Pine Sap to Pine Tar to Pine Resin - glues and many sticky uses

I found this video that shows an old pine resin processing factory and then a trip to the woods to collect resin, followed by picnic in true Portuguese style.

Enjoy!

Here's another video about the pine resin industry in France, using Maritime Pine, or Pinus pinaster, which is the one that grows all over the place where I live in Portugal.

This video is more educational, and in English.



Has anyone tried collecting pine resin?  And if so, how did you process it?  And what did you use it for?

I'm tempted to experiment with collecting it but I'm not yet sure what use I'd have for it.

No first hand knowledge but I'm in fiddle country here and there are plenty of fiddlers who 'rosin the bow' with a rosin made from pine resin as in this article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosin
I see many uses I didn't know of in the article once the pine resin is changed to rosin:

Rosin is an ingredient in printing inks, photocopying and laser printing paper, varnishes, adhesives (glues), soap, paper sizing, soda, soldering fluxes, and sealing wax.
Rosin can be used as a glazing agent in medicines and chewing gum. It is denoted by E number E915. A related glycerol ester (E445) can be used as an emulsifier in soft drinks. In pharmaceuticals, rosin forms an ingredient in several plasters and ointments.

Here resin comes mostly from Fir as it is a natural epoxy that is absolutely clear. In world war two it was collected for optics for bomb sights.

The University of Maine is also finding new uses for resin in wood and has derived a type of gasoline from it that could power cars in the future.

I'm a clinical and community herbalist and have harvested only the resin that is the easiest to remove, and only what I've find, I've never scarred a tree to extract more. What I do is heat a glass bowl in double boiler (a bowl who's use will forever be resin) and usually never bother to remove impurities; although I would put it through a strainer if it was used in salve or something. Mostly it is burned as an inhalant (which could be considered ironic) to help lungs recover from inhaling smoke or extremely hot air, above all it heals physical trauma. Liniments or salves work great for abrasions or deep wounds, if the "solids" are taken out.

I think for your average novice, the most likely place where you will find resin useful is in treating minor wounds on pets or livestock. It has disinfectant properties and is not highly palatable to  most animals, so they won't lick it all off.

I'm sure that there are furniture finishes based on resin. The makers of these often keep their formulas secret.

by destillation you separate pine resin into two componants: colophonium and turpentine.

Turpentine is a solvent that has many uses, colophonium can be used to clean metals to tin solder them.

took the time to pick this one for you

pine resin has many uses including; sealant, glue, fire starter(fat wood), wood finish component(violin varnish ingredient), sticky powder(pitcher's rosin bag) or block (bow rosin) along with many more uses as an ingredient.

If you want to collect it as pure as you can get it, you have to scar the bark of the pine tree and place a clean piece of either metal or slate type rock at the bottom of the bark scar.
I use a heavy blade knife and mallet to make the scar through the cambium layer, the scar will be around 12 inches long, top to bottom.
I like to use aluminum sheeting for this purpose or even better is aluminum foil, it is easier to shape a bowl with a "run in" front piece, I then fasten this to the tree with twine.
The resin comes out of the tree wound and flows onto the aluminum run in and down into the connected bowl shape for easy gathering, I will do up to 4 scars on a tree that is larger than 8" diameter normally in the spring time (similar to collecting sugar maple sap).

Processing method is determined by the intended use, many times I dissolve the raw resin in moonshine then filter it before distilling or evaporating. (to make violin varnish or rosin blocks)
If I wanted to seal a birch bark canoe I would cook the raw resin in a stone bowl, adding ashes to it as it cooked, then put it on the seams while still hot enough to be liquid. (today there are better lasting products but a true, traditional canoe would be sealed this way)
To make a violin bow rosin block you dissolve, filter, pour into mold and evaporate. For this use I dissolve all the resin the moonshine will hold so it is a supersaturated solution then filter that into the molds.  
This same method is used to make a baseball rosin bag except you crush the dried rosin to powder and pour that into a bag that you sew up after filling.

My violin/ guitar varnish formula is a secret but some of the components are dissolved pine resin, bee propolis and powdered copper along with a few other ingredients.

Redhawk

Life of a Resin Collector

very nice burra, thanks for sharing.

I'm planning on going out and foraging some crystalized pitch from trees here shortly but I want to minimize the disturbance I do to the land/trees.

I am fascinated by the existence of turpentine in this petro-distilled based world. I want to monkey around with pitch and see what I can do with it. I have some tools that I would like to see if the pitch can be used to fill/supress cracking alongside linseed oil.

I however need to get my hands on some sacrificial cookware, perhaps a cast iron vessel, to be able to do the processing. One step at a time.

Good morning,

The coastal pines - a twisted and stunted variation of lodgepole- around here produce a lot of sap.

I gather the big sticky globs of it that fall to the ground and put them into a large, wide brimmed steel mixing bowl that I bought at a thrift store. The steel heats and cools rapidly and the smooth surface allows the sap to pour out better than cast iron.  That bowl is now reserved as "the sap bowl" because cleaning it is a Herculean task.

I only heat it outside. It is flammable and odorous, and I wear gloves and boots and eye pro because it can "pop" and splatter you with hyper sticky boiling hot sap.

When it is liquid, I strain all the dirt and pine needles and dead spiders out with a sacrificial bit of metal screen.  

Storage is the biggest problem. I tried using some old school metal film canisters, they are permanently stuck together. Normal glass shatters on either the initial pour or during the re-heat to get it out.  Next time I am going to use  a washed canned goods can, with the top lid completely cut away.  I'll fill the can 3/4 full , and stick the cut away lid on top of the sap. Stored upright, it shouldn't leak and be easy to access.

So far, I've used it as an ingredient for a wood finish on some war clubs, a component in a fire starter, and as a glue on the overstrike wrap on some hatchets.  

A similar process, this one was done with pine stumps!

Even more pine tar content.