# Another reason to use canola in your aux oiler



## BobL (Mar 12, 2010)

I was looking at a table of specific heats of various oils yesterday (specific heat is the amount of heat an oil can absorb per unit mass) and noticed that Canola can carry 15% more heat per unit mass than mineral oil. Canola also has one of the highest heat capacities of vegetable oils except for Soya bean and Olive.

This means that canola should remove more heat from the bar and chain but it won't be 15% more because a good bar oil will form a thicker barrier between bar and chain than canola, and this will reduce friction and the amount of of heat generated in the first place. 

Also when canola is used in the saw, probably more than 15% more canola probably comes off at the nose, but used in the aux oiler and delivered on the cutting side of the bar this doesn't matter.


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## TraditionalTool (Mar 12, 2010)

Canola is good stuff, the carvers are sure hot on it! 

Many carvers run canola in their saws with smaller bars.


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## WoodChuck'r (Mar 12, 2010)

I usually run Stihl BioPlus, Canola Oil, or a mix of both 50/50.


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## big daddio (Mar 13, 2010)

Hey BobL, we were researching for oil for our new deep fryer and came up with the same results. Doesn't smoke and burn at higher temps like some other cooking oils!!!:agree2:


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## splitpost (Mar 13, 2010)

My two dogs like canola they lick the sawdust from the ground and the mill, little buggers


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## BobL (Mar 13, 2010)

big daddio said:


> Hey BobL, we were researching for oil for our new deep fryer and came up with the same results. Doesn't smoke and burn at higher temps like some other cooking oils!!!:agree2:



That's an idea, run a longer bar than necessary when milling and slip a couple of steaks on the bar


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## Rob D (Mar 14, 2010)

Has anyone tried using Arborol from Oregon? You mix 1 litre of it into 4 litres of water to give 5 litres of bar oil.

I've been using it the last month and on a long bar it definately seems to keep things cooler but even though it has anti fling chemicals in it a lot gets lost off the end of the bar...

Just wondered how others have found it?


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## BobL (Mar 14, 2010)

Rob D said:


> Has anyone tried using Arborol from Oregon? You mix 1 litre of it into 4 litres of water to give 5 litres of bar oil.
> 
> I've been using it the last month and on a long bar it definately seems to keep things cooler but even though it has anti fling chemicals in it a lot gets lost off the end of the bar...
> 
> Just wondered how others have found it?



I don't think it is available in Australia but i have hear the same about it as what you say.
Water has more than two times the heat capacity of canola so something that is 4/5th water will have almost twice the heat capacity of canola and even more than regular mineral bar oil. However like you say if most of it gets thrown off at the nose then it is not going to lubricate sufficiently. It then makes more sense to use something like this in an aux oiler delivered after the chain has gone around the nose.


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## Rob D (Mar 14, 2010)

Thanks for the reply.

Trouble is it's really tricky to say if more/less/the same gets thrown off the nose when compared to ordinary mineral oil or bio oil....

I may just keep an eye on the bar and see if it seems to wear faster than usual.

However I have to say the pulling side (cutting side) also stays cool which implies enough oil is getting around to do its job.


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## TSRuff (Mar 15, 2010)

BobL said:


> Also when canola is used in the saw, probably more than 15% more canola probably comes off at the nose, but used in the aux oiler and delivered on the cutting side of the bar this doesn't matter.



I'm lucky enough to work for a company that refines canola, soybean, corn... pretty much all types of cooking oil and can get pretty good quantities for little to no cost. My experience with them has been:

Canola: Good lubrication but not very "sticky". I usually mix canola with regular bar oil 3:1 to add some tackifiers and prevent loss at the nose or do like BobL and just run it in the auxiliary.
Soybean: Better lubrication and "stickiness" than canola. No mixing required, but when it is really hot it looses some of its adhesion and canola is a better choice.
Corn: Pretty much the same as soybean at cooler temperatures, but better when hot.
Olive: Far and away the best that I have used, almost the same performance as petroleum based bar oil.

I can usually get canola and soy for free, and olive at $1-2/gallon with limited availability. When olive is available I will buy it, otherwise I just stick with the soy. 

If you want to be chased down by hungry neighborhood cats then go with corn... makes the whole area smell like buttery movie-theater popcorn.


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## BobL (Mar 15, 2010)

TSRuff said:


> I'm lucky enough to work for a company that refines canola, soybean, corn... pretty much all types of cooking oil and can get pretty good quantities for little to no cost. My experience with them has been:
> 
> Canola: Good lubrication but not very "sticky". I usually mix canola with regular bar oil 3:1 to add some tackifiers and prevent loss at the nose or do like BobL and just run it in the auxiliary.
> Soybean: Better lubrication and "stickiness" than canola. No mixing required, but when it is really hot it looses some of its adhesion and canola is a better choice.
> ...


Excellent info, thanks for posting. 

All this reminds me of a stupid Youtube clip called "cooking with power tools" where the "chef" cuts up a salad with a chainsaw.


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## jimdad07 (Mar 26, 2010)

WoodChucker81 said:


> I usually run Stihl BioPlus, Canola Oil, or a mix of both 50/50.



I'm with you woodchucker, I just started doing the same for milling and for firewood cutting. Love it. I am running a full chisel chain for both, which is great because I am doing mostly freehand milling right now while cutting firewood and I got some great red oak logs in my firewood load that I am turning into boards for next years crop off woodworking projects.


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## andy at clover (Jun 3, 2019)

TSRuff said:


> I'm lucky enough to work for a company that refines canola, soybean, corn... pretty much all types of cooking oil and can get pretty good quantities for little to no cost. My experience with them has been:
> 
> Canola: Good lubrication but not very "sticky". I usually mix canola with regular bar oil 3:1 to add some tackifiers and prevent loss at the nose or do like BobL and just run it in the auxiliary.
> Soybean: Better lubrication and "stickiness" than canola. No mixing required, but when it is really hot it looses some of its adhesion and canola is a better choice.
> ...




This is an old thread ... sorry.

An word on if Olive oil is stickier than canola?
The poster says it’s performance matches petroium.
It’s cost also matches what I’ve been paying for Itasca.
Trying to switch to veggie/bio for milling.
A gallon of oil on the ground per month is too much to say “it’ll be fine”.
Any further thoughts on veggie oils in geral mow 9 years after this thread started would be great.
Thanks!


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## BobL (Jun 3, 2019)

I have gone right off using any veggie oil on CSMs. 
Unless the oil is carefully cleaned off every bit of the mill. over a few years it forms a hard gunky layer/coating over the mill that is near impossible to clean off.

I mainly went for it because of cost but have since found an oil recycler who makes B&C oil and adds tackier to my spec and is works out about the same price as sale price canola
Her is aOz Regular Stihl B&C oil is US$18.50 a gallon
Canola regular is around US$12/Gal but on sale it can be as low US&6/Gal
My oil guy's B&C oil is US6.60/Gal


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## andy at clover (Jun 3, 2019)

Thanks for the reply.
I recall reading that finding in a thread... gonna live with clean up.
I just bought a fresh 2)gallon pack of canola for $8 $ome incentive there. 

The next bit I need to mill is sitting in place right in the middle of my garden. 
I don’t mind a bit of commercial bar oil felling and bucking in my woods.
That said, milling these next two trees is going to be a lot of oil going on the ground I’d rather not have in the garden beds.
It’s maple as well so the chips are great composting material I’d rather not contaminate.
Easy enough to dish soap and scrub brush the mill rails and bits down then, hose off and dry in sun.
The saw and bar I can clean up with some mix.


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## BobL (Jun 4, 2019)

andy at clover said:


> Thanks for the reply.
> I recall reading that finding in a thread... gonna live with clean up.


It's OK if you regularly clean it up. I just blow mine down with a compressor and then brush it with Simple Green and hose it off and blow it dry.

The other thing that the canola did over a couple of years was ate my aux oiler tubing. It was a black rubber tubing of some kind and it basically dissolved. I then used Silicone tubing and that was OK. 



> I just bought a fresh 2)gallon pack of canola for $8 $ome incentive there..


Good price.

Raw sawdust is alone is not a good compost and as you probably know it needs something organic added to it to make it useful.
Interestingly mineral oil (organic) will eventually decompose in a sawdust/soil mixture and this has become useful way to treat oil contaminated soils.
If the oil was contaminated eg used engine oil, then I wouldn't dispose of it this way because that contains heavy metal but B&C oil is quite clean when it comes of the nose or in the sawdust.

FWIW our compost bin runs on doggie poop (we have two dogs) and coffee grounds - seems to work really well. Unfortunately my shop sawdust is contaminated with too much metal dust and swarf to add it to the mix.


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## andy at clover (Jun 4, 2019)

Yeah we mix a lot of "good stuff" into our compost. (Goat,dog and chicken poop).
Also kitchen waste and everything from the yard. 
I grow Comfrey on the fringes of the paddock to "mine" Nitrogen from poor soil there.
The Comfrey layered with chips really gets the pile churning and heated up sterilizing the poop and all.
I have two tree services that bring me deciduous chips when they have em clean.
A good load of summer maple chips full of shredded leaves will become soil in 3 years... it's amazing.
Everyone wants clean chips so it's easy for me to get all the best of it.
Our native topsoil is super thin with "Vashon Till" directly below the topsoil (Rocky Glacial till deposit).
Making soil is a constant hobby here.

Oh Shyte look at that mouthful....don't get me started on soil and gardening


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## Huskybill (Jun 4, 2019)

BobL said:


> Excellent info, thanks for posting.
> 
> All this reminds me of a stupid Youtube clip called "cooking with power tools" where the "chef" cuts up a salad with a chainsaw.



Now you went and pushed my buttons I like good quality olive oil with red wine vinegar with my salad, maybe some sliced red onions, black olives, black pepper, oragano, sliced carrots, cooking with power tools ,,,, lol I’ll check it out. Lmao


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## Huskybill (Jun 4, 2019)

making a grinder, hero, subway sammach or a salad using olive oil with red wine vinegar is as close to a home made salad dressing you’ll ever get to grandmas dressing.


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## BobL (Jun 5, 2019)

I prefer Balsamic over red wine.


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## president (Jun 5, 2019)

Canola is a Canadian invention.It is geneticaly
modified rape seed oil,PDLQ can chime in if you like!


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## BobL (Jun 5, 2019)

president said:


> Canola is a Canadian invention.It is geneticaly
> modified rape seed oil,PDLQ can chime in if you like!



Canola was initially "bred" from rapeseed using traditional non-genetically modified techniques to have specific levels of oils. The genetic modification for roundup and other chemicals tolerance came later. There are still many farmers using the non-genetically modified variety.


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