Posted: 8/14/2026 5:24:27 PM EDT
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Probably asked before. What do yall use for chainsaw bar oil? I have an echo cs-490. |
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Originally Posted By FlyingNinja: Probably asked before. What do yall use for chainsaw bar oil? I have an echo cs-490. I buy the Echo or Husqvarna branded oil. I don't use the saws enough to need to work at cutting that cost down and I know they're both good oil. |
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Originally Posted By Bye_Felicia: Whatever bar-oil by the gallon is the cheapest at the store I'm at. FPNI It's bar oil. Once around the bar, and it's slung in the dirt. My guess is, it's made from used motor oil. I've had the same bar on my saw for longer than my memory. I'm not sure how long that is. |
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I get the good stuff, Husqvarna or Stihl, the idea of bar oil is sticky, tacky thick oil that clings to surfaces. Not motor oil. For infrequent use, you might get away with crap, but your full gas tank will likely outlast your full oil tank. |
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Not an answer to your question but last week I happened on an interesting related video from Chickanic with a (non-scientific) experiment. I watch her trying to understand how to do some repairs on my own small engines. Here she compared bar oil to veggie oil in a saw because one of her followers referenced a YT video that said screw bar oil you should use veggie oil.  You'll DESTROY Your Chainsaw If You Take His Advice! |
Nobody ever wakes me at 2 in the morning telling me that my grass is out on the highway.~~Radiopat
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
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Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe
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Originally Posted By StromBusa: I get the good stuff, Husqvarna or Stihl, the idea of bar oil is sticky, tacky thick oil that clings to surfaces. Not motor oil. For infrequent use, you might get away with crap, but your full gas tank will likely outlast your full oil tank. I fill the bar oil every time I fill the gas, because that's how much it uses. I don't want sticky oil. The bar stays wet with it. |
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Originally Posted By Kitties-with-Sigs: I buy the Echo or Husqvarna branded oil. I don't use the saws enough to need to work at cutting that cost down and I know they're both good oil. Originally Posted By Kitties-with-Sigs: Originally Posted By FlyingNinja: Probably asked before. What do yall use for chainsaw bar oil? I have an echo cs-490. I buy the Echo or Husqvarna branded oil. I don't use the saws enough to need to work at cutting that cost down and I know they're both good oil. This is what I do. If I had to, I wouldn't be averse to generic bar oil, but since I buy by the gallon anyway, it's easy to just get the name brand. |
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Originally Posted By Kitties-with-Sigs: Not an answer to your question but last week I happened on an interesting related video from Chickanic with a (non-scientific) experiment. I watch her trying to understand how to do some repairs on my own small engines. Here she compared bar oil to veggie oil in a saw because one of her followers referenced a YT video that said screw bar oil you should use veggie oil.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hanLeo1RnEPsst. Stihl regular bar oil IS vegetable oil: https://www.stihlusa.com/content/dam/stihl/vu/us/en/download-files/pdf-files/safety-data-sheets/chain-and-bar-lubricant/STIHL-SIMPLE-PLUS-BAR-and-CHAIN-OIL-MSDS_VU_D_2025-7.pdf Attached File |
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Originally Posted By BuddyChryst: Psst. Stihl regular bar oil IS vegetable oil: https://www.stihlusa.com/content/dam/stihl/vu/us/en/download-files/pdf-files/safety-data-sheets/chain-and-bar-lubricant/STIHL-SIMPLE-PLUS-BAR-and-CHAIN-OIL-MSDS_VU_D_2025-7.pdf https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/240289/IMG_1190_jpeg-3811548.JPG That data sheet says it's vegetable oil BASED bar and chain oil. It does not say that it is vegetable oil like what you buy at the grocery store.  Edited to add: The data sheet you posted ALSO says that is Stihl's "green" oil. It's for STihl "Simple Plus" Not Stihl regular bar oil. Stihl regular bar oil says it is petroleum based. Their "Simple Plus" greenie oil is vegetable based. I don't care what you use in your saw. That's your choice. But I don't think we should mislead people who might not take the time to actually read the sheet. |
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Originally Posted By ske714: FPNI It's bar oil. Once around the bar, and it's slung in the dirt. My guess is, it's made from used motor oil. I've had the same bar on my saw for longer than my memory. I'm not sure how long that is. Subtle, but still funny as hell. |
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Used motor oil is typically too thin. But unless You’re using your chain saw professionally, or every day, etc. you’ll probably never wear a bar out anyways. That being said, it’s also stinky and messy. Most petroleum based bar oils are line wash and a tackifier. When you blend oils, or deliver oils, you need to flush the tanks and lines out for the next product. So it’s a combination of base oil and some of the previous product. That is then mixed with a polymer tackifier to make it “sticky” so to speak. Bio based bar oils exist, besides the Stihl one. They’re normally a soybean ester based product. Not a typical “vegetable” oil like you’d get from the grocery store. But again, when they use these soybean esters in blends… you have line wash. This becomes the “green” bar oil. |
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Originally Posted By Foxtrot08: Used motor oil is typically too thin. But unless You’re using your chain saw professionally, or every day, etc. you’ll probably never wear a bar out anyways. That being said, it’s also stinky and messy. Most petroleum based bar oils are line wash and a tackifier. When you blend oils, or deliver oils, you need to flush the tanks and lines out for the next product. So it’s a combination of base oil and some of the previous product. That is then mixed with a polymer tackifier to make it “sticky” so to speak. Bio based bar oils exist, besides the Stihl one. They’re normally a soybean ester based product. Not a typical “vegetable” oil like you’d get from the grocery store. But again, when they use these soybean esters in blends… you have line wash. This becomes the “green” bar oil. So in other words, it's all the same in that none of it is ever the same, so buy what's cheap. BTW, you Sir, are worth the price of admission. |
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Originally Posted By ske714: So in other words, it's all the same in that none of it is ever the same, so buy what's cheap. BTW, you Sir, are worth the price of admission. Indeed! 
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Nobody ever wakes me at 2 in the morning telling me that my grass is out on the highway.~~Radiopat
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Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe
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Originally Posted By ske714: So in other words, it's all the same in that none of it is ever the same, so buy what's cheap. BTW, you Sir, are worth the price of admission. Originally Posted By ske714: Originally Posted By Foxtrot08: Used motor oil is typically too thin. But unless You’re using your chain saw professionally, or every day, etc. you’ll probably never wear a bar out anyways. That being said, it’s also stinky and messy. Most petroleum based bar oils are line wash and a tackifier. When you blend oils, or deliver oils, you need to flush the tanks and lines out for the next product. So it’s a combination of base oil and some of the previous product. That is then mixed with a polymer tackifier to make it “sticky” so to speak. Bio based bar oils exist, besides the Stihl one. They’re normally a soybean ester based product. Not a typical “vegetable” oil like you’d get from the grocery store. But again, when they use these soybean esters in blends… you have line wash. This becomes the “green” bar oil. So in other words, it's all the same in that none of it is ever the same, so buy what's cheap. BTW, you Sir, are worth the price of admission. I think P66 may make a “virgin” product. But really, it’s a waste of base oil. As previously mentioned, like… outside of professional situations, used oil kinda works fine. It’s not a complicated product. And it doesn’t need to be exact. A regular viscosity and low viscosity. The low viscosity for ultra cold weather. That’s really it. |
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Also check label on bar oil to see if it's summer or winter blend. The summer blend is thicker viscosity so it don't thin as much in the heat, Winter blend is thinner viscosity so it flows easier in the cold. I buy summer blend mostly. but have bought lots of winter blend on sale & clearence, downside is using winter blend in spring, summer & fall temps (60⁰ to 100⁰+) here is cause it's thin and slings off easily you use a lot more. ie. Fill bar oil reservoir full and fuel tank 1/2 to 3/4, by time out of fuel the bar oil reservoir is low or out. |
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Motor oil is thin compared to bar oil. Bar oil is thicker and stickier. Motor oil is more likely to leak out while sitting and make a mess. My saws dribble a little oil when filled with bar oil already. Wouldn’t want to see the mess with motor oil. Bar oil is cheap. Use it. In a pinch, sure use motor oil. It’s better than no oil. But, for regular use, use bar oil. A gallon of bar oil will cut a LOT of wood. It’ll cost maybe $10 to 15 per gallon. I usually use about 2 tanks of gas to 1 tank of bar oil in both my saws. |
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Originally Posted By ColtRifle: Motor oil is thin compared to bar oil. Bar oil is thicker and stickier. Motor oil is more likely to leak out while sitting and make a mess. My saws dribble a little oil when filled with bar oil already. Wouldn’t want to see the mess with motor oil. Bar oil is cheap. Use it. In a pinch, sure use motor oil. It’s better than no oil. But, for regular use, use bar oil. A gallon of bar oil will cut a LOT of wood. It’ll cost maybe $10 to 15 per gallon. I usually use about 2 tanks of gas to 1 tank of bar oil in both my saws. That's about what I run. It's just peace of mind for me and I don't have to think about it. Somebody else thought about it for me and I can spend my (increasingly) limited gray matter on something else.
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Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe
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First of all...it's your bar....I really don't care what you do to it. Tackifiers. Motor oil doesn't have it. New or used. It's important for the life of your bar and bar tip. Motor oil slings off far too readily and will starve the bottom of the bar for lubrication. But then, I bet most of you have never flipped a bar let alone dressed one...ever. Hell a lot of you don't even sharpen a chain until it's literally not cutting anymore. So it doesn't surprise me in the least bit that you would run motor oil in it... How many of you guys running motor oil even OWN a round file? lol |
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Originally Posted By FlyingNinja: That's something else I need to learn is how to sharpen a chainsaw chain. Maybe some one could do a tutorial on it? Buy a sharpener from Harbor Freight, and have a couple of extra chains to rotate through. |
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I buy the generic chainsaw bar oil from Lowe's/Atwoods. I buy it by the half gallon jugs, easier than dealing with the gallon jugs, and it fits in my crate/tote easier. Technically, I refill old quart jugs from the half gallon, since those are even easier to pour into my chainsaws. I grab the tote (which also has my wedges, tightening wrench, extra chain, and whatever else I need for chainsawing). Originally Posted By FlyingNinja: That's something else I need to learn is how to sharpen a chainsaw chain. Maybe some one could do a tutorial on it? I use the Stihl 2 in 1 files. A few companies make the same style, fyi. Just make sure you get the right one (pitch/diameter) for your chain. https://www.stihl.ca/en/ap/2-in-1-file-holder-1733 |
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Originally Posted By eclark53520: First of all...it's your bar....I really don't care what you do to it. Tackifiers. Motor oil doesn't have it. New or used. It's important for the life of your bar and bar tip. Motor oil slings off far too readily and will starve the bottom of the bar for lubrication. But then, I bet most of you have never flipped a bar let alone dressed one...ever. Hell a lot of you don't even sharpen a chain until it's literally not cutting anymore. So it doesn't surprise me in the least bit that you would run motor oil in it... How many of you guys running motor oil even OWN a round file? lol You went there 
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Originally Posted By FlyingNinja: That's something else I need to learn is how to sharpen a chainsaw chain. Maybe some one could do a tutorial on it? A tutorial would depend on exactly what process you pick. There's quite a few at this point. Hand filing with a round file, hand filing with a guide on the file, hand filing with a guide on the bar/chain, 2 in 1 style filers, cheap powered sharpeners that work with the chain on the bar, cheap powered sharpeners that work on chains off the bar, expensive powered sharpeners (most of these need the chain off the bar. All of these have tutorials on YouTube. My personal opinion is hand filing with a round file is the way to go, but it's usually a journey to get there. I started out with a round file, then went to a 2 in 1, then to a round file with a guide on it, then back to just a round file. Don't be super stuck on getting the angles exactly perfect. A sharp tooth that isn't the perfect specs will still cut a ton better than a dull tooth. Benefits of hand filing with a round file: 1. Cheap. Buy round files in packs...they're cheap. 1 round file will sharpen 1 28" chain all the way back to teeth breaking off. So about $1.50-2 to sharpen a chain for it's lifetime. A 12 pack would probably last a lifetime for the amount of cutting most people here do. 2. No electricity required...most places I cut there isn't any outlets handy. 3. Light and handy...you can easily carry round files with you while cutting. So you can touch up chains often and not need long sharpening sessions. 4. You can shape your teeth specifically for the wood you're cutting. Soft vs hard, liming vs felling, and much more. 5. You don't have to grind long teeth back to the shortest tooth's length. Take only the material required by each tooth to get sharp. Don't tell me they all have to be the same either...I've sharpened enough chains and cut enough wood to know that isn't true. 6. You can make chains cut better than new...once you get good, you'll start running your round file on brand new chains because you hate how new chains cut...that's when you've made it lol If you have a good sharp round file, it does not take long to sharpen a chain. Considering setup time, I can hand sharpen most chains faster by hand than I can on a machine. The only time I use a machine is if I have like 5+ chains that all need sharpening at once. But I don't let myself get to that point anymore because it's so quick and easy to touch up my chains in the field....there's no reason for me to change a chain unless I rock it or hit metal and I only have a few more cuts to go. |
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Originally Posted By FlyingNinja: That's something else I need to learn is how to sharpen a chainsaw chain. Maybe some one could do a tutorial on it? I was paying to have mine sharpened, mostly because there's a cute little old guy out in the boonies not too far from me who MAKES the chains for my saws. (By "make" I mean he has all this different chain and he cuts and assembles it for every saw I have.) He also sharpens and repairs those enormous blades for sawmills, so I like going to his shop because he has cool stuff sitting around. I pay him because he's cool and I like giving money to cool little old guys who do things hardly anybody else does. All that said, I let my saw chains go too long because it's not always convenient to drive out there. My neighbor just bought some kind of automatic whizzo thingy to sharpen blades and now I have a free option. It's a thing I want to learn to do but I'm afraid I won't ever get time to learn.  I sharpen my hedge trimmers and Dear Lord that's an awful job. I hate it. 
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Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe
| A friend that is an arborist told me once they use a vegetable based bar oil most of the time because it isn't toxic to the trees when they are pruning. Makes sense I guess but I don't remember ever seeing a lot of oil residue on a cut, most of it slings off right in front of the bar. |
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Originally Posted By TinSpinner: A friend that is an arborist told me once they use a vegetable based bar oil most of the time because it isn't toxic to the trees when they are pruning. Makes sense I guess but I don't remember ever seeing a lot of oil residue on a cut, most of it slings off right in front of the bar. I'm a tree hugger and I feel like you are absolutely correct and you are using common sense. I use a normal chain saw with bar oil (even my battery saw, which sucks for pruning, uses bar oil) and I have no concern about harming the tree. None. Zero. Zilch. Zip. I've never seen a drop of bar oil on the cuts. That is a solution looking for a problem and I ain't screwing up my saw to solve a non-existent problem. Because most pruning jobs need a small saw, I use the DeWalt battery POS saw to do them. BUT something is wrong with that saw and it leaves a lot of tattered bits on the bottom of every cut. The bottom of the cut is never clean and every trick I could pull out of my hat doesn't fix that. I have to wonder if it's the speed of the chain. I don't know but it's a ROTTEN pruning saw. So when it's really important, I use a little one-handed reciprocating saw (also DeWalt cuz...batteries are expensive). This cuts cleanly all the way through but often gets so damn hot it burns the wood. That's not good for the tree either. If I had to choose burning the crap out of the cut or leaving a tiny bit of oil residue, I'd choose the oil residue. 
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Nobody ever wakes me at 2 in the morning telling me that my grass is out on the highway.~~Radiopat
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Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
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Originally Posted By Kitties-with-Sigs: I'm a tree hugger and I feel like you are absolutely correct and you are using common sense. I use a normal chain saw with bar oil (even my battery saw, which sucks for pruning, uses bar oil) and I have no concern about harming the tree. None. Zero. Zilch. Zip. I've never seen a drop of bar oil on the cuts. That is a solution looking for a problem and I ain't screwing up my saw to solve a non-existent problem. Because most pruning jobs need a small saw, I use the DeWalt battery POS saw to do them. BUT something is wrong with that saw and it leaves a lot of tattered bits on the bottom of every cut. The bottom of the cut is never clean and every trick I could pull out of my hat doesn't fix that. I have to wonder if it's the speed of the chain. I don't know but it's a ROTTEN pruning saw. So when it's really important, I use a little one-handed reciprocating saw (also DeWalt cuz...batteries are expensive). This cuts cleanly all the way through but often gets so damn hot it burns the wood. That's not good for the tree either. If I had to choose burning the crap out of the cut or leaving a tiny bit of oil residue, I'd choose the oil residue. Originally Posted By Kitties-with-Sigs: Originally Posted By TinSpinner: A friend that is an arborist told me once they use a vegetable based bar oil most of the time because it isn't toxic to the trees when they are pruning. Makes sense I guess but I don't remember ever seeing a lot of oil residue on a cut, most of it slings off right in front of the bar. I'm a tree hugger and I feel like you are absolutely correct and you are using common sense. I use a normal chain saw with bar oil (even my battery saw, which sucks for pruning, uses bar oil) and I have no concern about harming the tree. None. Zero. Zilch. Zip. I've never seen a drop of bar oil on the cuts. That is a solution looking for a problem and I ain't screwing up my saw to solve a non-existent problem. Because most pruning jobs need a small saw, I use the DeWalt battery POS saw to do them. BUT something is wrong with that saw and it leaves a lot of tattered bits on the bottom of every cut. The bottom of the cut is never clean and every trick I could pull out of my hat doesn't fix that. I have to wonder if it's the speed of the chain. I don't know but it's a ROTTEN pruning saw. So when it's really important, I use a little one-handed reciprocating saw (also DeWalt cuz...batteries are expensive). This cuts cleanly all the way through but often gets so damn hot it burns the wood. That's not good for the tree either. If I had to choose burning the crap out of the cut or leaving a tiny bit of oil residue, I'd choose the oil residue. Bio based bar and chain oils are mandated in a number of European countries. It just hasn’t made it over to the United States yet. At least not in mass. The very few gallons of it I’ve ever sold, has been to golf courses. I may have sold 8 or 12 gallons in my entire career. Some greens keepers are OCD about using products that won’t kill grass if there is a spill. To put in perspective, I sold 22 pallets of bar and chain oil today. 5400 gallons. Just normal “all season” 30w bar and chain. |
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Originally Posted By Foxtrot08: Bio based bar and chain oils are mandated in a number of European countries. It just hasn’t made it over to the United States yet. At least not in mass. The very few gallons of it I’ve ever sold, has been to golf courses. I may have sold 8 or 12 gallons in my entire career. Some greens keepers are OCD about using products that won’t kill grass if there is a spill. To put in perspective, I sold 22 pallets of bar and chain oil today. 5400 gallons. Just normal “all season” 30w bar and chain. I get it. I do. When I say I am a tree hugger I mean I am a SERIOUS lover of trees and plants. I think they are sentient and the rest of the world hasn't figured it out yet. I will FIGHT YOU WITH MY FISTS EVEN IF YOU OUTWEIGH ME BY 100 LBS if you are trying to top a tree. But bar oil when you are pruning? Meh... It ain't ending up in the tree. Not much anyway. ETA: Golf course managers are dumping SO. MUCH. CRAP. on the course/grass that there is absolutely zero margin in my world for them to be worried about the bar oil used to prune their plantings. I mean they won't tolerate a freaking mushroom growing out of the fairway. I know what they dump on that course. So they can come and talk to me about the bar oil, spill possibilities notwithstanding. I will laugh in their collective faces. The divots and the fungi do more damage than the *possible* spill would do. |
Nobody ever wakes me at 2 in the morning telling me that my grass is out on the highway.~~Radiopat
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Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe
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Originally Posted By Kitties-with-Sigs: I get it. I do. When I say I am a tree hugger I mean I am a SERIOUS lover of trees and plants. I think they are sentient and the rest of the world hasn't figured it out yet. I will FIGHT YOU WITH MY FISTS EVEN IF YOU OUTWEIGH ME BY 100 LBS if you are trying to top a tree. But bar oil when you are pruning? Meh... It ain't ending up in the tree. Not much anyway. ETA: Golf course managers are dumping SO. MUCH. CRAP. on the course/grass that there is absolutely zero margin in my world for them to be worried about the bar oil used to prune their plantings. I mean they won't tolerate a freaking mushroom growing out of the fairway. I know what they dump on that course. So they can come and talk to me about the bar oil, spill possibilities notwithstanding. I will laugh in their collective faces. The divots and the fungi do more damage than the *possible* spill would do. Originally Posted By Kitties-with-Sigs: Originally Posted By Foxtrot08: Bio based bar and chain oils are mandated in a number of European countries. It just hasn’t made it over to the United States yet. At least not in mass. The very few gallons of it I’ve ever sold, has been to golf courses. I may have sold 8 or 12 gallons in my entire career. Some greens keepers are OCD about using products that won’t kill grass if there is a spill. To put in perspective, I sold 22 pallets of bar and chain oil today. 5400 gallons. Just normal “all season” 30w bar and chain. I get it. I do. When I say I am a tree hugger I mean I am a SERIOUS lover of trees and plants. I think they are sentient and the rest of the world hasn't figured it out yet. I will FIGHT YOU WITH MY FISTS EVEN IF YOU OUTWEIGH ME BY 100 LBS if you are trying to top a tree. But bar oil when you are pruning? Meh... It ain't ending up in the tree. Not much anyway. ETA: Golf course managers are dumping SO. MUCH. CRAP. on the course/grass that there is absolutely zero margin in my world for them to be worried about the bar oil used to prune their plantings. I mean they won't tolerate a freaking mushroom growing out of the fairway. I know what they dump on that course. So they can come and talk to me about the bar oil, spill possibilities notwithstanding. I will laugh in their collective faces. The divots and the fungi do more damage than the *possible* spill would do. We had a request for a “biodegradable” motor oil that wouldn’t kill grass for one. I get what you’re saying. They just get sucked into this world that everything has to be bio based. Or renewable. Etc. And it’s just like… do you realize what your fertilizer is made out of… |
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Originally Posted By Foxtrot08: We had a request for a “biodegradable” motor oil that wouldn’t kill grass for one. I get what you’re saying. They just get sucked into this world that everything has to be bio based. Or renewable. Etc. And it’s just like… do you realize what your fertilizer is made out of… Yes. They are not actually thinking much. And they don't understand the impact of what they dump as their regular program. It makes me sad. It's part of why I had to quit treating lawns. |
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Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe
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Originally Posted By Kitties-with-Sigs: I get it. I do. When I say I am a tree hugger I mean I am a SERIOUS lover of trees and plants. I think they are sentient and the rest of the world hasn't figured it out yet. I will FIGHT YOU WITH MY FISTS EVEN IF YOU OUTWEIGH ME BY 100 LBS if you are trying to top a tree. But bar oil when you are pruning? Meh... It ain't ending up in the tree. Not much anyway. ETA: Golf course managers are dumping SO. MUCH. CRAP. on the course/grass that there is absolutely zero margin in my world for them to be worried about the bar oil used to prune their plantings. I mean they won't tolerate a freaking mushroom growing out of the fairway. I know what they dump on that course. So they can come and talk to me about the bar oil, spill possibilities notwithstanding. I will laugh in their collective faces. The divots and the fungi do more damage than the *possible* spill would do. Originally Posted By Kitties-with-Sigs: Originally Posted By Foxtrot08: Bio based bar and chain oils are mandated in a number of European countries. It just hasn’t made it over to the United States yet. At least not in mass. The very few gallons of it I’ve ever sold, has been to golf courses. I may have sold 8 or 12 gallons in my entire career. Some greens keepers are OCD about using products that won’t kill grass if there is a spill. To put in perspective, I sold 22 pallets of bar and chain oil today. 5400 gallons. Just normal “all season” 30w bar and chain. I get it. I do. When I say I am a tree hugger I mean I am a SERIOUS lover of trees and plants. I think they are sentient and the rest of the world hasn't figured it out yet. I will FIGHT YOU WITH MY FISTS EVEN IF YOU OUTWEIGH ME BY 100 LBS if you are trying to top a tree. But bar oil when you are pruning? Meh... It ain't ending up in the tree. Not much anyway. ETA: Golf course managers are dumping SO. MUCH. CRAP. on the course/grass that there is absolutely zero margin in my world for them to be worried about the bar oil used to prune their plantings. I mean they won't tolerate a freaking mushroom growing out of the fairway. I know what they dump on that course. So they can come and talk to me about the bar oil, spill possibilities notwithstanding. I will laugh in their collective faces. The divots and the fungi do more damage than the *possible* spill would do. I was playing golf one day with a friend that was smoking a cigar. When he went to make a swing he laid his cigar on the grass, made his swing then put it right back in his mouth. I asked him if all the pre-emergents, herbicides, insecticides, and fertilizer enhanced the flavor of his cigar. He thought about it for a second then tossed it, I never saw him do it again either.
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Life's battles don't always go to the stronger or faster man. In the end, the one who wins is the one who thinks he can! - SCI, NRA
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| Regular use in (3) Stihl 290s, 10W30 or whatever cheaper oil I have around that need rotating. |
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In business since 1992- Over 30 Years in business- Thank you for your business!
Quickest ways to contact us-
912.375.1480
[email protected]
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Originally Posted By TinSpinner: I was playing golf one day with a friend that was smoking a cigar. When he went to make a swing he laid his cigar on the grass, made his swing then put it right back in his mouth. I asked him if all the pre-emergents, herbicides, insecticides, and fertilizer enhanced the flavor of his cigar. He thought about it for a second then tossed it, I never saw him do it again either. Yep. Golf courses have chems of some kind dumped on them about once a week. |
Nobody ever wakes me at 2 in the morning telling me that my grass is out on the highway.~~Radiopat
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe
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Originally Posted By Bye_Felicia: Whatever bar-oil by the gallon is the cheapest at the store I'm at. FPNI. I put my money in the mix. Red Armor 40:1. |
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
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Your bar is going to get trashed by use anyway...and bar oil is needed, but it won't save the bar long term. Unless you are running a Sugi bar or similar, I don't see a benefit in worrying about the type of oil. Crank the oiler up to high, make sure its flowing by testing the bar at WOT over a driveway or something you can see get sprayed with oil...and send it. If you have a Stihl, you can also press the stop pin in and crank it higher. More oil, more better. I run whatever bar oil is available. I just use a lot of it and keep it full. |
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Damn people, don't do the used motor oil junk. It's dirty, nasty, filled with stuff you don't need to breathe, and lubricates like muddy water. Just because grandpa did it doesn't mean you have to do the same. Save the used motor oil for the wholesome tasks like starting fires, treating wood trailer decks, or killing weeds. Oil is cheap enough. Bar oil is usually cheaper and better by far for the purpose. Particularly when decent bars are well above $50 and chains are easily $30 and up. I buy whatever is cheap. Have four brands on hand now. Was doing good with the local stuff until the Husky stuff popped up on Woot for like 11 a gallon with a 3 case limit. I only use 2 gallons a year, so I'm set for awhile No real need to bother with summer or winter blends for most folks. I'll cut with this stuff into the double digit negatives*. If your current stuff isn't oiling well enough you can thin it with a touch of ATF. * I try to do most of my felling in the winter. Not bugs, no mud, and no dug up yard as the ground is frozen. I like the Mystik best, but the store is almost 2 hours south of here.  |
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Originally Posted By BuddyChryst: Psst. Stihl regular bar oil IS vegetable oil: https://www.stihlusa.com/content/dam/stihl/vu/us/en/download-files/pdf-files/safety-data-sheets/chain-and-bar-lubricant/STIHL-SIMPLE-PLUS-BAR-and-CHAIN-OIL-MSDS_VU_D_2025-7.pdf https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/240289/IMG_1190_jpeg-3811548.JPG Its vegetable oil based.its not just vegetable oil. It has other stuff in it. |
Proud deplorable. MAGA!!
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Originally Posted By Kitties-with-Sigs: Because most pruning jobs need a small saw, I use the DeWalt battery POS saw to do them. BUT something is wrong with that saw and it leaves a lot of tattered bits on the bottom of every cut. The bottom of the cut is never clean and every trick I could pull out of my hat doesn't fix that. I have to wonder if it's the speed of the chain. I don't know but it's a ROTTEN pruning saw. So when it's really important, I use a little one-handed reciprocating saw (also DeWalt cuz...batteries are expensive). This cuts cleanly all the way through but often gets so damn hot it burns the wood. That's not good for the tree either. If I had to choose burning the crap out of the cut or leaving a tiny bit of oil residue, I'd choose the oil residue. Kitties, I'm 99% sure you know this, but I wanted to point out just in case (concerning your tattered bits issue): You are cutting the majority of the limb off first, then finishing with pruning the small left over stob, right? i.e. 6"+/- away from where you want the pruning cut, first cutting the bottom side of the branch about 1/3 of the way up, then making a 2nd cut from the top of the branch just slightly further out on the limb to drop it, then coming in with a 3rd cut where the limb actually needs pruned? I only point it out because before I knew better, I did it all in one cut and left tattered bits and/or had the limb take a piece of the portion of the tree I wanted to keep with it when gravity took over. Attached File |
"When you need it and ain't got it, you're singin' a different tune..."
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Originally Posted By Buckshot4U: Kitties, I'm 99% sure you know this, but I wanted to point out just in case (concerning your tattered bits issue): You are cutting the majority of the limb off first, then finishing with pruning the small left over stob, right? i.e. 6"+/- away from where you want the pruning cut, first cutting the bottom side of the branch about 1/3 of the way up, then making a 2nd cut from the top of the branch just slightly further out on the limb to drop it, then coming in with a 3rd cut where the limb actually needs pruned? I only point it out because before I knew better, I did it all in one cut and left tattered bits and/or had the limb take a piece of the portion of the tree I wanted to keep with it when gravity took over. https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/243487/PruningCut_png-3817827.JPG Yes I use proper cutting technique. A gas saw or my reciprocating saw leaves no fringies. Nothing. And I repeat NOTHING I can do with this POS DeWalt will keep there from being fringies. Doesn't matter if it's a limb the size of my finger or a limb the size of my leg. Fringies happen. (Less so on the bigger limbs because the bark is harder but still, on all of them.) There's something about that saw. It's the only battery chainsaw I've ever used (by that i mean the DeWalt 20v 12" saw--I've been through three of them and consider them disposable tools for my business) so I cannot say whether they all have that issue, and I don't know enough about saw build/specs/tech to know WHY it's happening. It's aggravating. On customer jobs I actually cut the main stuff with the chainsaw and then finish the cuts at the branch collar with the reciprocating saw (pruning blade) to make sure the cuts are clean.  ETA: I have wondered whether the match between the saw, the bar size and the chain they chose to put on it, are not right. I have wondered whether changing chains to something with more teeth, different teeth, etc, would help. But that's not something I really understand. I go and I show my saw chain guy what I need by taking him what I have, and he makes me more just like it. There is a lot to learn in the world and I have not learned this yet. |
Nobody ever wakes me at 2 in the morning telling me that my grass is out on the highway.~~Radiopat
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe
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Originally Posted By Kitties-with-Sigs: Yes I use proper cutting technique. A gas saw or my reciprocating saw leaves no fringies. I assumed that wasn't the issue. I was curious if maybe it was a chain speed thing, so I went to DeWalt's website. Holy crap they have a lot of chainsaws. But, it doesn't look like they spec out chain speed or RPM's. |
"When you need it and ain't got it, you're singin' a different tune..."
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Originally Posted By Buckshot4U: I assumed that wasn't the issue. I was curious if maybe it was a chain speed thing, so I went to DeWalt's website. Holy crap they have a lot of chainsaws. But, it doesn't look like they spec out chain speed or RPM's. Guessing their saws aren't aimed at people who use chainsaws that seriously. I just happen to be in a niche where the size of the saw and the price works great for what I do. Except for fringies.
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Nobody ever wakes me at 2 in the morning telling me that my grass is out on the highway.~~Radiopat
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe