Well, back in "The Olden Days", we used a half-pint of motor oil in a gallon of gas, and that mix worked in 95% of anything i used, in the two-cycle range!
now, since the advent of better engineering, and better materials from which the engines, etc, are made, it was only natural to go to a better fuel formula-oil to gasoline mix.
So-read what they recommend for your engine, and adhere to it! So--it takes multiple fuel containers--label each container, and instruct you wife and off-spring as to what goes where, and i'm quite sure you will have excellent results!
A man called and asked me to come get his lawn mower for a spring tune-up. Before i could get there, we had a deep spring snow, but i went anyway. His son was blowing snow , but ran out of fuel (2-cycle). While he was looking for the can, his sister ran out,with a full can, filled the tank, grapped the starter rope, and got it started. (She wanted to use the machine, but her brother had grabbed it first!)
I don't have to tell you what happened next, but here goes: BOOM, grate, clank--silence! I took it home as a gift, for parts! The can was not labeled! She got plain gasoline.

Even more important within 2-Stroke Oil . Since the entire lubricity factor is within the fuel Mixture . Marine Grade applications are not quite as severe within demon heat and galling issues , bit majority of marine grade oils do have special rust inhibitors and ash-less and reduced if not quite smokeless operation within their Dino Grade Oil. Their Synthetic Grade is even better with many OEM Manufacturers now recommending up to 100:1 mix ratio's. It's within the Air Cooled Small Engine 2-Strokes that I believe that Synthetic Oil has really proven itself of late. Although I still have reservations on routine 100:1 ratio across the board , I have no reservations that 50:1 will protect even the harshest of Air Cooled Service Life . I prefer Amsoil but there are numerous other Manufacturers Royal Purple and even Shell and an Old Favorite Klotz that are premium grade oil product that have reasonable synthetic pricing .

Buy the best product you can and use it in the same ratio for everything. As to what is the "best" that gets complicated.

I have one brother who is a farmer and one that is in the construction industry and both use one mix for everything including some rather expensive Stihl chain saws. I cannot recall the brand they use or I would share that info. Both of them use it in a number of different 2 cycles without incident.

I do the same, but my usage is low enough I can't claim results based on it, but they both heat with wood among other uses.

If you want to be on the "safe side" choose your product and then use it at a ratio that is slightly less gas than the recommended ratio.

And one other tip - 2 cycles should generally be used at full open throttle. This will limit the amount of fouling of the spark plug and ports.

OOPS, meant to post this in the tool shed forum, oh well, folks are looking at it and got some good responses anyway. NOTE: This was not a senior moment, I only have those on alternate Wednesdays and that wasn't yesterday....:-)

I think that when I use up the gas I've recently purchased and mixed, I'm going to go with a synthetic 50:1 across the board also. I only go through 2 gallons a season, so the price for synthetic won't be prohibitive. I do add Stabil, even though a lot of 2 cycle oils (Stihl for example) claim that you don't need it. I really mistrust the "mystery fuel" we buy at the pump.

Thanks for the input,

Ev

I know what you mean about the fuel these days. I have had lots of fuel problems with my 1997 Cushman on-road haulster. Among other stuff in the fuel filter is bits of gelatinous stuff. What the heck is that all about!

I pumped out the tank and get several 2 liter bottle of nasty stuff out, but continued to have problems so I will be dropping the tank and flushing it once it gets nice enough to do the work without a garage.

Any idea where I can get rid of the old gas?

Rolf

Don't tell the EPA, but I never buy "weed killer" just use old gas, etc. Anything that will kill Poison Ivy, etc. like Roundup is obviously good for the environment-right? Particularly useful down fence rows.

Ev

Wheelhorse many people use the etahnol based older fuel within their automobiles . The small amount will not adversely affect a large auto engine and any il will actually provide top end valve lubrication on a short term basis .