Canola as bar lube

[tdi-rick]

What does the brains trust (ie Mola and Bruce and anyone else qualified to comment) think of straight high oleic acid canola as a bar lube without any additives ?

A number of pro loggers and cutters on another board are doing this. I suggested it might be a lot better with an additive like Lubrizol's 7662 at 18-20%, but these blokes reckon they are getting as good or better chain and bar life as a mineral based chain and bar lube.
These fella's are using at a minimum 55 gallons a year, so they aren't casual users.
Any comments ?

 

[Warlord]

From what I understand its fine to use canola as long as you don't let it sit in the tank for extended periods.

 

[HighRpm]

Canola oil? for chain saw bars and chains? lemme see the post plz. got a 1950ish stihl AL monster saw. Heavy basterd and WILL wear u out fast!

Good thought but idunno if thats a good idea...

 

[MolaKule]

Quote:
straight high oleic acid canola as a bar lube without any additives ?

Well, it's certainly biodegradeable and pure canola is an ester.

If it's about 30 weight and flows well, more power to them.

How long a wear history do they have for comparison to OTC lubes.

I would think it wouldn't cling very well and I too would prefer about 500 ppm of zddp.

The only other concern I would have is the level of microbe buildup without antimicrobials and antioxidants. If they use fresh canola and use it quickly, this may not be a problem.

 

[labman]

Originally Posted By: Warlord
From what I understand its fine to use canola as long as you don't let it sit in the tank for extended periods.


+1

 

[Bror Jace]

If it has esters, it has MolaKule intrigued.

Need to find an organic tack additive ... lard? gelatin? tree sap???

Chain and bar oil is cheap ... I'd use stuff formulated with a proper tack additive and possibly even some anti-wear.

 

[bruce381]

its OK will work very well though will over time oxidize to a heavy gear oil vis but that Ok for a bar oil

 

[tdi-rick]

Thanks everyone for your input.

FWIW, any bio bar oil needs to be flushed if the saw is going to be left standing for more than a few weeks.
Most manufacturers are recommending flushing the pump with a small amount of SAE30 engine oil or 'normal' bar oil after draining the tank of bio. From what I've read, you can't cut on public land in most of Europe now without using a bio bar lube, so the manufacturers there are well versed in it's use.

Beginning of the thread, first tarted in '05 is here http://www.arboristsite.com/showthread.php?t=20909
It's only the last couple of pages where I've joined in, and Mola, I've pinched a bit of your info from here too

Tree Machine on that thread is claiming 7 years of use and claims to be a pro cutter. Pretty impressive if true (and I have no reason to doubt at this stage)
Bar oil (Dolmar or Husky) is retailing for $5/litre in 4 litre (1 US gallon/ 3.8l for Husky, why, I have no idea) jugs here ATM, $3.75 in bulk, so Canola looks very attractive. Even my Castrol distributor can't match the saw co's oil price, and Castrol package Stihl's oil here, and good ol canola is a bucket load cheaper again.

Funny thing is, some of my customers are some of the biggest oil seed producers in the country, or at least this part of the state. Shame they don't press too.

 

[Cmarti]

You know you are famous Molakule, when I am seeing you quoted on multiple sites........or does that mean TDI-Rick and I need to get a life, as we frequent multiple geek sites

 

[MolaKule]

Geek sites are cool, too.

Biodegradeability is why I use RLI's bar and chain lubes which have AW additives and tack.

For the big commercial cutters, I suspect they are using a 15W40/50 canola oil since they have pretty good loads on them.

Further, the canola oil provides an AW and low shear film.

BTW, the former SF Bar and Chain oil contained bioesters but didn't sell very well because of the available cheap Walmart mineral oils. Perhaps we were ahead of the curve in terms of biodegradeable oils?