Gordon Preecs
01-14-2017, 7:57 PM
Though I am experienced with carpentry and woodworking, I am a beginner in carving. My interest is in native masks and poles for which I recently received a Christmas present of an ArborTech power chisel. As I examine the instructions, I see that the rotating cam that drives the chisel during operation needs to be conscientiously lubricated. You saturate a little felt pad through an opening at the base of the chisel insert. The instructions are very clear that the oil is applied every 20 minutes of operation and that only magical "high pressure and temperature" ArborTech oil should be used.
ArborTech provides one little eye dropper bottle of the magic sauce and sells the refills, ONE TABLESPOON worth, for $10 each. There has to be a reasonably priced alternative in the marketplace. I understand that sewing machine oil and 3-in-1 products are much too light and thin, Cutting oil is too gummy, but criminee, some kind of engine oil would be expected to tolerate high temps and pressure for maybe something like $10 per QUART! The bottle is generically labelled, with no SAE or composition expressed. Could someone point out a good alternative or give me insight into the properties of the "magic oil" so I can shop for an alternative? I will be spending weeks and months on these projects and am likely to go through case-lots of these stupid little bottles which will quickly exceed the value of the machine.
I appreciate good tools and will pay for quality but this feels like an old computer printer scam: sell the machine cheap and get them on the Ink. Any help would be appreciated. Gordie
ArborTech provides one little eye dropper bottle of the magic sauce and sells the refills, ONE TABLESPOON worth, for $10 each. There has to be a reasonably priced alternative in the marketplace. I understand that sewing machine oil and 3-in-1 products are much too light and thin, Cutting oil is too gummy, but criminee, some kind of engine oil would be expected to tolerate high temps and pressure for maybe something like $10 per QUART! The bottle is generically labelled, with no SAE or composition expressed. Could someone point out a good alternative or give me insight into the properties of the "magic oil" so I can shop for an alternative? I will be spending weeks and months on these projects and am likely to go through case-lots of these stupid little bottles which will quickly exceed the value of the machine.
I appreciate good tools and will pay for quality but this feels like an old computer printer scam: sell the machine cheap and get them on the Ink. Any help would be appreciated. Gordie