Stihl Bar Oil- Is it really worth the price?

[SS396driver]

As far as oil contamination,,,
I worked with a guy, he complained to the city where he lived,, about his water.
EVERY day, they would see an oil sheen on the water in the toilets in the house.

He assumed the oil was coming in with the city-supplied water.

Well, the city engineer came to his home, and did some tests.
A week later, the guy got a letter from the city.

What was happening is ,, every time a toilet is flushed, some air is sucked in from the vent pipe on the roof of the house.
This home was just about 1 mile north of Interstate 81 (the interstate is oriented east-west for about 20 miles)

The diesel fumes from the interstate were drawn into the roof vent pipe.

Even at one mile away, this home was able to draw in enough oil out of the air through a vent stack,,
that the oil could form a sheen in the toilet.

I told him to sell, and move, his health is worth more than the cost of moving..
He stayed in the house,,,

Oil out of the air from diesel fumes? If that were true you would have it condensing everywhere.

I use cheap bar oil or in a pinch I'll use new motor oil. Used motor oil has way to many contaminants for me to use it in good conscience.

 

[mountainguyed67]

Some people waste even more money on oil, it would be $23.44 for a gallon this way.

 

[camel2019]

Over here Stihl bar oil is a rip off,its made by Castrol, $140 for 20 litres.

Stihl 2 stroke oil atleast the dinosaur stuff is made by Castrol too or atleast in my case I got a extra warranty on my weed whip for buying a 6 pack

 

[OM617YOTA]

Some people waste even more money on oil, it would be $23.44 for a gallon this way.

View attachment 965830

Not a waste if that's all you need. Lots of homeowners make three cuts per year and that's it. They heat their house by pushing a button on the wall.

 

[user 122190]

Not a waste if that's all you need. Lots of homeowners make three cuts per year and that's it. They heat their house by pushing a button on the wall.

Same with premix gas. Crazy expensive, but might be just the thing for very occasional users.

 

[Brufab]

Same with premix gas. Crazy expensive, but might be just the thing for very occasional users.

I like the premix quart cans, I refill them all the time from my big can

 

[OM617YOTA]

Same with premix gas. Crazy expensive, but might be just the thing for very occasional users.

Yup, that's me, I run premix. Burn ~2 gallons per year max, and may not fire up a saw until doing firewood again the next year. $40/yr for a complete elimination of carb and fuel problems is money well spent for me.

 

[camel2019]

Same with premix gas. Crazy expensive, but might be just the thing for very occasional users.

I run it in my saws and other 2 stroke equipment when I'm putting it away for a while the rest of the time they all get premium at either 50 to 1 for the new stuff or 32 to 1 for the old stuff

 

[bwalker]

Stihl 2 stroke oil atleast the dinosaur stuff is made by Castrol too or atleast in my case I got a extra warranty on my weed whip for buying a 6 pack

Castrol only makes stihls Canadian stuff.

 

[mountainguyed67]

Castrol only makes stihls Canadian stuff.

 

[camel2019]

Castrol only makes stihls Canadian stuff.

Idk the dealer wanted me to buy synthetic but it gives me headaches so I grabbed dino. haven't bought any since I use Canadian tire brand haven't had issues with it when I get a good year I go through alot of mix.

 

[bwalker]

Idk the dealer wanted me to buy synthetic but it gives me headaches so I grabbed dino. haven't bought any since I use Canadian tire brand haven't had issues with it when I get a good year I go through alot of mix.

The synthetic is Stihl Ultra. It's garbage and the worst oil ever marketed towards saw users.

 

[wstan101]

Todd (Project Farm) is a good dude. I've chatted with him many times in the comments of his vids. Just a hard worker like the rest of us, except he found a much needed niche that Google compensates him extremely well for. He turned me on to Diablo cutoff wheels - I've tried just about every single brand out there and haven't been impressed. When the Diablo won his shootout, I bought some. He wasn't lying - these things last at LEAST 2x longer than ANYTHING I've used before. I run a small shop out of my property. I've cut hundreds of bolts, exhausts, hardened steel bearing races, you name it. He also got me to buy a Audew jump pack after that won the jump pack shootout. I've started DIESELS with NO BATTERY with this thing! I don't know about you, but I think that's friggin impressive! Thing is 1/100th the size of that cart charger I bought at Sears 20 years ago! Cost less than half what I paid for it, too. What a time saver when I can drive a vehicle up instead of winching. I even winched a Lexus RX350 onto my dovetail trailer on a hill, TWICE (winch failure caused it to roll backwards until I slammed the freespool selector back in gear) with a dead deep cycle battery using this pack!! Has to draw at least 200A under load! When I got the vehicle up there the 2nd time, it wouldn't work anymore. Contacted the company, and they sent me out a replacement set of clamps with the little computer gizmo inside that plugs into the jump pack itself. Been working great since! I've driven cars home with no battery just clamping this thing in (just have to use electrical tape so you don't burn the vehicle to the ground, lol). Several other products he tested that won other shootouts I had already been using for years, and his all his test results matched my experiences to a tee. Just my .02.

As far as saw oil contaminating anything ... if the general public knew the scale of oil dumped every day on construction projects, they'd drop and convulse! One blown hydraulic line on a big excavator can blast 5 gallons into the dirt faster than you can blink! Happens every single day on every single project all over the country at some point. I used to drive recycling trucks in a big city - I've laid down the contents of a 55 gallon drum myself over the course of 5 years, just due to leaks and hose failures. Typical big company - let things go until they fail. I've dumped at least 10 gallons on my own property in one season, thanks to my 60+ year old backhoe between leaks and hose failures. Who knows how many the previous owner did - there was a rainbow sheen on the swamp out back here for the first 15 years I lived here. He got his tractor stuck over there cleaning up the property for me before the sale date, so I know that's where it came from. Add up how many cars and heavy trucks drip all types of petroleum products on the highway, and it's probably a 55 gallon drum per mile on EVERY expressway in America. Chainsaws are MINISCULE in this arena. I guarantee any water that comes out of ANY well has petroleum products in it at some level. It's unavoidable. People are still living to be 90, so it's not as big of an issue as the powers that be would have you believe. Bacteria and natural breakdown dispose of oil faster than most think, too.

As far as my saws go, I run cheap Poulan oil bought by the gallon from Walmart (same stuff Harmon was just talking about!). The stuff barely moves in this weather, but it still keeps the chain wet. If I didn't burn used motor oil for heat, I'd probably use it in the saw, too.

I thought I would chime in here and add my 2 cents, I was a logger for 30 years and having run multiple true west coast muscle saws I used and still use STP with ATF for bar oil. Have never looked back, this combination has held up to all environments seen here in the pacific northwest. I simply adjust the mixture accordingly to temperatures from 100 degrees in the summer to well below freezing in the winter and outside used motor oil it is the most affordable bar lube you can use.

 

[camel2019]

The synthetic is Stihl Ultra. It's garbage and the worst oil ever marketed towards saw users.

As long as it's dino oil for saws and weed whips I run it. I got stuff that was made to use 30 weight so just about any is better then that.

 

[SweetMK]

The synthetic is Stihl Ultra. It's garbage and the worst oil ever marketed towards saw users.

Good scientific data there,,,

You know words like garbage, and morons,, give real insight to your thoughts,, Thanks for the input.

 

[Tomos770]

Good scientific data there,,,

You know words like garbage, and morons,, give real insight to your thoughts,, Thanks for the input.

https://www.arboristsite.com/threads/piston-scorch-marks-advice.358097/#post-7679426

 

[bwalker]

Good scientific data there,,,

You know words like garbage, and morons,, give real insight to your thoughts,, Thanks for the input.

Plenty of anecdotal evidence out there, which as it pertains to the chainsaw world is as good as it gets.
It's garbage!

 

[bwalker]

Was digging around the net tonight looking at different studies of the Carcinogenic potential ofnused oil and stumbled on the quote posted below.

"Exposure to mineral oils is strongly associated with an increased risk of nonmelanoma skin cancer, particularly of the scrotum."

It's all fun and games until your balls become one big cancerous mass.

 

[bwalker]

I thought I would chime in here and add my 2 cents, I was a logger for 30 years and having run multiple true west coast muscle saws I used and still use STP with ATF for bar oil. Have never looked back, this combination has held up to all environments seen here in the pacific northwest. I simply adjust the mixture accordingly to temperatures from 100 degrees in the summer to well below freezing in the winter and outside used motor oil it is the most affordable bar lube you can use.

If your adding STP to ATF your just using something that cost more than bar oil and may or may not work any better.

 

[Cricket]

Ten years of commercial tree service and we only used the cheapest bar oil wal mart sold - in the early 2000's it was Poulan brand (it had a green jug!) and every other week we'd go in there and fill up a shopping cart and you never knew what was going to come out when you took of the lid. Sometimes it was red and kind of runny- worked great in the cold- sometimes it was pretty thick and smelled like sulphur - oiled the chain just fine - so my guess is whenever some oil packaging plant has a batch of say ATF or gear oil or whatever oil that has to meet standards fail whatever tests they use, it winds up on the shelf of the Anchorage wal mart in a bar oil jug.

Currently in our little town out of five retailers that stock bar oil, the orange jug at the dealer is cheapest and I dont know why. Cheaper still is a no name gallon of 15w40. When the hardware store went to $20 for their Ace Hardware oil, I just assumed the stihl dealer was even more expensive. All my drain oil goes to the waste oil heater at the shop that helps me out from time to time.

Advantage to farm country -