Chainsaw Bar & Chain Oil - Antiwear Additive?

[North to Alaska]

I’ve used 30HD and this from Lowe’s.
https://www.lowes.com/pd/PRO-SELECT-32-oz-Conventional-Bar-and-Chain-Oil/1053697
The 30HD gummed up and collected so much debris that it would cause the saw to bog.

Same experience with pro select. Tried it last summer because it was cheap.

 

[SHOZ]

I use used gear oil from my transmissions. Got Ceratec in it and you can smell when it's getting enough out on the chain.

 

[PontiacHO]

Same experience with pro select. Tried it last summer because it was cheap.

I have had sap filled wood create that issue regardless of what chain oil I’m using. Fortunately I don’t have any pines on my place now.

 

[mk378]

Has anyone made a chain saw with an oil passage out to the end of the bar? You want the oil to go on right before the chain reaches where all the wear occurs on the underside of the bar. The standard design applies oil as the chain leaves the top of the powerhead and counts on it not being flung off before reaching the cutting zone.

 

[martinq]

Has anyone made a chain saw with an oil passage out to the end of the bar? You want the oil to go on right before the chain reaches where all the wear occurs on the underside of the bar. The standard design applies oil as the chain leaves the top of the powerhead and counts on it not being flung off before reaching the cutting zone.

I was thinking of the same thing.

Oil directly to the tip so the bearing and returning chain receive oil directly. This should be possible with a laminated bar but delaminating and reassembling could be a real trick.

 

[oil pan 4]

As always, I question the Project Farm testing methodology. While it looks good, there are always variables. When the video showed "no appreciable chain stretch" on the Oregon lube segment, the chain was obviously very loose. This makes one wonder if he maintained equal chain tension (on new, stretchy chains no less) throughout the test. Unequal chain tension is probably the biggest variable that would affect much of the meaningful data.

Other questions: does anti wear additives designed for internal engine points of wear correlate with chainsaw bar/chain points of wear? Does the extreme pressure test rig correlate with chainsaw bar/chain wear? Stihl has a thinner winter grade bar oil that was not tested.

The smoke? I don't recall my bars and chains ever smoking like in the videos. Was his test not in line with real world use? Were the chains tensioned too tight?

Then, one has to ask if the Tractor Supply Harvest King oil is consistent from year to year or do they use the cheapest bid every time? I'm just not convinced. With over 4 decades of semi-professional chainsaw use and various dedicated bar oils, I don't recollect the bars or chains wearing out excessively before the teeth were filed down to point of no use. In the end, use what makes you happy and don't over think it.

Yes the bar gets hot and is moving along a good speed. Seems like it would activate AW addtives.

Your bar will absolutely smoke cutting dead dried hard wood trees which is probably 80% of the wood I cut. Cutting green trees it will likely not smoke unless your chain is really dull.
Stihl seems to run the highest chain speeds so they'll really smoke a chain.

 

[oil pan 4]

Has anyone made a chain saw with an oil passage out to the end of the bar? You want the oil to go on right before the chain reaches where all the wear occurs on the underside of the bar. The standard design applies oil as the chain leaves the top of the powerhead and counts on it not being flung off before reaching the cutting zone.

If I'm cutting dried hard woods I try to make most of the cuts on the top of the bar.

 

[Sumboodie]

My processor uses the same hydraulic oil that powers it to lube the bar.

I get about 1000 hrs on a bar before it's worn to the point the drivers bottom out.
No idea if it'd last longer on b&c oil, but it's not bad.

Lot of folks won't put 1000hrs on a saw in a lifetime.

 

[drfeelgood]

When I get a new chain or bar, I treat them with tungsten disulfide powder and then run the saw to circulate some oil and burnish it in. Doesn't take long to do but makes a little bit of a grey mess.

 

[jake wells]

I use the cheapest bar/chain lube i can find. I get a good number of years out of my bars. I wouldn't know about anti wear additives for guide bars.

 

[dirtymudder]

A bottle of STP to a gallon of oil.

 

[jhellwig]

A gallon of bar oil will last a long time and isn't that expensive. Anti wear isn't the issue because the oil is constantly being renewed and thrown off the chain. A tackifier that keeps it on the chain longer is what you should be concerned about.

Any oil could work as bar and chain oil in theory but you need more of it to the point where you are adding weight to the saw carrying around something you didn't need in the first place.

 

[oil pan 4]

Why bother, chains get replaced all the time. The oil honestly won't make it last longer.

I run carbide chains till they break twice.

 

[Sumboodie]

The tacky factor isn't just to assist with lubing the chain, although it might help slightly. You don't want it slinging everywhere and making a huge mess. I will actually refuse to work on saws where the owner runs used motor oil or gear oil through their saw. The entire saw is usually caked in oily mess, and I'd have to spend hours cleaning it before I could even get to repairing it. Not to mention the oil slings off onto the ground, onto your clothes, into wetlands, etc.

Same.
Most of the saws that came in with lubing problems were from people running old engine oil or whatever garbage they had laying around... probably complete with dead bugs, leaves, etc.
End up plugging the pump or lines, often killing it.
Saw many blown engines from a combo of dull chains and not using bar oil. Ton of revs trying to cut, slinging oil everywhere. That oil gets into the cooling fan, fins, carb... pretty much everywhere. Clogs up airflow, saw overheats, and the basically minimal load WOT trying to "cut" doesn't help either.

On my processor the hydraulic oil does make a bit of mess, but the engine isn't sucking in much of it.

 

[jeepman3071]

Same.
Most of the saws that came in with lubing problems were from people running old engine oil or whatever garbage they had laying around... probably complete with dead bugs, leaves, etc.
End up plugging the pump or lines, often killing it.
Saw many blown engines from a combo of dull chains and not using bar oil. Ton of revs trying to cut, slinging oil everywhere. That oil gets into the cooling fan, fins, carb... pretty much everywhere. Clogs up airflow, saw overheats, and the basically minimal load WOT trying to "cut" doesn't help either.

On my processor the hydraulic oil does make a bit of mess, but the engine isn't sucking in much of it.

Yeah it's crazy to me people will cheap out on bar oil on an expensive power tool like a chainsaw. Like I stated before I just refuse to work on those saws, because most of those people don't want to pay for my time to clean the nasty crap off the saw before I can work on it, and usually want it fixed for free.

 

[Sumboodie]

Yeah it's crazy to me people will cheap out on bar oil on an expensive power tool like a chainsaw. Like I stated before I just refuse to work on those saws, because most of those people don't want to pay for my time to clean the nasty crap off the saw before I can work on it, and usually want it fixed for free.

We did away with the time wasters by charging a minimum of 1/2hr labor on anything that came in.

Before that would often have garbage dropped off, mechanic would spend time diagnosing and making a quote and "well I'm not spending $150 on that!"

Yeah, no kidding, it wasn't even $150 new 20 years ago... but you dropped it off wanting it fixed!

 

[IndyIan]

Why bother, chains get replaced all the time. The oil honestly won't make it last longer.

Not if you sharpen by hand, and don't cut dirt and rocks to often. I've only really bought faster chains, to replace the original ones and they seem to go for a long long time. Like a couple dozen of cord of clean hardwood?