So what's the current Two stroke oil favorite for

Arborist Forum

Help Support Arborist Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
I always get a chuckle out of people saying not to run marine 2 stroke oil in a chainsaw as that's all I run in my saws at 32:1 and have never had any issues. There's plenty of oil in the crankcase and the piston is cleaner than most. I even run it in my hotsaw turning more RPM's than 95% of the saws out there.

Is there better oil out there? Absolutely but will it make any real world difference probably not.
I always get a chuckle out of guys that insist on using the wrong type of oil.
 
I could see that, But the engine doesn't seem to know if it's the right or wrong "type" of oil it just cares if it's getting enough lubrication.
But it does.. just because you haven't had a catastrophic failure yet doesn't mean you won't or your helping your equipment out at all.
I know of a logger than ran all his saws on Walmart boat oil. Many of them lasted like there were suppose to, but more than a few didn't.
I have also seen the effects of marine oil on air cooled equipment on more than one occasion and its not pretty.
 
But it does.. just because you haven't had a catastrophic failure yet doesn't mean you won't or your helping your equipment out at all.
I know of a logger than ran all his saws on Walmart boat oil. Many of them lasted like there were suppose to, but more than a few didn't.
I have also seen the effects of marine oil on air cooled equipment on more than one occasion and its not pretty.
I'm confused at the point your trying to get at here? Are you saying it doesn't matter that the engine is getting enough lubrication to keep it working perfectly but there is more that matters? Like what exactly?
 
There's no reason to run castor oil these days, it's a dirty pig of an oil and any modern oil will protect just as well, if not better and not leave the deposites castor is well known for.
The deposits castor oil leaves behind is what protects the piston skirts from scuffing. Running it occasionally isn't a bad thing and will decrease wear over the long run. Finding old engines nearly lockedup from running it is priceless. It cleans up with common solvents.
Ymmv
 
I say run whatever you like the smell of because it seems that most modern oils all do just fine. However you guys reminded me, one I wouldn’t recommend is actually 927 or any castor base oils LOL. When I was testing 927 it made a huge mess of a thick, hard, glass like / carbon coating on the crown of the piston. Never seen any other oil do anything even close to that.
 
The deposits castor oil leaves behind is what protects the piston skirts from scuffing. Running it occasionally isn't a bad thing and will decrease wear over the long run. Finding old engines nearly lockedup from running it is priceless. It cleans up with common solvents.
Ymmv
there's zero benefit to it in o. P. E. They arnt run hard, fast, or hot enough. All it inevitably does is gum up rings and carbon up pistons. On the plus side it also had cold weather issues with staying in suspension. There's no legitimate reason to run it in saws or any other handheld equipment.
 
there's zero benefit to it in o. P. E. They arnt run hard, fast, or hot enough. All it inevitably does is gum up rings and carbon up pistons. On the plus side it also had cold weather issues with staying in suspension. There's no legitimate reason to run it in saws or any other handheld equipment.
Only one reason is to coat the piston. I don't use it but for that one sole purpose. Two hours of running it on the chainsaw mill would seize the piston imho.
 
I say run whatever you like the smell of because it seems that most modern oils all do just fine. However you guys reminded me, one I wouldn’t recommend is actually 927 or any castor base oils LOL. When I was testing 927 it made a huge mess of a thick, hard, glass like / carbon coating on the crown of the piston. Never seen any other oil do anything even close to that.
You just protected the piston skirts. Running it more than a tank or two will leave "glass" like deposits behind up top and in the ring lands. 32-1 or more will surely make a mess inside. 60-1 does not in my experience. Everyone tunes differently and that changes the deposits and the so does the mix ratio.
Ymmv
 
For many years, I have used Amsoil Saber oil mixed with non ethanol 90-91octane gas, 50:1 ratio.
This has worked very well for me, saws are all very clean and plenty of lubrication.
Im a big fan of Saber and I have found a supplier on Amazon for nearly half what I’d get it in the shop - I have started to run it at thinner ratios around 65:1. It’s a thick oil, at 40:1 - 50:1 the crankcase is covered in a glorious coating of oil and in saws burns well, but for engines that don’t see much load that I work on - hedge trimmers, leaf blowers, whipper snippers etc, it doesn’t burn clean. At 80:1 the crankcase looks like it does with more conventional oils ran at 50:1 - a bit dry - I’m sure it’s fine, but long term maybe it’s a bit thin.. So I’ve settled in between the two at 65:1. Room for measuring error / oil left in the measuring bottle or a little too much fuel, while still burning cleanly In all the equipment including saws and gives more than enough lubrication. Smells great too.
 
You just protected the piston skirts. Running it more than a tank or two will leave "glass" like deposits behind up top and in the ring lands. 32-1 or more will surely make a mess inside. 60-1 does not in my experience. Everyone tunes differently and that changes the deposits and the so does the mix ratio.
Ymmv
Yeah I did run it at 32:1 or 40:1 now, I don’t remember which. I never tried 60:1. I agree entirely, tune, load and application are what can make or break an oil / ratio
 
Yeah I did run it at 32:1 or 40:1 now, I don’t remember which. I never tried 60:1. I agree entirely, tune, load and application are what can make or break an oil / ratio
My Force/Chrysler outboards, I hated those from blown head gaskets on a heavy boat in rough seas, settled in on 55-1 with two carbs single throat on an in-line four. Keeping the bottom end right It could run 32-60 to one no sweat. Keeping the plugs clean running none synthetic was fine at 45-1 and up. Full synthetic required 55-1 minimum or your never trolling at all or idling around anywhere. My oil was Pennsoil or Supertec marine. Most modern oil was all about the same viscosity back then. 32-1 caster had no effect on it but the idol was none existent. Zero deposits running a low temp thermostats probably near 145-150°F is my best guess internally. Temps were taken off the outside not the inside, old tech. Rude V4s run anything you like but it won't idol with less than 20° lead on the ignition @40-1 or more oil mix. No one even discusses timing on idol deposits, it matters. Compression being bumped up also helped the thicker mix ratios with thin oils. Gapless plugs are a must on the Rudes the way we lean them out up top adding another 1k to rpms and run the wheel half exposed with big props under severe loads when full bore landing back in water. Chrysler couldn't carry the Rudes lunch and they shook terribly with pencil sized light weight con rods, junk. Tossed two of those out from too much rpms at only 5500. The Rudes see near 7000 and don't skip a beat. The oils made a major difference at only low rpms and no load. Chainsaws appear to follow the same pattern when I'm milling. The big change is running much fatter although double the rpms. Water cooled is forgiving fuel cooled is not. The mower runs on anything you toss in it at just about any mix. Bone stock with a hot sparkplug in it. My Lawnboy 2T is air cooled and has it's governor intact 😉
 
Schaeffer's 40-1 7000xp series currently.

Going to run 9000 it appears to test that at 32-1 and 40-1 chainsaw milling. If it changes nothing as far as piston scuffing I'll go back to 7000 before trying something new this winter on different sawing tasks.
 
I have started using mystik jt-4 lawn and garden. It's FD rated and only cost $6.50 a quart. I've only used about about 4 gallons of mix so far but it seems to work well. Long term use is unknown to me but I'm going on the rating at this point.
 
The deposits castor oil leaves behind is what protects the piston skirts from scuffing. Running it occasionally isn't a bad thing and will decrease wear over the long run. Finding old engines nearly lockedup from running it is priceless. It cleans up with common solvents.
Ymmv
No, it doesn't clean up with common solvents very easily. It's very tight on remove. Such that most guys that use it in applications that need it just replace the pistons.
And the gum castor leaves behind begins to buildup on the ring grooves, which hamper ring mobility and increases wear.
There isn't a single good reason to use it in a chain saw or most other machines for that matter.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top