Cleaning Pine Resin

[cwillson]

Morning All,

I gathered a load of pine resin yesterday and now need some help cleaning it, i.e. removing all the bark etc.

I'm sure I remember seeing somewhere that you can chuck it in boiling water and the resin and debris will separate, but I cant find anything like this on google.

At the moment my aim is to simply end up with a pure block of the stuff, rather than do anything else with it, but I'm open to suggestions.

 

[spiritwalker]

never tried but perhaps mix with boiling water (to make the resin runny and dilute) pass through a piece of muslim cloth then boil off the water to be left with resin?

may be worth trying a small amount as i have no clue whether it mixes with water or goes runny

 

[Toddy]

My husband cleaned up some for me It is so pure it looks like amber
Basically he dissolved it in a solvent and strained it to remove all the debris. Then he evaporated the solvent.
Took ages, but the house smelled glorious while he did it. The solvent he used was pure turpentine, the real stuff.
Finally it was rolled into little balls like sweeties and wrapped in waxed paper twists. We reckoned that was a handier size than a big block if I wanted to use it for something or other.

If you just want the resin for glue, then simply pick over the bits as best you can and then grind the whole lot up fine with a couple of stones. The bits of debris, once reduced to a fine mix, will act just like the charcoal or rabbit pellets that folks add to the resin to make glue.

Let us know how you get on with it ?

cheers,
Toddy

 

[cwillson]

Just found this link - http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/content.php?r=142-How-to-Purify-Pine-Resin

This site is just FULL of bright ideas! Love it!

 

[cwillson]

Basically he dissolved it in a solvent and strained it to remove all the debris. Then he evaporated the solvent.

Ah yes, I've read that it will dissolve in alcohol. How did he evaporate the solvent? Just leave it to do so naturally, or did he speed the process up by heating gently, perhaps in a double boiler?

I like the idea of wrapping it in waxed paper too! Nice one.

 

[Toddy]

It was in a wee glass petrie dish sitting on an upside down little desk lamp.....the ones that get hot and have a glass plate covering the bulb.

Probably totally lethal if it goes wrong, but it worked very well indeed.
It's Winter now, if your radiators are on just sit the container with the dissolved stuff on top of one, that'll work fine

cheers,
M

 

[cwillson]

Right then. Got meself some Turps and a muslin. Gonna give this a go this afternoon and will report back later.

 

[Loenja]

stick holes in a small can then suspend above a bigger can and leave in oven(aga is safest). for a couple hours.
place bark and resin in top can btw

 

[MikaelMazz]

http://www.nfb.ca/film/Cesars_Bark_Canoe/

Around the 47 minute mark you can see a simple and efficient way of doing it.

 

[cwillson]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys'n'gals! I've currently got a plastic tub, with holes in the top, sat in the shed so that the turps evaporates slowly. I have two sprats running round the house so leaving it on a radiator probably isnt wise (besides, turps is very bad for the lungs I have read! Toddy, you and your husband must be super tough!).

MikaelMazz - For some reason that movie simply refused to play, even in a couple of different browsers. It sound cool though.

Chris

 

[Toddy]

Truthfully it just smelled like a richer version of my furniture polish .....real turps smells good, especially when mixed with beeswax Besides, he complains I must have been born in a park; I keep opening doors and windows

The film ran for me; MikaelMazz that was a fascinating work to watch
The birchbark that César used so casually was beautifully flexible stuff, wish ours grew like that. He knew how and where to find those natural materials, knew how to use them to their best advantage and created something not only incredibly practical, but beautiful
Thank you for the link

cheers,
M

 

[andynic]

There is this guy as well http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sW6Sm48laBU

 

[Conrad81]

Check this post out, using the bottom of a drinks can with holes in it as a filter. Good pics, excellent idea. Havent tried it myself yet but going to give it a go next week when im on leave.

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=32685&highlight=tutorial

ps - hope the link works first time im putting one in...

cheers
Conrad

 

[dwardo]

Check this post out, using the bottom of a drinks can with holes in it as a filter. Good pics, excellent idea. Havent tried it myself yet but going to give it a go next week when im on leave.

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=32685&highlight=tutorial


ps - hope the link works first time im putting one in...

cheers
Conrad

I used the same method a while back. Just dont over heat it or forget you left it next to the fire....
To clear it up further we used a bit of hessian cloth to pour it through, its lovely stuff when clear.

 

[Conrad81]

Thanks for the heads up Dwardo, good tip with the hessian will give that a try, thanks.

 

[cwillson]

Treal turps smells good,

Hmmm, maybe that's where I went wrong then, this was the nearest thing I could find; a turps substitute. I was reading up about it though and didnt realise that it is actually made from pine resin, which would explain why it's soluble in it i guess.

Got myself in a whole heap of trouble with the missus though...washed the muslin a few times by hand then threw it on the washing pile last night. Got an angry phone call just as I was getting to work, screaming at me for making all the washing smell of turps! Ooops!

C