savings on non-petroleum bar and chain oil

[Michael Low]

I have been using non-petroleum, sunflower-based bar and chain oil for 3 years on our farm and in my logging work. I cut browse daily for our dairy goat herd and I do not want it to be contaminated with petroleum. This abr and chain oil is safer for our springs and other water on the farm. I believe a significant amount of the bar and chain oil that goes through the saw ends up on the ground. I see this especially when I am working around open water. There is always the telltale sheen of oil left on the water when I am done. I once worked for an arborist who would save the needles of pine trees to distill essential oils. He would have me cut a distance from the needles with my petroleum-based bar and chain oil, so as not to contmainate the needles and the final product.
I had been buying non-petroleum bar and chain oil from Bailey’s and Husqvarna. They are both expensive: around $20 per gallon. Just recently I discovered some non-petrolium oil from Vermont Family Forests. They sell 5 gal. pails for $65 ($13/ gal.), and are a non-profit with no sales tax. They are located in Bristol, VT and can be contacted at 802-453-7728.
Michael Low
Green Fire Farm
West Danville, VT

[Gabe Ayers]

Good point to bring up Michael. Thanks.

We simply buy vegetable oil at the grocery store and run that in our bar lube system. It varies in price from about 6.00 per gallon to sometimes less when on sale. It is usually soybean oil and we find no difference in the lubrication properties for the chain.

You all probably know about the fellow Paul Samets of Fungi Perfecti in Oregon that makes a biodegradable bar oil that has mushroom spores in it. The idea being to inoculate the woody debris with edible mushroom spores in the course of doing the work. It is really expensive also.

In our part of the forested regions we find that just the vegetable oil and providing the food for the fruit of decay will grow plenty of edible and saleable gourmet mushrooms, particularly oyster mushrooms on poplar debris. So spending the extra money for something that will naturally occur doesn’t make much sense. Our group has been inspired and guided about special forest products by Gary Anderson the “Foresteader” (my name for him) of The Forest School Inc., http://www.roughcreekfarm.com

The challenge of cultivating or collecting wild mushrooms is to get folks to walk in their woods often enough (once every three days at least, during growing season) to observe and harvest the flushes when they occur.
We often leave our skid trails clear with the exception of some pro-passive water diversion (small wood laid across as water diversion, as opposed to dug water bars) and then clear a connecting loop on the end and try to convince the landowners to use them as exercise walking paths where they may find some great food along the way.

Do you find the Vermont Family Forest has any interest in modern animal powered forestry?

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