Main Discussion Area > Primitive Skills

Pine pitch

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_Jon_:
I'm going to visit ya this weekend Pappy and want to see how you do this.  I'll stand at a good distance however.  :)

I always wanted to learn how to make this stuff!

Oh yeah and I got you a new knife I made out of that Saw Mill blade Greg gave me.

John

walkabout:
just trying my hand at making some pitch today for the first time, harvested sap from a few pines near the girlfriends parents, made some charcoal from hickory sawdust, still trying to figure out what else to use as filler though. i read somewhere sawdust will work, im guessing the finer the better. one question though, ive left my sap sit on a warmer for awhile, trying to evaporate out the turpentines as you guys said here. when its cooled a little the surface isnt very sticky, you have to press into it to get anything sticky. does this seem like its been boiled off enough?also a lil tip i found that cheapo candle warmers are just about the right temp for this, it will simmer it a little if you stir a lot but wont make it smoke off.

Timo:
Pappy, I tried the bees wax once, but didn't really see the need. What I make may be a bit brittle for most,but it's really just there to help set the point/adjust for straightness, and fill the voids.A good sinew wrap does most of the work. ;)

Pat B:
Pappy, you want the pitch to get hard and brittle after cooking. If you don't it will stay tacky.  The bees wax will make it less brittle and the charcoal(dried deer or rabbit poop) adds body.
  I usually cook mine in the winter in a can on the wood stove. Like Timo said it will boil so you have to keep an eye on it and remove it from the heat if it gets too hot. It will ignite if it gets too hot.
  I don't know how long to cook the raw pitch but cook it for a while then let it cool. If it is hard when cool then it is ready to mix the other ingredients. If not heat it again and let it cook for a while then let it cool and check. This is why I like to find and use hard pitch that the turps have already evaporated.

Pappy:
This may be in between,I got it off of some big pines that the limbs had been cut last year,it was hard enough to pack into a ball but still pretty sticky but not runny. :) I'll give it a try and see what happens. I have a ball about the size of my fist.  :)
   Pappy

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