What are good uses for used motor and transmission fluids? I occasionally have some and with a little property and things to do I am sure there are things to use it for versus taking it to recycle.

I have thought about using it for chainsaw bar chain oil, but not sure if it's thick enough?

What are some other good ideas, aside from greasing a 50' telephone pole with a $100 bill on top?

I used to spend a lot of time on chainsaw forums....and a few folks used old motor oil for bar/chain oil.  However.....it doesn't have anything in it to make it tacky and it flies off the chain fast and you have to crank up the pump volume to keep the chain properly oiled (most modern chains are designed to be really thrifty wit the bar oil so that they are good for the environment).  It also turns your saw into a horrible black mess.....no way I want to use it in my saws.

I do use some of the oil on the wooden floor of my wood shed - the boards are soft pine and it is not painted or treated with anything, so I keep the boards well lubed with used oil.  Not so much that the boards are slick - but enough so the water beads up.

I have also soaked the bottom of my locust posts in the used oil before I put them in the ground.

I take extra used oil to a neighbor that has a waste oil heater in his shop, and he uses it for heat.

Thanksgiving is coming up,... how do cook your turkey?... ...

When I was a kid (a very long time ago) my neighbor periodically sprayed it under his cars and trucks and also removed the body plugs and poured it into the doors, rocker panels etc.  He said it was great rust proofing and I think he was right.  Today I save it for a friend who heats his pole barn with waste oil.

I knew a guy that used to wipe the woodgrain on his woody with transmission oil.

That didn't sound right!  

First as Dave said, Used oil, (I sometimes mixed with a little Kerosene, or Fuel oil), spread out over the floor boards of the 2 wood floor trailers in the fall.

Also the wood handles on the rakes/hoes/shovels, in the fall, before they are put away for the winter.

Also, of the, ’top’ of the, flat topped’, posts, (which were in before I got here),
(I was always taught that ANY, fence post should be rounded, or cut at a angle on top, to make the rain/snow, run off rather than soak in.)

Also, have a area, I park, trailers and etc on.
Use a old garden watering can, and, sprinkle the oil over that area, (no weeds/grass grow)

Around, next to, buildings, (no weeds).  
Pour against fence posts,  the side, so it soak in the wood, and slowly moves down the post.

Used to be a fellow, at a, little lake cabin the family had when I was a child.  He would sprinkle, the used oil on the gravel driveway, kept the dust down. After many years, it was as solid as  a black top, (tar road).

Don’t use it in the chain saw oilier, it just does NOT work as well as the,  ‘Bar Oil’, specifically designed to NOT, throw off, at high speed.   BUT, I do, use it on the ‘beam’, of the splitter.  Have a old paint brush, and, ‘paint’, it on all exposed surfaces, where the real paint has rubbed off. It retards the rusting of those surfaces. After every time I use the hydrolic splitter.

Or, take it to a place, that burns oil for heat, they will be glad to take it for free.

And check into, some States, anyplace, that Sells New oil,  MUST, take, Used oil,  in at NO Charge

Now, putting used oil on the ground, according to some in the guberment, is bad.
But after the, Guberment, ’spilled’, MILLIONS of gallons, of VERY toxic water into a river, which for 100’s of miles has effected, (KILLED), All Wildlife, (Fish/Fowl/Hoved), and Domestic animals, and the drinking water of 100’s of Thousands of people, and said:  "No Problem”.
I don’t think they would have much to say, about a gallon or so, on the ground, to kill weeds.

Like JC said, animals love it. Be careful around ones you want to keep!  

jcstokes wrote on 11/18/15 at 23:29:45:

ethylene glycol coolant is history, at least in my state, it's been replaced by the new non toxic stuff
I saw a cat die from it once, it was horrible, please, if you want to kill a critter, just shoot it or something, there's a difference between pragmatism and cruelty