Oil for Skil 77 Worm Drive Saw

[CPeter James]

I picked up an older Skil 77 Worm drive saw that needs oil in the gear case. It is a made in USA model. What kind of oil is recommended? It came in a nice metal case with the wrenches and ripping gauge.

CPeter

[Bill McNiel]

Go to your local "real" tool store, not sure if the big box places carry it. Many manufacturers market their "own", but they are all pretty much the same, usually in a plastic tube.

[Jerry Miner]

Yeah---Skil sells their own brand of oil in a tube (like a toothpaste tube)---available everywhere

[Benjamin Miller]

Any auto store should have GL-4 gear oil, and that's what I use for all machinery gearboxes. More common gear oils are GL-5, and they can corrode brass or bronze gears.

I have a pretty complete machine shop, and despite what the owner's manuals would have you buy, you really only need four oils:
- A light viscosity oil for machine tool spindles (I use Velocite #10, which is ISO 22)
- A sticky way oil for sliding surfaces (Vactra #2 is the gold standard here)
- A medium weight general-purpose nondetergent oil for shafts, screws, slower spindles, and faster gearboxes (I use a SAE 20 weight found at TSC)
- A heavier GL-4 gear oil for gear boxes, such as 85W-90 or something similar

Now obviously if you're running a factory, operating a machine with tight tolerances like a car or airplane engine, or running a machine with a long duty cycle, there's probably a more appropriate oil to use. A circular saw will only see occasional use, so I would never pay $10 for 8 oz of Skil branded oil when I could spend less than that and get a gallon of good gear oil.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

I took one of mine apart to clean it up, I had used it to cut concrete, and the reassembly was done with 85W-90. Works fine. Personally I like the synthetic 80-90's as they smell better, but I didn't have any.

Benjamin, thanks for the list, I'm going to get some Vactra #2. I've been using a heavy gun oil (Machine Gunners Lube from Larue Tactical) but it's not very economical.