Thread: Chainsaw oil.

Palm oil is the basis of some well known and trick synthetic oils too

and just think of the tan you and your bars will get from the coconut oil

BTW, I forgot to mention that the last time I bought some Castrol B&C oil it was more exxy than Stihl, and I get trade on Castrol lubes
I've been using Dolmar (don't know who packages it for Makita Oz) for the last eighteen months or but am down to the last little bit so it was fortuitous that I found the Caltex stuff when in town last week.

Resurrecting this old thread as its the only one I can quickly find that discusses plant based oil alternatives for bar and chain lubrication.
I understand this has been done to death on arborist forums. Not wishing to sign up to multiple forums I ask for info/advice here.

Using a miniboss every now and then I use bugger all chain oil compared to others but am conscious of my impact when reclaiming dead wood from the bush. I use an electric saw when the timber is small enough but still need chain lubricant

As this thread is well over a decade old, and with oil prices increasing, are there any cheap bio-oil / EALs available?
Is canola still considered a viable option?

I stopped using canola oil in about 2014 once I found out it poylmerizes (goes viscous) when left in a CS for some time. If left long enough (eg ea year) and especially when exposed to air it starts to go jelly like. Eventual it goes even harder like soft rubber. This gums up CS oilers and they become a PITA to fix. Apparently different canolas go though this sequence at different speeds.

Because of this I switched to bar and chain oil from Tru Blu oils.
Its used engine oil that has been filtered it to removed the impurities so it comes out clear as new oil.
When I last bought it in 2019 it cost $50 for 20L ($2.50/L) plus they added a Tackifier so that it sticks better to the bar and chain - all good chainsaw oil has this.
Good bar and chain oil should form strings of oil if you dip yor thumb and forefinger in and separate them.

Bulk (4L) of food grade canola now costs $3.60/L.
Non-food grade, if you can get, it is around $2/L
I'm not sure what Tru Blu charges for their oil but even if it's a bit more than this I would still buy it.

The other alternative is to use any cheap new engine oil (eg $4/L from bunnings).
To improve teh tackiness of plain engine oil you can add a dollop of STP (blue bottle) or Nulon Engine treatment additive. They recommend using it at a rate of one 300mL $20 bottle of SSITIVE per 6L of oil but you don't need to use that much. I've heard of people using about 1/3rd of that 100mL/5L.

You can still use canola but just make sure if you are not going to use your chainsaw for a while to empty it from your oil tank, add some regular bar oil and run teh saw for a while to flush the canola through the oil pump and lines.

Thanks Bob
Thats good to know that canola will eventually gum up if not flushed out.
I looked up Tru Blu oils but they dont appear to sell online. Did you purchase direct from their warehouse?

Originally Posted by Fallen Woodwork

Thanks Bob
Thats good to know that canola will eventually gum up if not flushed out.
I looked up Tru Blu oils but they dont appear to sell online. Did you purchase direct from their warehouse?

Yes I had to go to their purification plant in Malaga.
It was an interesting visit.
They had just completed and order for 12,000L of bar and chain oil for a major eastern states timber company.
The operator asked me if I wanted more tackier added which I took him up on.

Originally Posted by Fallen Woodwork

Thanks Bob
Thats good to know that canola will eventually gum up if not flushed out.
I looked up Tru Blu oils but they dont appear to sell online. Did you purchase direct from their warehouse?

Bobl put me onto Tru blu a few years back and I have used their Bio oil ever since mostly on a 4ft milling bar with an aux oiler. Not that I do a lot of milling, but have no complaints about their product and I also live within 20 min of the factory. With that product I can't say I have noticed any gumming up even with oil sitting in the tank from one season to the next, my mill usually sits unused over Winter and most of Spring.
Because I don"t use so much Bio, I don't mind paying the extra for it, but do wonder if it is actually significantly better for the environment than typical mineral equivalents. At any rate it eases my mind that it MAY be better. cheers Chris