Pine Tar Pitch??

[Brian Jordan]

How do you make/ harvest pine tar pitch. I want to make a small leather canteen, and have read that is what is used to seal the inside from leaking.

[LRB]

  I used the brewers pitch sold by Jas. Townsend & Son. It is my understanding that it not true brewers pitch, but it worked very well, and does not leave a turpentine taste in the water. I don't think you will like common pitch, and it may be slightly toxic from what some say. Many use beeswax rather than any kind of pitch. Some use a mix of both. There are pro's, and cons to about every way of doing it, also bear in mind that the use of leather vessels for canteens, and such was an earlier practice, fading out in the 17th c. Tin, gourds, and leather covered glass bottles are a better choice for 18th c. America.

[rich pierce]

I have made "cutlers resin" using natural pitch mixed with other ingredients.  It's a lot of work but fun, the first time.  I collect pitch from trimmed pine trees and put it in a tin can and heat over a fire outside till it melts.  Then I strain it through a tin can with small holes punched in the bottom.  That gets the sticks, needles and bugs out.  The stuff from Townshend is a bargain.

[Brian Jordan]

Thanks guys, I have a few pounds of beeswax. I guess I will just use that.

[Clark Badgett]

One way to get tar is to build a charcoal retort, and vent the exhaust thru water.

You get tar and other "nasties".

[Darrin McDonal]

Here is one mothod for collecting pine pitch. It is an old, traditional method but not too complicated either.
First you take a metal or iron pot. The type like an iron kettle ( not dutch oven-it has the wrong shape) works the best. Pack it tight full of fatwood sticks, standing straight up if that makes sense. Now the way it used to be done is you would turn that tightly packed kettle upside down on a flat rock. The rock was slanted a little bit and there was a shallow groove chiseled in the rock to act as a trough or spout to channel the pitch from under the kettle to the edge of the rock to collect it as it ran out.  next you build a fire on and around the kettle to heat up that fatwood. The fire does not need to be a bon fire but steady heat is best.
Does this make sense? Hope so.
Darrin

[Clark Badgett]

Darrin that method makes perfect since as it is basically a rough charcoal retort, but the low heat would cook out the tar instead of turn it to gas that would need to be recooled by the water. Enclose the kettle and put a small exhaust vent on it that had a hose into some water and it would do the same, much more efficiently.

Pine Tar specifically needs pine wood to do this, but most plants it.

[Darrin McDonal]

I am not sure what you mean by a retort but it sound like a simple still to me. I', sorry but I'm not sure I follw you but I'm listening??Why turn it into a vapor and then convert it to a liquid instead of just collect the tar/pitch running out??
D

[Clark Badgett]

Why turn it into a vapor and then convert it to a liquid instead of just collect the tar/pitch running out??

Tar is only one of the by products. Keep distilling the exhaust and you can even get a form of gas, called producer gas. You can also vent the exhaust around back into the fire that is heating the retort (basically an oven) to use less fuel to produce the charcoal. Just read a neat book on this subject not too long ago.

[Dphariss]

I am not sure what you mean by a retort but it sound like a simple still to me. I', sorry but I'm not sure I follw you but I'm listening??Why turn it into a vapor and then convert it to a liquid instead of just collect the tar/pitch running out??
D

For some processes a retort is more like a hi temp sealed oven. In other processes its a still. It is often used "dry" at higher temps where as a whiskey still is a "wet" still used in the temperature range of boiling water.

In making charcoal for BP for example they did not want to remove all the volatile components of the wood so temperature and atmosphere are controlled. Creosote is an important component in making BP. Burning (cooking?) the charcoal in a way that reduces the creosote levels too far makes for a powder with undesirable characteristics for a propellant. Thus the use of a retort to make charcoal resulted in a much improved BP.
Now if there was a way to distill salable products from the gases vented from the retort in making charcoal I am sure they did it. Or they could have cooked the wood specifically for the distillation products in some cases and simply used the charcoal left over for cooking.
Pine tar making is outside my field of knowledge.

Dan

[keweenaw]

A really excellent discussion of pine tar - its making, grades and uses - can be found at http://www.maritime.org/conf/conf-kaye-tar.htm.  They note its "sharp" taste!

Tom

[Clark Badgett]

The book I read was concerned with hardwood charcoal production for the home foundy hobbiest in mind, so I am sure that the gas that would be produced by further distilation when pine is used would be turpintine.

Thanks for the link Snyder, I found it very informative.

Wonder if one could use pine tar wood finish on a gun stock?

[Sam Everly]

Here in North Carolina the local southern states co op store, sold pine tar and several pine tar products . I don't know , but i think it was a local product. I use the heart pine stumps to start my fires with . They burn like gasoline , you have to watch them and where you keep them . They will light or catch fire very easy !

[Dennis Glazener]

I use the heart pine stumps to start my fires with . They burn like gasoline , you have to watch them and where you keep them . They will light or catch fire very easy !

We always called the "lighterd" wood. Best thing in the world to start a fire with.
Dennis

[Brian Jordan]

Thanks for the link, alot of information there.

[mdtnhunter]

I've seen pine tar in the equine section at tractor supply company.

[wwpete52]

Thanks guys, I have a few pounds of beeswax. I guess I will just use that.

I've used both beeswax and pitch to line leather canteens.  Use the pitch, it works MUCH better.

[Levy]

I bought 3 small cans of PINE TAR from the feed store to use on my horse's hooves.  I'm not sure if that is the product that you're looking for.

James Levy

[T.C.Albert]

We use drums of pure pine tar at my place of employment as a tackifier and base for some glues and cements....I really cant imagine drinking water from any container it has been stored or poured in. Its pretty nasty stuff.

Using just a bit of it as a tackifier for a wax based pitch blend may be better to coat a water bottles insides with than using it straight, and may impart a degree of flexability to a leather bottle that a regular pine tree resin type pitch wouldnt...but with all that said, I would go for the pre blended brewers pitch or a nice leather covered bottle.
T.Albert

[Randy Hedden]

Several years ago many of the people who were using pine tar, the black stuff, to coat the insides of canteens and leather tankards quit using it because it is a carcinogen and besides that it just tastes nasty.

Randy Hedden

www.harddogrifles.com