Drain oil or bar oil?

[Trapper2]

I never thought about using drain oil for bar oil, but with bar oil retailing over $12 a gallon here now, drain oil is starting to sound more attractive.
Does any body else use it? Good luck / bad luck? What's your experience?

[ecolbeck]

If the manufacturers are to be believed, bar oil is designed to resist flinging off the chain better than other oils. Therefore they should lubricate better because you're losing less of it off of the end of the bar.

[BSD]

TSC put it's on sale for $6/gal frequently.

[regor0]

Menards often has it on sale for 5 bucks. Just a little story. My grandpa, who was a sawmill owner for 65 years, was a 100% used oil guy. So since he was I was a used oil guy simply because grandpa knew everything . Well then he died and somehow I started using bar oil. All I can say is bars last longer and chains stay tighter with bar oil. If you don't cut all day everyday it probably doesn't matter.

[Ivyacres]

I have used it for 40 years under these conditions. I have an adjustable oil feed and I max it out. Heavy weight oil works better, but cars don't use it very often. Make sure it is clean, it can plug up a system if it doesn't have a filter/screen on the pickup tube. It's a great way to recycle it!

[BreezyHill]

Bar and Chain oil is a very sticky oil that will, provided it is good oil, stick to the chain and last longer than motor oil that is thin and will not provide the lubrication.

Price out a bar lately? Better sit down when you do.

As mentioned wait til it is on sale and buy the right oil for the season. Winter oil in summer time is a disaster as it will be to thin and summer oil in winter will not pump well at all.

When I was a kid my dad used drained oil and we went thru chains like crazy. Now I have a chain sharpener and files too and we will run a chain down to the safety lines. We don't use safety chains only single skips. Keep her sharp and you use a lot less oil.

[maple75]

Chain oil is worth the $$... I am as "frugal" as they come, just see my evaporator!! I buy it when on sale. For example this week it's 6.50/gallon at tsc, I just bought 10 gallons. Funny thing is I dropped off 6 gallons of used motor oil at the waste disposal on my way to TSC.

[motowbrowne]

You couldn't pay me to run used oil in my saws. I don't want that nasty junk all over my hands when I have to clean up and maintain saws. Bar oil is worth the money. I cut a lot of wood every year and still only use a few gallons. It's not like you'll save $500/year switching to motor oil.

[dcast99]

The only time I use used oil is when I make up my dead of winter mix. I mix 1/4 gl of used 30 weight with 3/4 gl of summer bar oil.

[Trapper2]

Thanks guys. I just bought 5 gallons at $7.99 it finally went on sale.

[maple flats]

I'll never put used oil in my saws. My dad did for a few years on a Mac super 250 with a 32" bar. He wore the bar out and when he had to buy a new one he decided the bar cost more than the proper oil would have had he bought bar oil. He no longer did the used oil. He did however only buy summer weight bar oil and for winter use he mixed amost a qt. of Kerosene in a gal of summer bar oil. Even cut that much it seemed to have enough tac to stick to the bar.