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Vegetable Oil for Lubricating Chainsaws (2008)

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Re: Vegetable Oil for Lubricating Chainsaws (2008)

#101

Post by throwaway41597 »

fnord77 wrote: post #99
electric_mayhem wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tangentially related, in the early 00’s in a datacenter belonging to a large multinational corporation, there was an IBM as/400 that frequently leaked puddles of yellow liquid. A puddle was found under it; the puddle was cleaned up. The puddle came back. Repeatedly. The data center management was perplexed. The internal as/400 professionals were stumped. IBM techs were called in. They assured the datacenter’s managem…

nobody sniffed it?

If it was in a datacenter, maybe the ventilation was too hard...

Re: Vegetable Oil for Lubricating Chainsaws (2008)

#102

Post by eutectic »

BoorishBears wrote: post #96
whalesalad wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dunno how anyone could be perplexed ... piss smells like piss.

Piss smells like urea, and urea has industrial uses. If you have 0 ideas about what it is, and piss seems improbable, I could see the confusion

Urea doesn't smell like anything much. Leave it long enough and it breaks down to make ammonia, which does.

Re: Vegetable Oil for Lubricating Chainsaws (2008)

#103

Post by meristohm »

buildsjets wrote: post #27
analog31 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed, gas engines probably drip or exhaust more oil. Certainly 2 stroke chainsaws. There's a rumor among cyclists that "3 in 1 oil" is bad for bikes because it contains vegetable oil that gums up. But cyclists will debate about oil for days.

Cyclists debate about oil for days. Cycle mechanics just use WD40.

WD-40’s longer name is “water displacement 40”:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WD-40

Re: Vegetable Oil for Lubricating Chainsaws (2008)

#104

Post by meristohm »

qbasic_forever wrote: post #33

Could you engineer a chainsaw that doesn't need lubrication? Maybe a dynamic tensioner that pulls the chain taught instead of riding on a frame? Or what about rethinking the design entirely and using a long screw with cutting teeth all along it (no metal on metal moving parts)?

A Warhammer 40K vibro-blade?

Re: Vegetable Oil for Lubricating Chainsaws (2008)

#105

Post by an_ko »

fnord77 wrote: post #99
electric_mayhem wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tangentially related, in the early 00’s in a datacenter belonging to a large multinational corporation, there was an IBM as/400 that frequently leaked puddles of yellow liquid. A puddle was found under it; the puddle was cleaned up. The puddle came back. Repeatedly. The data center management was perplexed. The internal as/400 professionals were stumped. IBM techs were called in. They assured the datacenter’s managem…

nobody sniffed it?

In industrial settings, sniffing unidentified mystery fluids may lead to a very bad time.

Re: Vegetable Oil for Lubricating Chainsaws (2008)

#106

Post by worik »

stopagephobia wrote: post #3

This does not jibe with my experiences or anybody I know's experiences, I think it needs more development. I've had friends who used vegetable oils then they dried out or worse turned rancid and gummed stuff up. Especially bad if a tool is left for a while, or in a hot place, though I guess this is not so much a problem in Europe. This doesn't seem like a significant enough problem to justify that anyway, "thousands…

If you use your chainsaw every day then vegetable oils are fine. The arborist I use uses vegetable oil and that was his comment to me.

I use mineral oil in mine as I use it ~twice a year

Re: Vegetable Oil for Lubricating Chainsaws (2008)

#107

Post by worik »

gorgoiler wrote: post #100
kymaz wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are drying oils and non-drying oils. Drying oils are what you want to put on your cast iron pan to polymerize the oil into a coating. Tung oil would be a bad choice for chain lubricant because it will gum up, but castor oil should be more suitable for said chain.

I was once an adherent (no pun intended) of this method, but nowadays I saturate my pans with sunflower oil instead. After every use they get a soapy wipe out, rinse, then a one minute heat with a quarter inch of oil in the pan. The iron just soaks it right up so it’s all ready and greasy for the next fry. Painting the pans with flaxseed oil leaves an uneven spidery brown pattern. If food sticks to the pan you have t…

A quarter inch? That seems a lot.

Cast iron pans?

Re: Vegetable Oil for Lubricating Chainsaws (2008)

#108

Post by BenjiWiebe »

jessaustin wrote: post #69

Lubricating a chain is one of the least demanding tasks we have for oil. Unlike in the crankcase of an engine or in the pumps of a hydraulic system, there is very little pressure or temperature involved. Unlike e.g. bicycles, chainsaws have oilers that constantly feed additional liquid onto the chain, so the lubricant doesn't even have to adhere that well. (The best "oil" for a bike chain is actually wax since it adh…

Chainsaw chains actually do need fairly good lubrication. The chain can run ~60mph, snugly against the bar. Metal-on-metal.

Re: Vegetable Oil for Lubricating Chainsaws (2008)

#109

Post by gorgoiler »

worik wrote: post #107
gorgoiler wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was once an adherent (no pun intended) of this method, but nowadays I saturate my pans with sunflower oil instead. After every use they get a soapy wipe out, rinse, then a one minute heat with a quarter inch of oil in the pan. The iron just soaks it right up so it’s all ready and greasy for the next fry. Painting the pans with flaxseed oil leaves an uneven spidery brown pattern. If food sticks to the pan you have t…

A quarter inch? That seems a lot. Cast iron pans?

Yup. Enough to flow over the base of the cast iron pan without any gaps.

When you heat the pan you can see the water bubble out of the iron pores. I let it cool, wipe it out, and hang it up.

Re: Vegetable Oil for Lubricating Chainsaws (2008)

#110

Post by lobocinza »

ahartmetz wrote: post #88
throwaway984393 wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

According to this chart, Olive oil has 12 times more oxidative stability than Sunflower oil! Coconut oil has the highest oxidative stability due to its 92% saturated fat content: https://olivewellnessinstitute.org/resource/showdown-what-is...

These tests seem to be done at elevated temperature or some other accelerated method, because no oil oxidizes noticeably in mere hours. My experience at low temperatures is that the difference is much bigger than in that test. A thin layer of sunflower oil takes a week or two to turn into hard to remove sticky goo, olive oil... basically doesn't seem to do that at all.

Giving time it does. I've used it to lubricate hinges and other stuff when I didn't have a proper lubricant available
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