I just bought a sawmill and was wondering how many here have used diesel fuel instead of water and soap for the blade lubrication? On firewood I'm not too concerned but on wood I'd like to keep I didn't know if it would mess the wood up.

If you are talking portable band mill, I use pinesol mixed with water. With the current price of diesel, don’t know why you would consider it ?

The blade will heat up and it will burn when using the mill. Smoke like crazy burn smell and do more harm to your blade.

I also use pine sol and water , it works just fine , been sawing with it for 16 years . Timberking mill

I use diesel as a lude. I got some furnace oil that was dirty, from an old furnace tank. Don;t need much , a very slow drip. Keeps the blade shiny If the blade is getting hot, it is getting dull. old243

Yeah portable, less rusting also when it gets cold I wouldn’t have to worry about it freezing, but with what snowy said I’ll probably not use it, I was going to use ripper 37 blades from Jerry’s sawmill supply I’ve read good things about them and the seem priced decent.

Ok old243 I might give it try I guess I’m not out much.

Deisel here , my dad ran a circle mill for forty five years . we cut only hickory and ash for the tool handle business . nothing worked better than diesel on the blade for cutting of sap and pitch . i run two band mills now and ran everything . but im back to diesel.

I have always used water with soap in summer and windshield washer fluid in the winter

This and pinesol if the wood is extra sappy.

I use diesel on mine too. Any wood it messes up is going to to be chips by the planer. If you’re using it rough cut then it hardly matters anyway.

X2

I use one cup of Pinesol to 5 gallons water. Lubes the blade and keeps the pitch off the band blade.

I had a Wood Mizer LT15 for many years in Alaska. I used water mixed with enough windshield fluid to keep it from freezing. At the price of diesel, and always having the smell on your gloves and clothes, I’d use something else. My cut off temperature for milling was 10 degrees. Not because the saw wouldn’t do it but because I’m a wimp and sawing in colder temps is not as much fun as you might think.

I see this is a personal preference issue, I’ll give each a try and see which I like, I can see where the colder it gets the more miserable it would be.