chainsaw oil cheap alternative

paul e w sanders

i was reading a post today about clean chains and lubes and some commented they use chainsaw oil in the winter for lubing chain and drivetrain at £5.00 a litre sounds to good to be true when you compare to say finish line lube which is £5.83 for 120mls at wiggleat the moment what does everyone think is it worth getting? regards paul.

nicklouse

So as chain saws use a constant feed. And the oil goes everywhere.

Have fun.

nicklouse

http://www.scottoiler.com/uk/

Tried a constant oiler for cycles years ago. Can't see it now.

But they do have suitable cycle products rather than rehashed Motor Bike ones.

keezx

No oil in the winter anymore for me.
This winter I've started using paraffin (candle wax, cost 5 /kg).
Recipe:
Once a week (typical 3 to 5 wet rides) the chain off the bike and boil it 10 min in water+soap (old cooking pan)
1 Liter vegetable can with paraffin au bain marie in the same pan, submerge chain 2 minutes.
Fish chain out and put immediately back on bike (cogs and chainrings already cleaned).
Operation takes only 20 minutes in the kitchen in which you can do other things, no mess with solvents.
Chain runs up to 300 kms with remarkable little noise (which proves lubrication)
Cogs and chainrings pick up almost no dirt.
You can grab the chain and get no dirty hands.
No rust even after 5 wet rides.
No maintenance (on the drivetrain) after each ride.

Tempted to do this in the summer too....

mamba80

Used to do that on old non o ring m/c chains years ago!

Chainsaw oil is very sticky and thick, will attract dirt like flies to xxxx, there is no way I d use this stuff on a bicycle, it will just gum everything up.
I use a light viscosity synthetic car oil, works better than anything I ve used before and lasts for ever.

darkhairedlord

slowing working my way through a bottle of EP90 gear oil I bought for my morris minor back in about 1998-2000. Been kicking around in the shed a while so might as well use it up. Does smell a bit though, so no good if you keep the bike in the house or flat.

Bar Shaker

Keezx wrote:

Once a week (typical 3 to 5 wet rides) the chain off the bike and boil it 10 min in water+soap (old cooking pan)
1 Liter vegetable can with paraffin au bain marie in the same pan, submerge chain 2 minutes.
Fish chain out and put immediately back on bike (cogs and chainrings already cleaned).
Operation takes only 20 minutes in the kitchen in which you can do other things, no mess with solvents.

You aren't married, are you?

keezx

I live together with the same woman for 31 years.
She doesn't care what I do in the kitchen as the whole operation is short and not smelly nor dirty.

6wheels

darkhairedlord wrote:

slowing working my way through a bottle of EP90 gear oil I bought for my morris minor back in about 1998-2000. Been kicking around in the shed a while so might as well use it up. Does smell a bit though, so no good if you keep the bike in the house or flat.

Nice one!

I had two Morris 100's in the seventies (van and Pickup) and I use the same gear oil on my chains. The only difference is ,I mix it 50/50 with petrol which evaporates off .

rodgers73

Tried chainsaw oil a couple of years ago - picks up a lot of gunk but works well in the wet. Currently using bog-standard 3-in-1.

Anonymous

Keezx wrote:

I live together with the same woman for 31 years.

Ah. You mean your mother! :-)

keezx

My mother (died 2 years ago at 89) would have kicked me out messing with chains in the kitchen...

veryslowtwitch

Hi keezx


Thanks for this, can you explain more please?

Is the "paraffin" just melted candle wax or is some special formula?

How do you get it? Does it come in a big lump?

Thanks

Alan

nicklouse

Ok as none has pull me up on this.

OP I will add some more info.

Chainsaw oil can be used but not as an on bike lube as it and many oils not made for chain lubing are just to thick to get into where they are needed.
For on the bike adding lube a cycle chain lube can not be beaten.

BUT if you are one for removing the chain and removing all the oil lube and crud then you have options.
A big consideration with any chain cleaning is the removal of any cleaning agent as if any is left it will defeat the object of the lube by breaking it down.

So a clean chain soaked in chainsaw oil is a good way of relubing it. Best to have two chains one in the cleaning lubing cycle and the other being used.

But I would still be using a chain lube for the in use lubing needs.

keezx

veryslowtwitch wrote:

Hi keezx


Thanks for this, can you explain more please?

Is the "paraffin" just melted candle wax or is some special formula?

How do you get it? Does it come in a big lump?

Thanks

Alan

Yes , it's pure candle wax, comes in grains....so easy to use.

simon_masterson

Just use a regular wet lube, run chain through a rag when you get in, degrease periodically. If you use a product/method that works with the chain on the bike (like one of those Muc Off chain cleaners, though I use Green Oil Clean Chain and a stiff brush most of the time), it's easy enough.

LankyDJ

Grab yourself a 500ml of fully synthetic motor oil. Mix together with 200ml of white spirit. Apply liberally to chain, (because it's as cheap as chips and you can)! This concoction gets right those areas which your never sure the lube has reached. The White spirit subsequently evaporates, leaving a fully oiled chain.

700/750ml will last you months, and can be had, all in for next to nothing, after all, most folks have white spirit already kicking around the home. Half a litre of motor oil and your done.

I wouldn't bother wasting money on expensive branded lubes.

rodgers73

Any thoughts on 3-in-1? I happened to have a lot of it spare so that's what I'm using at the moment.

They do a spray version which is good for getting into the nooks and crannies of a chain

simon_masterson

3 in 1 works. It'll gum up according to some, but if you regularly degrease, I can't see that being a problem. Performance differences between lubes are hugely overstated; it's only oil on a chain!

robbo2011

mamba80 wrote:

I use a light viscosity synthetic car oil, works better than anything I ve used before and lasts for ever.

Is the correct answer

I use mobil 1 fully synth oil on my chains (simply because I have a half empty bottle in the garage). I just oil now and again and wipe off the gunk occasionally.

Since I started this, my chains are lasting over twice as long (7500km) as previously, when I was using Finish line wet ride stuff.

There is really no need to religiously take off and clean chains IMO, unless you are OCD about having a shiny drivetrain.

keezx

Nothing to do with religion. your claim about twice the life with motor oil is religion.
Motor oil is a very good lubricant, just not for an open chain.
It's soo much easyer to do with a chain whatever you like with it off the bike...
Besides that, chainrings, cogs and pulleys needs to be cleaned too.

robbo2011

My claim is not religion, I am just reporting my experience, i.e. it took twice as many km to get to 0.75% wear than when using finish line stuff (Same model chain, btw.). make of it what you will.

I only started using it when my finish line bottle was empty and I couldn't be bothered to buy more cycle specific lube.

keef66

rodgers73 wrote:

Any thoughts on 3-in-1? I happened to have a lot of it spare so that's what I'm using at the moment.

They do a spray version which is good for getting into the nooks and crannies of a chain

After experimenting with dozens of bike specific lubes, motor oil and gearbox oil, plain old 3-in-1 is what I now use. Big bottle from Wilko for next to nothing. I think it's just the right viscocity for a bike chain; thin enough to get into the innards of the chain and thick enough to provide a rust defying film without attracting too much dirt.

Spray a bit of WD40 onto a cloth and wipe chain clean. Drop of oil on each roller, spin the pedals a few times to work it in, final wipe with another cloth to remove any excess / dirt that the oil has flushed out.

I'd avoid the spray version; too easy to blast it where you don't need it to go.

diy

I wouldn't use motor oil, synthetic or otherwise. It attracts dirt too well.

Chain wax for motorbikes is pretty good. Or dry lube, or even GT85 if used frequently enough. Winter lube is mostly about keeping the thing clean.

On my MTB chains which get a bit dirtier - soak them in some paraffin or even white spirit. As long as you dry them properly and apply plenty of lube after. Its fine.

Lots of motorcyclist use the scotoilers, I never bothered myself - I used to get 25-30k out of chain n sprocket, and used to replace them more out of fear of snapping them than wear.

6wheels

I'd avoid the spray version; too easy to blast it where you don't need it to go

That's the reason I use it on the shifters and the rear and front mechs, just need to be careful when pressing the button . Useful stuff.

navrig2

If you take your chain off to clean it then to re-lube pop into into a sandwich bag and put some of the lube in with it. You can then "massage" the lube around the chain an leave it to soak overnight. You probably don't waste as much as you do soaking in a tray or by dripping/spraying on to the chain plus it gets further into the pins.









PS Take the sandwich out of the bag first!

darkhairedlord

For cleaning I just use some jizer but just ran out. Had a £10 screwfix gift card and went to buy some more but out of stock for the half litre can, bought 5 litres of screwfix own brand stuff. Should keep me going a bit....

Anonymous

Christ. you are only lubing a chain. I last oiled my chain 3 weeks ago. I wipe the surface gunk off with a rag and thats it. Shifts fine. No chain suck and no rust. Think people here are a bit OCD on chain cleanliness. Its unnecessary