Would you buy this?

[mikeinsjc]

An acquaintance of mine has some cutting oil he claims he used in an old saw he has since sold. He has about 30 gallons of new and 30 gallons of oil that needs to be cleaned. The problem is he doesn't know what kind of oil he has. He claims it is mineral oil, not petroleum-based, and I assume there is no way to ID the stuff. I use "Rockhound" oil from Covington in all my saws, and I go through a reasonable amount of it, at $17/gal., so I could use a deal on oil. I really like this oil as it odor-free and cleans up easily.

Does anyone have any idea how critical the type/quality of oil is for saws?

My good friend, a professional lapidary, has run multiple saws up to 36" on kerosene for many years, and has never had a problem, as in BOOM.

Would you chance this stuff? What do you think it's worth?

[jakesrocks]

Unless you know exactly what it is, I'd pass on it. Many of the old time cutters used transformer oil. It was only after many years of using the stuff that they found out it's one of the things that cause cancer.

[jakesrocks]

Another 2 cutting oils that were used were Pella A & Almag. LOL, I'm old enough that I could tell you what it is just by the smell. Each had its own smell. Even the transformer oil.