Oil for Old Scroll Saw

[mudfoot]

Hello. I picked up an old Craftsman 16” scroll saw that I’m looking to clean up and get working. To that end, the instructions say to use SAE 30 oil to lubricate the bearings. Forgive my ignorance, but the more I read about oil viscosity, the more confused I become. Can someone recommend an oil to use for this application that I can easily pick up at Ace/HD/Lowe’s? I have some bar and chain and 3-in-1 Oil, but I believe these would not be appropriate oils for this job. Thanks.

 

[McRabbet]

3-in-one oil should work just fine.

 

[mudfoot]

3-in-one oil should work just fine.

Awesome. Thanks so much. You provided the concise answer the internet couldn’t.

 

[Craptastic]

SAE 30 is an oil designation for cars usually. That means there's a lot of lighter oils you can use (like 3-1) to get it running but after that you may want to oil it about 3X the manual recommendation if you continue to use that.

 

[bob vaughan]

30 weight lawn mower oil is fine. The presence of lubricant is important. Runny low viscosity oil like 3 in 1 will work but won't last as long and won't fill the voids as well. STP is too thick.

 

[tvrgeek]

3-in-one is actually about 20 weight. A bit thin. I suspect the bar oil is about right.

 

[mudfoot]

3-in-one is actually about 20 weight. A bit thin. I suspect the bar oil is about right.

Ok. The bottle of bar oil I have doesn’t indicate the weight anywhere on the bottle. Good to know. Thanks.