Thin out summer bar oil?

[Exophysical]

I have somehow accumulated a fair bit of summer rated bar oil, only problem is that I do most of my cutting in the winter/ early spring. I'm wondering if I could mix the heavy bar oil with something else to make it flow better at cold tempatures, and if so what would be my best option?

 

[jblnut]

Clean Motor oil.

 

[J D]

Or hydraulic fluid...
Or even canola oil, but I hear that can gum up if you leave it in the saw.
I have seen owners manuals that recommend thinning bar oil with kerosene & I've heard of people using diesel to thin it down on several occasions

 

[muddy42]

diesel

 

[RedneckChainsawRepair]

Right in the old manuals, diesel. You know those things we dont read

.

 

[scottr]

Kerosene .

 

[bwalker]

Diesel, kerosene, mineral spirits. They all work fine.

 

[NSEric]

I mix thick summer bar oil with used motor oil. It looks bad because it's black but works totally fine.
If the oil was good enough for the inside of a running motor, it's good enough for a chainsaw bar lol.

 

[bwalker]

I mix thick summer bar oil with used motor oil. It looks bad because it's black but works totally fine.
If the oil was good enough for the inside of a running motor, it's good enough for a chainsaw bar lol.

Used motor oil all other detrimental effects aside isn't thin enough to cut summer bar oil enough for winter use in Alberta.

 

[capetrees]

I've mixed a couple ounces of gas into the bar oil, zero problems

 

[Exophysical]

Used motor oil all other detrimental effects aside isn't thin enough to cut summer bar oil enough for winter use in Alberta.

As a millwright I breifly worked at a mill that used old motor oil to lubricate the drive and conveyor chains. Based on the results I saw, I would never use it on anything I care about.

 

[bwalker]

As a millwright I breifly worked at a mill that used old motor oil to lubricate the drive and conveyor chains. Based on the results I saw, I would never use it on anything I care about.

Using drain oil is a bad idea for many reasons.

 

[NSEric]

Used motor oil all other detrimental effects aside isn't thin enough to cut summer bar oil enough for winter use in Alberta.

Not all used oil is the same.
I run syn 0w40 in my bikes and 5w20 in the car, it pours like water in the cold. It's so thin you cant run it as bar oil on it's own, you run out of bar oil with half a tank of gas left.

The "used" oil I recently mixed up with my bar oil was out of my street bike that was a year old but had very few miles on it, it was still brown.

 

[bwalker]

Not all used oil is the same.
I run syn 0w40 in my bikes and 5w20 in the car, it pours like water in the cold. It's so thin you cant run it as bar oil on it's own, you run out of bar oil with half a tank of gas left.

The "used" oil I recently mixed up with my bar oil was out of my street bike that was a year old but had very few miles on it, it was still brown.

NS and AB cold are two different things. I use 0w20 in my wife's car and it's thick as molasses at -20F.

 

[Husky77]

I have mixed in diesel and its been fine, turn the pump up full if you think its not getting enough, we havent had a good winter in the uk for a while so here almost any bar oil is good

 

[Dwm]

ATF is an excellent chain lube thins out the thick stuff.