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environmentally friendly chain oil

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environmentally friendly chain oil

Postby SimonFisher » Tue Dec 03, 2013 6:22 pm

I'm getting near the end of my current stock of chain oil and I'd like to start using something less environmentally damaging. Any recommendations, warnings or other advice? Should it be relevant, I use a Stihl MS-260 chainsaw with Rollomatic E bars (13", 16", and 18" length) and Oregon 22LPX chain.

Looking at SuperTack Bio Chainsaw Oil http://www.clarkforest.com/shop/chainsaw/chainsaw-oil/supertack-bio-chainsaw-oil-25-litres, would something like this keep for a few years without deteriorating? It seems buying in bulk is the way to get a better price and free delivery.
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Re: environmentally friendly chain oil

Postby Dexter's Shed » Tue Dec 03, 2013 6:42 pm

I'm using good old vegetable oil, that's put through a strainer after being used by myself to deep fry duck :D
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Re: environmentally friendly chain oil

Postby oldclaypaws » Tue Dec 03, 2013 7:29 pm

Its good to realise that mineral based chain oil isn't too good either for the environment or yourself. It takes forever to degrade and is mildly carcinogenic. As most of it would end up in the saw dust on the ground, you wouldn't spray a gallon of engine oil round your wood, so the effect must be similar.

A criticism of using straight vegetable oil such as rapeseed is that it can oxidise and leave deposits on the saw. My own experience bears this out, I used to use straight rape seed in my electric saw, and after a while it gets very sticky and you get a sort of resinous build up that has to be almost chiseled off- a bit like a frying pan that's never washed. Presumably the Stihl Bio oil is filtered and treated to stop this happening, pros who use it all the time don't report any issues. As its designed to break down very quickly, you wouldn't want to buy several years worth at once in case it starts to do just this- I'd have thought a gallon at a time would be optimum unless you're a pro. It'll set you back about £20 for the Stihl one, versus around £13 for a mineral oil.

I like the Arbtalk guy who said he had to stop using Bio as his dog kept eating all the sawdust and throwing up. It can make you hungry as it smells like chips. :)
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Re: environmentally friendly chain oil

Postby SimonFisher » Thu Dec 12, 2013 7:40 am

I've gone for 5 litres of Stihl BioPlus, taking seriously enough the advice in the Stihl manual that waste oil doesn't have the necessary lubricating proprties required, and not really wanting to see for myself what happens when a chain moving at ~60mph snaps and parts company with bar.
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Re: environmentally friendly chain oil

Postby Treeation » Sat Dec 14, 2013 11:52 pm

I used to use the stihl bio oil but found it too expensive. I buy 25 litres of biotack from clark forestry with the free delivery and find this arrangment suits me well! Well done for changing to bio oil.
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