Chain Saw Bar and Chain Oils Compared: Stihl, Husqvarna, Echo, Oregon, Harvest King and Mobil Delvac Motor Oil. Oils compared for protecting chainsaw chain and bar from wear, keeping chainsaw bar cool under heavy use, flow in summer and winter temperatures, and the ability to avoid smoke and evaporation under heavy use.
I bought all of the bar and chain oils, the chain saw bars and chains and all supplies for this review. I never accept free items or sponsorships to avoid forming a bias that favors one brand over another. So, thank you for supporting the channel!
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Oregon:
Harvest King: Available at Rural King
Stihl:
Echo:
Husqvarna:
Mobil Delvac: Available at Rural King
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If you want a chainsaw Barn chain to Last a long time a high quality oil is Supposed to make a big difference but The question is is that $10 gallon of Oil just as good as one that cost about $30 in the first test we'll see how well Each of the barn chain oils performs at Lubricating and keeping the barn chain Cool we'll see if the Motor Oil performs Well or even better than Barn chain oils We'll compare the flow of the bar and Chain oils at both summer and winter Temperatures I set the oils to an Independent oil testing lab so we can Compare their ingredients to test the Oils I'll be using an almost new steel Ms250 which won the chainsaw showdown in A previous video I bought six new bars And six new chains all at the same time From the same steel dealership each Barn Chain oil will have a dedicated bar and Chain before we kick off our first test Let's go ahead and send off oil samples Of each bar and chain oil to the oil Testing Lab we'll compare the oil lab Test results later in the video I always Shake oil containers before taking a Sample just in case some of the additive Package falls out of suspension at a Price of only $10 for a gallon or just $2.50 per court is this Harvest King Barn chain oil formulated with high Quality base oils and special additive Package High Tac noling additive helps
Keep chain lubricated extreme pressure Additives lubricate under heavy load and Shock load conditions the Harvest King Is made in USA this is a close-up view Of the bottom side of the chain that Comes into direct contact with the bar Since the chainsaw chain rides on top of The bar the only thing separating the Chain from the bar will be the chainsaw Oil I'll mark each bar to avoid a mixup We'll compare the amount of wear that Takes place after running a full tank of Gasoline through the saw I'll also make Sure that the chain tension is the same For each of the brands unfortunately the Wooded area of my property has quite a Few dead trees so let's put the dead Trees to good use comparing the barn Chain oils and this tree is just full of Carpenter ants and they'll be coming After me and the Harvest King claims to Have extreme pressure lubricants and it Seems to be performing well and a steel Saw has a very high chain speed and There's a small amount of smoke coming From the barn chain and it's been close To 20 minutes and the saw is finally out Of fuel and the hottest part of the Chainsaw bar is at 250° F not all the Chains are going to dull at the same Rate so I decided not to use chain Weight as a way of comparing performance I instead measured the amount of wear on The bottom side of the chain that comes
Into contact with the chainsaw bar I Took the average wear from four Different lengths and the Harvest King Averag 1.89 mm of wear if you're at a Bar and chain oil can you just use a Motor oil let's go and compare this Mobile delac sae30 against the barn Chain oils it does not appear to be API Certified but it is recommended for Applications that use CF or SF oils I'll Go ahead and drain out all the remaining Harvest King Barn chain oil that's still In the saw and the Mobile delvac Oil is Flowing nicely through the oiler Port I'll go ahead and install a new barn Chain for testing the mobile delvac Motor oil at just over 2 minutes of use I had to stop using the saw to tighten The chain and the mobile delac just Isn't tacky enough to stay on the barn Chain and there's quite a bit of smoke Coming from the chainsaw bar the oil is Burning off quickly it's been close to 20 minutes and the saw is out of fuel Once again the chain is pretty loose and It probably stretched some during the Test and the mobile delac is 30° hotter At 280° F and the motor oil just didn't Perform nearly as well as the Harvest King with 2.2 mimet of wear on average At a price of $25 for 1 gallon or 3.78 L Is this husa brand it's the xard premium Allseason Barn chain oil reduces Friction in wear high Tac reduces sling
H Varna is made in USA I emptied out the Motor oil and added the hus Varna Barn Chain oil as well as a full tank of fuel It just didn't take too long before the Barn chain began smoking after about 5 Minutes of use there was a tremendous Amount of smoke coming off the barn Chain unfortunately at 310° the chainsaw Bar is about 60° hotter than the Harvest King and 30° hotter than the motor oil And the husk Vara experienced the most Wear yet at 2.22 MM on average most of The husk bar a barn chain oil was used Up but the rest is drained at a price of $26 this steel Platinum contains highly Refined oils for maximum lubrication Concentrated tacking is added to help The oil stay on the salt chain at high Cutting speeds the steel oil is Blended In USA and a steel Barn chain really Began to smoke about 5 minutes into the Test while it is highly subjected the Husv barabar chain did seem to burn off Quite a bit more than the steel after Using up a full tank of fuel the Steel's Chain didn't seem to stretch and the bar Is the second hottest yet but not quite As hot as a husna at 295° f and the Steel average 2.11 mm which is good Enough to move into second place behind The Harvest King at a price of $27 is This Echo brand for use at 5° F or- 15° C resist high temperatures extreme Pressure and helps prevent rust an echo
Bar and chain claims to resist high Temperature and high pressures however The echko seems to be smoking quite a Bit more than the Ste bar and chain oil After a full tank of fuel the echo's Bars at 286 de which is almost the same As the steel and the amount of wear with The echko is the same as the mobile Delvac at 2.2 mm at a price of $28 for 1 Gallon is this Oregan brand it claims to Have a high load carrying capacity it Claims to be a great setup and storage Lubricant the Oregon Barn chain oil is Made in USA after about 10 minutes into The test there's a small amount of smoke Coming off the barn chain while it is Very subjective the organ seems to be Doing much better with a lot less smoke Compared to the other brands after a Full tank of fuel the chain did not Stretch and the bar temperature is about The same as the echo at 291 de however The chain did experience less wear at 1.86 mm looking at just the chainsaw bar Temperature the Harvest King stayed the Coolest at 250° F mobile delvac finished In second at 280 but the rest of the Competition was within a few degrees Comparing the amount ofwar on the Chainsaw links the Harvest King came out On top at 1.89 MM Oregon finished in a Close second at 1.95 and steel 2.11 Let's compare the oil flow of bar and Chain oil both at 70° F and at around
10° to simulate winter conditions I'll Compare three brands at a time at Ambient first with Harvest King in Lane One mobile delvac Lane 2 and husk Varna Lane three and harvest King is light Fast out of the gate but the mobile Delvac and husvar are also very fast and Harvest King is pulling away from the Competition that just cross the finish Line and only 3.39 seconds mobile delvac 4.43 seconds and hus Varna 8.77 let's Compare the steel Echo and Oregon oils Next Steel in Lane one Echo Lane 2 and Oregon Lane three and the Oregon is the First out of the gate but this is also a Very tight race with the echko in a Close second all three oils are Barreling down the track but the Oregon Is gone and just crossed a Finish Line In 5.36 seconds eeko finished in second At 7 .12 and 8.67 for the steel the Harvest king and the mobile delac did Flow the fastest at ambient temperature This seems to explain why the bar Temperature stayed cooler with these two Brands during the first test let's Repeat this test but this time after Cooling down the oils to around 10° F We'll come back to this test later in The video up next let's compare the Lubricity or the film strength of each Of the oils I'll first add 40 mL of oil Into the test cup I'll coat the test Wheel and pin before the test begins to
Avoid causing damage from a dry start This test will definitely give us a good Idea on which oils are best at handling Extreme pressure this will be a shorter But more intense test compared to the Standard motor oil test looking at just A wat meter the Harvest King appears to Be performing very well I always Mark Test pins to avoid a mixup I'll measure The size of the wear scar under a Microscope to get an accurate Measurement and harvest King performed Very well at just under 7 mm before Testing the mobile delvac I'll clean the Tester with brake parts cleaner and I'll Sand the test wheel and the mobile Delvac motor oil isn't nearly as tacky As a harvest King but it probably has a Much better anti-wear additive package And the energy use meter looks about the Same as it did with the Harvest Harvest King and the mobile delvac also Performed very well in this test Harvest King is on the left and the mobile Delvac is on the right and the mobile Delvac performed quite a bit better with The wear scar of only 6.34 mm and husv Seems to have a lot more tack compared To the mobile delac and about as much Tack as the Harvest King even with Having good tack the energy use meter is Showing higher energy use at the start Of the test and the husna really Struggled on this test with the largest
Wear scar yet of 7.92 mm the $10 Harvest King is on the left and the $25 husvar Is on the right and the Harvest King Definitely offers a lot better wear Protection just like the Harvest king And the husvar the steel bar chain oil Also seems to have very good tack Unfortunately there's a lot of grinding And there seems to be a lot of wear Taking place energy use remained very High during the test so there's a lot of Friction and a wear scar in the test pin Is very large at 9.46 MM just as a point Of reference the Harvest King is on the Left and the steel is on the right some Very surprising results to say the least And the echo doesn't seem to be nearly As tacky as the Harvest King husar and Steel and there's a lot of noise coming From the tester and the energy use meter Is a good indicator that there's a lot Of wear taking place just like this Steal there's a lot of damage to the Echo test pin at 8.51 MM Harvest King is On the left and the echko is on the Right and once again the $10 Harvest King offers a huge Advantage for wear Resistance and the organ seems to offer Very good tack as the oil is clinging to The test pin and the energy usage is Just a little bit more compared to the Harvest king and the mobile delvac and The organ performed quite a bit better Than average with a wear scar of 7.43 mm
The Harvest King test pin is on the left And the orgon is on the right both Barn Chain oils perform very well but it's Definitely a win for the $10 Harvest King oil the mobile delvac motor oil Performed the best with the smallest Wear scar of 6.34 mm Harvest King Finished in second at 6.98 MM and Oregon 7.43 some of the barn chain oils Experiened a lot more smoking compared To others so let's compare how much Evaporative loss they experience at Around 330° F each of the test pots Weighs a different amount so I'll Measure out precisely 200 g of oil for Each of the first three brands and the Test will last right at 2 hours I'll Rotate the pots every 10 minutes just in Case there are hot spots on The Griddle And all the bar and chain oils are are Very close to the same temperature at 330° F or 165° C the highest chainsaw Bar temperature on the first test was Only 310° however the contact point Where the bar and chank come together Was most likely a lot hotter the 2-hour Test is over and I've allowed the pots To cool for an hour and harvest King Started off at 394.455 G the mobile delvac started off at 4299 G and now it's down to 42886 a loss of only 1.04 G which is Half as much as a harvest King and husk
Varna experienced the most evaporative Loss yet going from 44.8 to 42.6 6 G Let's go and repeat this process for the Steel echo in the Oregon and the 2 hours Is finished and the oil is cooled and The steel has gone from 44.6 4 to 4391 a Loss of only 0.73 G the best yet and the Eeko dropped from 394.455 G the most yet and the organ oil became A little bit darker but performed by far The best yet with a loss of only 0.41 G Very impressive an oil that can take a Lot of heat is one quality that really Helps protect the barn chain and the Organ came out on top with the loss of 0.41 G steel finished in second at 0.73 G the oils have been in the freezer for 24 hours so let's see how well they flow At 10° F and once again the Harvest King Is out of the gate first trying to Outrun the mobile dilac motor oil and All the barn chain oils are designed for Allseason use but the Harvest King is Proven to be the king of this matchup And easily outpace the other two Brands And it's the Harvest King for the win in The first team in 18.5 seconds mobile Delvac finished in second and 32 seconds And husar in a minute and 20 seconds the Lineup for the second heat includes a Steel in the left lane Ekko in the Middle and organ on the right once again The organ is out of the gate first and
Barreling down the track holding a Narrow lead over the echko and the steel Brand is really struggling and the organ Just crossed a Finish Line in 46 seconds Echko finished in second and 94 seconds And a still finished in right at 2 Minutes it's been 2 weeks since I Finished testing the barn chain oil and The lab results are back a quick look at The oils for excessive contamination and All the oils look just fine and the Mobile delvac has the highest level of Detergent of dispersant at 3,930 parts Per million which is quite a bit Harvest King has 13 parts per million and Huskvarna 325 so these brands are going To do the best job of keeping the barn Chain oiler clean in my opinion the Anti-wear content of oils is extremely Important and the mobile delvac won the Lubricity test and it's pretty easy to See why with such a robust and aware Additive package Harvest King finished In second place on the lubricity test And it has the second best additive Package I'm really surprised by the lack Of anti-war additive in the steel Barn Chain oil this helps explain the Lubricity test results so the Harvest King and the Mobile delvac offer the Best cold temperature flow in the lineup However Oregon finished in a close third So which oil is the best the very Affordable Harvest King dominated The
Showdown with an average finish of 1.7 The mobile delvac motor oil finished in Second with an average finish of 2.3 Oregon finished in third with an average Finish of 2.6 maybe too much emphasis is Being placed on oil flow so removing That from the equation Harvest King Still came in on top but the Oregon and Mobile delvac are now tied for second Place so why not just use motor oil in a Pinch I have used motor oil however Motor oil lacks Tac so it doesn't stay On the bar and chain as well I've Definitely been buying the wrong bar and Chain oil and it's always a good day When the least expensive product Performs the best all the videos in this Channel including this one are viewers Suggested so if you have a video idea I Hope you'll take time to leave a comment Thanks so much for watching please take Care and look forward to next time