wally World, you can get Poulan bar lube for $2.78 per gallon. I usually buy 6 at a time and restock when I get low. I used to pay the extra for the Stihl bar lube but not any more.

[DanManofStihl]

I use any oil except for the walmart brand that is just motor oil. It does not work that well. I can't tell a difference from the stihl oil and the poulan oil. Also the poulan is 1/3 of the price of stihl oil.

[Billy_Bob]

I get my Stihl oil for around $5.60 or $5.30 (forget exact amount) a gallon when I buy a case. Six containers to a case.

I read somewhere Stihl oil has an anti "fling" agent or some such thing. But I don't buy it for that reason. Maybe I should?

The reason I buy Stihl oil is I was told some other bar oil is recycled and may contain metal particles. And that recycled oil will not lubricate the parts as well as new oil.

I've looked at the various containers of bar oil I have and read the labels. I have not found one which says "recycled oil" on it. I don't know if they are required to say recycled on the label or not if it is in fact recycled. Anyone know?

Anyway I have not had time to mess with it, so have bought Stihl oil. It would be nice to know if certain brands of oil are in fact recycled or not, and if recycled oil contains metal particles or not, and if "new" oil lubricates the saw parts better?

[Engineer]

Why couldn't someone just use vegetable oil - kinda like using biodiesel in a truck?  Oil is oil for bar lube, right?

[ely]

then you would be hungry all the time you were sawing,is someone cooking french fries.
heres a funny story, back when i was a small child my duty was to load all the wood i could carry in the truck while my dad and uncle cut it. they would load the bigger stuff later. well they got the bright idea of using used motor oil for bar and chain oil. it did not take long for them to figure out they were wrong on that. and these are two above average intellegent folks. i dont think it ruined the bar and chain totally but i am sure it shortened the life greatly. man it did make for a great smoke show while they figgered it out. and another uncle years later had to buy a new saw when he decided that havoline motor oil would be just as good as 2 stroke mix. go figure.

[mike_van]

I buy the cheapest I can get, usually Master Mechanic from Tru Value for 3.00 a gal. on sale.  I don't believe my chains get duller faster or my bars wear more than anyone elses.  It's like putting premium gas in a car made to run on the lowest octane - waste of $$$$$ to me.

[MSU_Keith]

I notice that oil viscosity does make a difference in the amount used.  For the same cutting conditions and oiler setting I'll go through 1 tank of bar oil for every tank of gas using the Stihl product, but using the Tractor Supply brand (Traveller?) I'll still have a 1/4 tank of bar oil after using a full tank of gas.  The TSP brand seams thicker when you poor it.  Can't tell if this is good or bad - more oil applied probably helps the chain life but running on empty towards the end tank of gas can't be good for the chain.

[GammaDriver]

The viscosity required, then, would probably be dependant on the temperature one would use it at (like, here in south Florida perhaps i ought to be using the thicker vis bar oil if I knew what brand it was and where to find it), and perhaps somewhat dependent on the saw's ability to apply oil (a poor oiler would need thinner oil).

My question to the pros out there (and this is arbitrary as bar oil viscosities really aren't advertised or published, so many of us really can't choose): temperature and saw being equal, do you see any reason sawing some woods would / could use a thinner or thicker viscosity oil if you did have the choice?  Do some woods make a chain lose lubrication faster, and thus require more lube to be applied?

No, I'm not nearly a pro - I'm just curious now that viscosity has been brought up. 

[Mike_Barcaskey]

the Poulan at Wal-Mart is my choice also, except ours is $2.83 a gallon
I use that in the 460 mag and 361

I use QV brand veggie oil from Wal-mart in my 200's and 026, it's about $5 a gallon. Over the last year I can see no discernable wear from the veggie oil, however it runs about twice as fast thru the saw. got to refill the bar oil 2x for every tank of gas.
I use the veggie oil because it has sealed several contracts on the tree service side of my business. Some customers like the eco-friendly warm and fuzzy feeling

[Frickman]

I have a thing for using OEM parts and accesories when possible, and this goes to my saws too. I run nothing but Stihl bar and chain oil in my saws, and get incredible life from my bars. A Stihl rep told me at a show that a bar should last for three or six chains, I can't seem to remember. By keeping mw chain properly adjusted and sharp, and using Stihl oil I get a dozen or more chains out of a bar.

There are different viscosities of oil. Stihl regular bar and chain is about a thirty weight or forty weight. They have a winter grade oil that is ten weight. This makes it easier to pour and I believe it's easier on the oiler. If you can't justify buying a whole gallon of winter oil just store the summer weight in a warm building until it's used.

Many oilers have been ruined by used motor oil. The oil has fine particles, both metal and dirt, that tear up the oiler. The oiler is a pump with close tolerances and it just eats it up.

A neighbor buys Poulan Bar and Chain at Wally World. He wears out oilers and bars faster than me too.

Stihl saws have a thing called Ecomatic. When you match the correct bar and chain with a saw you can turn the oiler volume back to a predetermined setting. If you do this with a saw used professionally you are supposed to save enough oil to pay for the saw over the course of it's life.

Stihl, and all the other brands, don't make their oil, refineries do on contract to their specs. If the Stihl oil is that much more expensive I'd believe they are adding things their competitors aren't.

[Captain]

My experience is more middle of the road.  I use a no name brand that is a high quality cling type of lubricant.  I can sell it for $5.50/gallon.  I find the Poulan oil is consumed faster and not worth the cost savings. 

On to Frickman's comment, Oregon says 3 chains = 1 bar and one drive rim/spur sprocket.  My customers average probably 6 chains.  They don't stay out of the dirt!!

Captain

[sawguy21]

Why couldn't someone just use vegetable oil - kinda like using biodiesel in a truck? Oil is oil for bar lube, right?

It is your nickel but I firmly believe in using the best oil available. Veggie oil is great for quartering game but not the best for wood unless staining is a problem. The chain needs it's lube on the underside of the bar where most cutting is done. An oil not designed for the purpose will fly off at the bar tip and  leave a dry cutting surface. Why put oil in it in the first place? Heck, bars and chains must be cheaper south of the border  than a gallon of oil.

[beenthere]

I've the same bar (Windsor 20" roller nose) on my 041 Stihl that came with the saw in '75. I have gone through more than a dozen chains (I'd guess closer to 18), and I get a new sprocket with every two chains. I use the Stihl oil, hand sharpen my chains (except if tearing up barb wire or an insulator), and think things have held up well. I have had the bar jointed twice in 30 years. I am not a professional everyday wood cutter but the saw rarely sets around very long with nothing to cut.   
Not sure I'd like getting a new bar with every 3 chains, in fact I KNOW I wouldn't like that. Oil may be oil, but mine will be Stihl just cause I think it deserves it. 

[Engineer]

Why couldn't someone just use vegetable oil - kinda like using biodiesel in a truck? Oil is oil for bar lube, right?

It is your nickel but I firmly believe in using the best oil available.

Well, it was just a question of curiosity.  I use the Stihl oil, always have, always will.  I can justify eight or nine bucks a year for a gallon, that's about all I cut and all I need.  I use winter weight starting about now and going right through May.   Don't do much cutting in the summer so the gallon of summer weight oil is on its' third year.   

[Deadwood]

I guess I have never put much stock in the bar and chain oil debate. I am sure there is a diffrence as I know true bar and chain oil is "stringy." That being said, I have always used hydraulic oil, used at that, since most of it came from the hydraulic oil changed out of the skidders.

Now I use an Oil called Brad Penn DDS Plus 9115. It's nothing super great I'm sure, but it's what we use in the locomotives where I work for Base Oil and thus a five gallon can is VERY resonable, if you read can between the lines on that one.

Basically I will use anything for oil. I have never noticed my saw getting dull quicker or my bars not lasting long enough and at 7 bucks a gallon, it only takes a few gallons to match the price of a new bar.

Just my two cents

[sawguy21]

I remember a logger who kept coming in with his Stihl 041 complaining that the oiler quit working. I charged him each time for cleaning the system because he insisted on using the oil drained from the Cat diesel He had been doing it for years with his old manual oiler Pioneer with no problems

[Al_Smith]

 Well this debate has been going on for some time,internet forum wide.I use TSC oil,works ok for me.The stickiness of the bar oil is due to a tacking agent[like STP,in a way],which causes the oil to cling to the metal parts,like bar and chain.
  I've heard good reports from people using vegatable oil but I've never tried it myself.
  I run all my saws with the oilers set wide open and will say that Stihl oilers are mighty stingy on the amount they put out.On the contrary my big McCullochs will oil any bar I put on them including my big old 48" and just blow oil off the end.
 I'm a believer in using a lot of oil.I've got 40 year old saws,with still usable bars,although they have been redressed a few times.

[Coon]

Well, well, well,  I guess I must put my two cents into this one.   

I have got a really good friend that works in a refinery.  Yuppers, a refinery.  I questioned him on this topic a couple of years ago and he just said listen here......  " Do not use cheap no name brand oils in anything that you own.  They are cheap for a reason...... LOWER GRADE PRODUCT. "  He then went on to ask me what I used for bar and chain lube on my chainsaws.  I just said that I used what ever I had or whatever I could afford at the time.  He went on to tell me some of the testing he had personally done while on his inturnship at the refinery and well before he got his present job.  It turns out that the cheap no name brand oils have a totally different texture and viscosity than its more expensive brand name competitors.  He has shown me how cheap oils have a tendancy to be sort of stringy and clumpy like and comes out of the jug that way.  The same (or so say same) viscosity oils in the brand names do not come out that way but rather come out like oil should.    It's just like when you compare pouring water out of a bucket and then pouring slush out of the same bucket.   


Now I hope you guys see my point.  I use only top dollar oils, lubricants, and fuels.   Just look at my old Jonsered 630 for example.  It was built in 1983 and has fell in excess of 5,000,000 bdft of saw logs and in the 1000's of cords of firewood and probably 3,000,000 bdft of bucking up saw logs.  I rest my case.