WalMart Bar Oil

[Old Monkey]

Since it has been getting colder here, the normal bar oil isn't working so well. When it is 20 degrees outside bar oil pours like thick honey. I have been buying 40 weight motor oil because no one around here seems to carry the wintertime bar oil. I borrowed bar oil from another tree service the other day and it was a thinner grade oil from the most evil of all chains, WalMart.

Have any of you tried the WalMart bar oil? I think it costs less than 5 bucks a gallon. I hate what Walmart represents but I need wintertime bar oil.

 

[sotc]

i buy poulan oil from walmart for 4.88 a gal. i dont dilute it. if were cutting alot in the cold i toss a jug in the cab before we leave

 

[Chisel Tooth]

Stihl makes a winter blend bar oil I liked it when I was cutting in the cold. I don't know about Wal-Mart oil, but I would be leary. Good bar oil has additives in it that help it stick to the bar and chain when they get hot. You can mix diesel, or kerosene with the oil to thin it.
See Ya
Mike

 

[MasterBlaster]

It works great! Just ask Reed.

 

[Frans]

Lots of debate about bar oil.
My Stihl rep told me about the manufacturing of bar oil by Stihl. They blend their own oil.
I honestly dont think there is a great difference betwix different bar oils.

 

[Canuck]

I use the winter oil from stihl and it works great in the cold

 

[Old Monkey]

I'd use it if I could find it locally.

 

[Stumper]

Darin, I have used lots of Walmart oil over the years--though when they started carrying Poulan at the same price I switched simply because the Poulan jugs ride better in the boxes. It works fine. Mostly bar oil brand doesn't matter...except once upon a time a bought some from K-mart that was black and stinky.I think that their definition of "rerefined" was mixed with raw crude and filtered through a fishbasket.

 

[Chisel Tooth]

Darin when I get to work I'll get ya the part number.
See Ya
Mike

 

[top hopper]

I just bought 4 gallons of BioBuzz bar oil....

Have yet to use it though. Im told its thinner and I'll want to turn down my oilers.

spendy stuff!

 

[SkwerI]

I laugh at the guys spending $8-$9 per gallon for Stihl bar oil because they don't want to walk into Wally World and buy Poulan bar oil for $4.88. They act like their saws will blow up if they use the cheap stuff.

I'll pay the extra money for Stihl chain because it's worth it. I'm not afraid to pay for quality. But the only thing you need from bar oil is that it be thin enough to flow and sticky enough to hold on to the chain for one trip around the bar. That's it.

 

[Chisel Tooth]

The part number for the Stihl winter blend is #0781 516 4001 I show a MSRP of $8.99 per gallon.

 

[Al Smith]

I've used about every thing over the years.The TSC stuff worked okay but when they started getting more than Stihl was charging I bought the Stihl.I once bought a jug of Husqvarna branded oil for about 12 something,kinda high I thought.

As far as I know bar oil is just oil with a tacking agent,basically STP.There has always been the great debate on which oil is better,I honestly don't know.

 

[Chisel Tooth]

It comes down to just what Brian said, a good bar oil should stay no the chain for at least one trip around the bar. The three thing bar oil does is cleans, cools, and lubricates.
See Ya
Mike

 

[RIVERRAT]

The Wally World stuff is fine. Not quite as tacky as some. But it is what is used where I am at now.

The Wally World stuff did quite well recently on a 066 with 36" bar that was repetedly run dunked in a creek while cutting through a 7'-10' Cottonwood.

 

[GASoline71]

I laugh at the guys spending $8-$9 per gallon for Stihl bar oil because they don't want to walk into Wally World and buy Poulan bar oil for $4.88. They act like their saws will blow up if they use the cheap stuff.

I'm not worried about walkin' into Wally World to buy bar oil... :roll: So I'm spendin' 5 more bucks than you... big whoop. I have just happened to have good results with Stihl bar oil over the years. I have used other stuff in a pinch. Even the Poulan stuff...

Hell one time I even had to use automatic trans fluid for a 1/2 day. Never hurt the saw... but I wouldn't recommend using it for day to day use.

Stihl does make a "winter-blend" bar oil. Never used it myself. The old timers around here used to put a little diesel in their bar oil back in the day... But with the oils that are made nowadays... you shouldn't have to do that.

Gary

 

[sotc]

haha i use stihl oil in a pinch they are easy in easy out and when i need some that day i go get stihl. i was going to buy a pail of chevron bar oil and they wanted 36 bucks so i left it there

 

[Al Smith]

I've seen old farmers pump anything through them from 90 wt gear lube to used crankcase oil.I think the old man used 40 wt way back when bar oil was about non existant.He also used it for his mix,that or outboard motor oil at 16 to 1 ,lot's of smoke. If that was the good old days,I don't miss them a bit.

 

[boboak]

It comes down to just what Brian said, a good bar oil should stay no the chain for at least one trip around the bar. The three thing bar oil does is cleans, cools, and lubricates.
See Ya
Mike

Well said. And Gary made a good point about thinning bar oil with a little diesel. A little kerosene works, too. I'm cutting a lot of burn salvage right now and a little additive seems to keep everything running cleaner.

 

[Wagnaw]

You can usually buy/ order stihl bar oil at ACE Hardware stores. We buy some biodegradable Stihl oil in big 25 gallon containers, and it works good in the winter too.

 

[brendonv]

Just order a 5 gal pail of your fav. bar oil. Buy a 1 gallon container and keep refilling.

 

[Monkeywithasaw]

sears carrys a super tacky oil great for summers and ACE has thinner stuff that is almost like water in the winter

 

[JonnyHart]

Can't believe there's not a stihl shop around you, OM.
I'd move.

 

[Al Smith]

Can't believe there's not a stihl shop around you, OM.
I'd move.

Now that subject is amusing.What a certain dealer may stock depends on what part of the country.Around here for example an MS 460 is about as large as you will find as far as saws.

When I was in Alabama a year or so ago, that shop dealt with mainly lawn and garden stuff,blowers,pole saws etc.Of course they all have oil and ball hats that say Stihl. I imagine without actually knowing that the Stihl company pretty much dictates the stock a praticular dealer must have on hand.I believe they kind of rule with an iron fist ,so to speak.

 

[Mherriford]

Now that subject is amusing.What a certain dealer may stock depends on what part of the country.Around here for example an MS 460 is about as large as you will find as far as saws..

Growing up in the PNW has its benefits then, the saw shop in the town I grew up in still keeps big saws in stock, (not that we need them so much anymore)
Last time I swung by, they had an 880 with a 60" bar hanging in the window, plus just about anything else you could want, as long as it was a stihl,