# Self Sufficiency/Living off the Land or Off the Grid > General Homesteading >  Substirute for 2 cycle oil?

## kyratshooter

Like most homesteaders I have a host of 2cycle power plants from chains saws to weed eaters, outboard motors and other toys of existance.

In our most receint natural disaster 2 cycle oil disapeared from the local shelves within 24 hours.  We were bottled up and penned in, with downed trees to cut so we could escape, and rapidly running out of 2cycle oil.

What is 2 cycle oil?
Can anything be substituted for it in an emergency?  What could we use if the current supply was not replaceable.

Sorry, but stockpile more 2cycle oil is not the correct answer, I already had that part figured out.  I want to know what I can tell my grandkids to use in place of 2cycle oil post disaster or right in the middle of it.

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## randyt

years ago I had a big homelite chainsaw. I used conventional two cycle oil but on the fuel tank cap it said to use 30 weight oil at a certain mix. This don't really answer your question but may give you a lead.

I wanted to add that when I was a kid we had a saab that required oil to be poured into the fuel tank for lubrication, it. was a 3 cylinder.

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## Rick

Take this for what it's worth. You should be able to use any type of oil in an emergency. Even vegetable oil. As I understand it, the only difference between 2 cycle oil and any other oil is the ash content. The lower ash content is required to prevent deposits from building up inside the chamber. I've never ran anything other than 2 cycle oil in my equipment but sure wouldn't hesitate to use other if that's all I had. My neighbor, a man of less than stellar mechanical abilities, used 10W/30 in his chainsaw. A side benefit was that he never had to worry about mosquitoes. (true story, no bazinga required).

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## randyt

here's a thread we had on synthetic 2 cycle oil. There is some thoughts on using other oils in that thread too.

http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...light=chainsaw

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## kyratshooter

Thanks for the advice and the links.  It appears that mineral oil is the best alternative wirh "any ole oil" comming in second.

This was one of those Google searches that provided absolutely no usable information.

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## Graf

I used to sell and service outdoor power equipment and folks always tried to cheap substitute for 2 cycle oil. In our grandfathers day you could do that because the RPM's were lower. Nowadays you WILL fry the motor, sure it will run for a while then friction and heat will take over. I suggest stocking up on 2 cycle oil because in a true SHTF senario there will be no fuel in short time anyway so if you do stock up on 2 cycle oil you should atleast be able to use it while fuel is available. You might want to considerlooking into more manual tools. I'm constantly adding to my tools with either manual type or 12 volt DC which I have adapted my Ryobi batterys to, there was a article last year in Backwoodsman that showed how, very little power loss comparing the original battery packs to the converted 12 volt ones.

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## kyratshooter

I once tried to keep up with two woodstoves in an old farmhouse using manual saws and work full time.  60 hour work weeks and burning a pickup full of wood a week were mutually incompatible activities.

Feeding one woodstove with a hand saw and not working an outside job at all is a sure track to death from heart attack when you pass 60.

If fuel is not available for the chain saw it is also not available for the truck to haul the wood in.  

Things are going to get real cold real fast!

Of course in "the true SHTF situation" there is not going to be anywhere to drive anyway, so that last tank of gas might just last for a couple of years wood hauling.

A couple dozen bottles of the 2cycle oil would probably keep me in wood till the meds run out and I croak from something besides freezing.   

I have converted several of my old 12 volt cordless tools to operate off my deep cycle marine battery that stays on the solar charger.  Comes in handy.

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## edr730

Graf is right about trying to get away with oils in the new screaming chainsaws. If you have an old homelite as he and randyt stated you can get away with a lot of things.. if you have a saw that was cheap anyhow, I guess you wouldn't lose much. I knew a man in his eighties that cut and sold wood with a few old homelites and he claimed he used different oils for his bar, gas and his hydrolic equipment. When I was a kid I would sometimes split wood for a neighbor and old man in his eighties who hauled and sawed all his wood by hand...no truck, just an old push cart with big steel wheels. Of course, he lived in a house with only one room.

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## Wildthang

I have a small generator, and an electric chainsaw. The saw has a 12" bar, but in a pinch, you could clear some limbs to get out of the driveway pretty easy with it. I keep a good amount of gasoline on hand, so fuel for the generator shouldn't be a problem.

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## hunter63

Any one try the pre-mixed 2 cycle gas in a can....says it's good for 2 years.....?

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## randyt

I've not tried that pre mix, those come in small containers an I mix my gas 5 gallons at a time.

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## hunter63

I was just thinking of throw a 1/2 gal into the chain saw box that I carry in the trailer, as an emergency fuel source, as gas cans are spewing fumes and such.
Have a Roybi 19...something or other,volt... in the truck, with a charger and inverter to power it.

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## oldtrap59

As randy said. All I've seen of this new premix stuff is in small containers. When I use my chainsaws I don't see one of those containers lasting very long. 

OT

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## hunter63

That's not the intent.....I mix at a gal at a time, to keep fresh, but have 5 gal on hand.... at least a couple of  5 gal cans.....
I'm talking on board, get me through the woods road, gal (2 X 1/2 gal) of premix, in the saw box w/bar oil, will get me down the road a long way.

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## randyt

If it lasts a couple years it sounds like a great product to keep squirreled away. The premix comes in a nice metal can too.

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## hunter63

That's kinda my point, and doesn't leak, or go bad......

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## oldtrap59

Got ya Hunter. Would be ok for the truck toolbox where it would be right next to the chainsaw that I always carry.(just in case) 

OT

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## hunter63

Rodger that...that's the idea.

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