Veg oil for milling

[jimdad07]

I have read through some old posts about veg oil for milling, but I did not see anything about tacking agents, probably missed those posts. Can you guys tell me a little about using the veg oil. I don't want to put too much bar oil on the ground seeing as how I can get most of the logs I will mill in my backyard with a tractor, but my well is nearby and I worry about contamination, especially with to two babies in the house, and the veg oil is much cheaper.

 

[BobL]

I have read through some old posts about veg oil for milling, but I did not see anything about tacking agents, probably missed those posts. Can you guys tell me a little about using the veg oil. I don't want to put too much bar oil on the ground seeing as how I can get most of the logs I will mill in my backyard with a tractor, but my well is nearby and I worry about contamination, especially with to two babies in the house, and the veg oil is much cheaper.

Operators experiences with different veggie oils will probably be different to mine but I use bar oil in the saw and canola in the aux oiler because if I put canola oil in the saw most of it is thrown off at the nose. I use canola in teh Aux oiler because it is the cheapest veggie oil I can get regularly. I guess I could use tackifiers but not even the canola is that cheap here.

You could also always put a big tarp on the ground so the sawdust falls on that and dispose of the sawdust away from the well.

 

[jimdad07]

Operators experiences with different veggie oils will probably be different to mine but I use bar oil in the saw and canola in the aux oiler because if I put canola oil in the saw most of it is thrown off at the nose. I use canola in teh Aux oiler because it is the cheapest veggie oil I can get regularly. I guess I could use tackifiers but not even the canola is that cheap here.

You could also always put a big tarp on the ground so the sawdust falls on that and dispose of the sawdust away from the well.

Good idea, very helpful as usual, thanks Bob.

 

[Rob D]

I may be wrong but I think bio chain oil is fine to use near water supplies... I use plantoil bio oil here - I think it is a veg oil with an anti fling ingrediant.

 

[BobL]

I may be wrong but I think bio chain oil is fine to use near water supplies... I use plantoil bio oil here - I think it is a veg oil with an anti fling ingrediant.

That is what he means Rob. He's worried about using dino oil near his well.

 

[aquan8tor]

I've used canola for a few years with no ill effects or premature wear to the equipment. As others have said, it does have a lower viscosity, and flings off the bar a bit, but in my experience, everything flings off at full speed no matter what. I don't worry about it; I just crank the oiler up to full blast and use an auxiliary oiler if milling something more than about 15-18" wide. I don't find it necessary for smaller pieces. That might be different if I was sawing aussie hardwoods like red gum or blackwood, but for cherry, walnut, maple, etc. it works well. Vegetable oil, or corn oil, goes rancid much more rapidly than canola, and will also turn into a slushy gel at a higher temperature than canola, which also stays fluid at a lower temp than petro-oil.

 

[BlueRider]

I am on my second 5 gal jug of stihl bio plus bar oil. I run a 42" bar with an aux nose oiler and will never go back to dino. strange as it seems I don't use more oil even though it is less viscous. The one draw back is that you need to glean as much oil off the saw if you are going to be storing it for more than a month or two as it will harden up on the bar or even around the clutch. It is really dificulty to clean once it hardens so wipe it off while it is easy to do so and you won't have any worries.

The sihl bio plus is a bit expensive but you are saving a ton on wood so what is a couple more bucks/ hundred bf of wood?

 

[gemniii]

I've been running various bar oils and now am on Motion Lotion. On my JD CS62 I adjusted the oiler so I got a good spray off the nose on a 28" bar up against the Mark III guide. On my MS660 w/ a 28" bar I get hardly any spray with the oiler maxxed.

Does the collective opinion think it might be beneficial to go to a canola or some other thinner oil?

 

[Brian Harnett]

I have used Canola exclusively in all my saws I have found it superior to petroleum base bar oil and like the fact I am not coating myself with nasty oil.

I was sold on it when I put it in my carving saw and the bar barely got hot.

 

[Kicker_92]

We mix 50/50 Canola and regular bar oil. During the winter we were using 2/3 Canola to keep it flowing well.

Have been using Stihl bar oil, but just picked up two cases of Baileys Motion Lotion, so will be giving that a shot. Hopefully 30L will last us a while...

 

[capeferrelo]

I know this is an older thread, but most of the canola threads seem to have seen a last post about a year ago. That said, just thought I'd toss my two pennies out there about canola. I just finished milling (and by milling I mean cutting the 10 foot sections into quarters and quarter sawing a la Malloff) a 100' Sitka (about 32" at the butt) using straight canola in both my milling saws and the 346 I use for limbing. I clean the bars every day and check for wear, and so far there has been no difference between the Canola and the petro oil I was using. Well, there is a difference, actually...the bars are staying cooler, and it's a noticeable difference.

Since I'm not an engineer, I can only parrot what I read, and that is that the canola has a higher shear strength than the petro oil, so I presume that translates into a better ability to hang on around the nose. As for tacking agents in the petro oil, once the saws are good and warm, the standard bar oil seems to pour out just as fluidly as the canola does. I presume the additives adhere just as well when hot.

I've also read about concerns with oil going rancid, or gumming up the works after sitting, but I keep things clean I mill with a 281xp, 394xp, and 3120xp, and I pull the oilers and clean them up about once a month, so not worried. As for spoilage, I treat it like I do good olive oil in the kitchen: keep the lid on tight, and don't open a five gallon jug when one gallon will do. Even then, just transfer to airtight containers and keep out of the light. Oxidation is the enemy, so I don't let it oxidize.

Bottom line is that I have not seen a difference yet, except in what I am spraying a future vegetable garden, and a cooler bar. As so many here say, and with good reason, your mileage may vary, but it's working well for me. I've got several more spruce trees and a couple of red alders to go, so I'll keep posting updates if anyone is interested.

 

[jimdad07]

I have been using it for milling ever since I started this thread and I have not been disappointed in the least. It costs a heck of a lot less too, not too hard in the wallet for the aux. oiler.

 

[capeferrelo]

It's amazing stuff, and all the more so for the price. Now, if I could just run a Ford V10 on it, life would be perfect.

You know, I've begun to think that one of the jobs of the tacking agents is to load the bar groove up with gunk. Having a cleaner bar is also a benefit.

 

[jimdad07]

It's amazing stuff, and all the more so for the price. Now, if I could just run a Ford V10 on it, life would be perfect.

You know, I've begun to think that one of the jobs of the tacking agents is to load the bar groove up with gunk. Having a cleaner bar is also a benefit.

You got that right. I started using it because I do a lot of cutting, weather it be for firewood or milling, and a lot of it gets done near me wells and around our pasture. Now I know that the little bit of dino oil I might put into the ground with my cutting probably wouldn't be that bad or damaging, but why help add to the problems of the world?

 

[jimdad07]

Hello Timberframed, long time to see.

 

[Timberframed]

Right on Jimdad. Every little bit of effort adds up. I have a bottle of Wesson thats 7 mo. old and nothing wrong with it. Another advantage of canola oil. It's the ONLY oil to use when frying corn tortillas for light crisp tacos which you can cook up right on site with one of these. Little guy in the middle or the big'un 42 year old 3 burner I found just last week new in the box never opened never used !

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Not to jack the thread but you guys start talkin' canola oil and ya got me hungry again.

 

[Timberframed]

Hey Jimdad. Has this glacier looming over us brought down any good trees to mill up there?

 

[BobL]

I know this is an older thread, but most of the canola threads seem to have seen a last post about a year ago. That said, just thought I'd toss my two pennies out there about canola. I just finished milling (and by milling I mean cutting the 10 foot sections into quarters and quarter sawing a la Malloff) a 100' Sitka (about 32" at the butt) using straight canola in both my milling saws and the 346 I use for limbing. I clean the bars every day and check for wear, and so far there has been no difference between the Canola and the petro oil I was using. Well, there is a difference, actually...the bars are staying cooler, and it's a noticeable difference.

Canola has greater specific heat than dino oil so it should be able to remove more heat. I have measured bar temps using an infra red thermometer with both canola and dino oils but could not see a clear difference. The problem with canola is it is 30% less viscous than regular bar oil so more of it flies off the nose than dino. This could be why I could not measure any difference.

Now I use canola in my aux-oiler and dino in the saw but mainly to save a few pennies.

 

[Karl Robbers]

I would love to know your source of canola BobL
I went through this exercise a few months ago and could not make the figures add up. I pay around $72 for 20L OF Gulf Western Chain Bar oil, (excellent oil I might add), which is $3.60 per L and the cheapest I could buy vegetable oil was $4.10 per L. I have not explored used cooking oil yet. Is this what you use?

 

[BobL]

I would love to know your source of canola BobL
I went through this exercise a few months ago and could not make the figures add up. I pay around $72 for 20L OF Gulf Western Chain Bar oil, (excellent oil I might add), which is $3.60 per L and the cheapest I could buy vegetable oil was $4.10 per L. I have not explored used cooking oil yet. Is this what you use?

The bigger Coles supermarkets near us have 4L of it on special for $11.47 so that is less than $3 a litre. When I see it I by 16 or 20L and empty it into a 20 L drum

The thing is we don't need food grade canola for use on a CS.

I was quoted $120 for 50L drum of animal feedstock grade canola a couple of years back and even better was a canola/Tallow mix for $100 but I haven't heard from the fella that made me the offer.

Bulk non-food grade canola costs less than $1/L but getting access to it is the hard part.