"Biodegradable" bar oil?

[near horse]

I know this topic has been addressed previously but I’d like to know IF any of you sawing timber use a biodegradable/veg based bar oil AND if you find it worthy of using.

After looking at some sites marketing their “green” and “biodegradable” product (like Bio Blend) it isn’t what it seems. When you read the fine print you see statements like “> 30% of the contents of this product are biodegradalble”. Then you see that the CEO and other company big wigs are current or former execs with Exxon/Mobil, BP etc –

BTW – much of the non-biodegradable components are not listed or described – they are proprietary information. SCAM!

So I wonder if there’s a place for a veg oil product in forestry. A friend mentioned that he thought biodegradable lubricants were required in some of the Scandanavian countries. Anyone heard that?

[Baystatetom]

I have used it before while cutting on watershed land. I don’t think it is as good as real oil, the bar defiantly heats up a bit more. And it cost more. Does not smell like french fries but does have a burnt food like odor.

[PhilG]

I used it a lot when my yard was next to a river, about 5 years or so, it cost twice as much to use because was not sticky enough at all, and cost more.If i could still get here local I would keep using it though just to not support oil companies.

(winter blend Husky also to thin and and seems to not stay on bar, we are usually not below zero though)

[Scott G]

The stuff has no ‘tack’ and slings off the bar way too easy. Kinda’ like running winter weight in July, just not effective and way too messy.

Besides, I was getting tired of always looking over my shoulder to keep bears off my ass because I looked & smelled like a french fry…:eek:

[Mike Rock]

Back in the sixties when I raced a BSA Goldstar we used Castrol. The stuff had to be drained after a race as it set up like jelly. It was supposedly made from Castor Beans. If it’s still out there it will work, I’d think.

Did smell nice too!

Mike

[Ethan Tapper]

Well this thread’s a bit old, but I just found out that Mushroom wizard Paul Stamets is selling bar and chain oil pre-inoculated with oyster mushroom spores (fungiperfecti.com). The idea is that as the oil flies off the bar it is already equipped with the means to digest it (oysters, among other species of fung,i have been shown to turn petrochemicals into carbohydrates). It’s more expensive (SO much more expensive), but for those of you who are interested and willing to try it out, you can take a spore print of an oyster mushroom you find in the woods (leave it spores-down on a sheet of paper for 24 hours) or a couple of them, and dump the spores into your bar and chain oil and shake. The spores are nearly microscopic, so I don’t think that they’ll be a problem running through your saw. I’m trying this method and will report back about it.

A good idea, anyways.

Ethan

[near horse]

Hi Ethan,

So Stamets is selling petro bar oil w/ spores in it or some other veg oil w/ spores? He is the “mushroom” guru so if he says the oyster shroom will degrade std bar oil, I’d tend to believe him. The question seems to be what is it in bar oil that gives it tackiness – I’m pretty sure it’s not just viscosity as similar wgt motor oils don’t stick as good either. Once they canget a product that performs and costs close to that of std bar oil, then you might see more people on board. Keep us posted with your results.

[Robert MoonShadow]

I talked to some friends on a mushroom forum I’m on, and they noted that: 1) It might not be appropriate to introduce these spores to an area that they aren’t native in. 2) That according to the link itself, that it doesn’t break down the bar oil, but just uses it as a medium to introduce the spores to hasten the deterioration of the stumps and debris…

[john plowden]

I share the same thoughts as to introducing something where it doesn’t belong – as well as the super high cost and lack of tack-

[Scott G]

@Robert MoonShadow 29101 wrote:

1) It might not be appropriate to introduce these spores to an area that they aren’t native in…

Your friends are absolutely correct. Its amazing how seemingly insignificant non-native organisms can really screw up entire ecosystems. The evidence of that scenario is all around us. I’m encouraged that your fellow shroomers caught on to that right away.

[Ethan Tapper]

@Robert MoonShadow 29101 wrote:

It might not be appropriate to introduce these spores to an area that they aren’t native in.

Even more incentive to sporulate your own bar and chain oil with a local strain (as if the cost wasn’t enough).

[Ethan Tapper]

And mixed with regular bar and chain oil I doubt it would affect the tack… We’ll see, I guess.

[Donn Hewes]

I know there are some loggers here that use vegetable oil ever day. I have used it for the last couple years. It is probably not as tacky, and I don’t quite fill the fuel tank to keep form running out of bar oil. Just think of all the gallons of petroleum I haven’t poured all over my place.

[dlskidmore]

Forgive my ignorance, but wasn’t animal fat the original mechanical lubricant? Does it not hold up as well at motorized implement temps as veg oil does?

[Tim Harrigan]

@dlskidmore 29282 wrote:

Forgive my ignorance, but wasn’t animal fat the original mechanical lubricant? Does it not hold up as well at motorized implement temps as veg oil does?

You are probably correct, but it is in solid form unless it is heated. Might be a problem getting it in, and particularly out of the saw oiler.:mad:

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