Company/Advice wanted on Gathering Pine Resin (West Lothian)

[Treeclipper]

Hi folks,

not sure if this is in the right part of the forum(mods: please move if not).

I'm looking for some advice or company to go out an show me how to get pine resin in West Lothian, I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to be gathering. I've had a look on the net on what I'm supposed to be doing , but when I go out by myself or with my daughters, I never seem to find any. I always find it a bit easier to learn these things if someone else is there with a bit more experience ( I'm a very monkey see monkey do kind of person) .
Just looking for someone local who may want to go out for and hour or two on a Sat. or Sun. morning and show me what I should be looking for or if anyone can point me to a post on here or elsewhere that will give me a guide.

I don't want anyone to just give me some resin, I would really like to gather this by myself, so I can learn another skill to teach my girls.

Any help would be appreciated as always. Hopefully someday I'll be able to help out someone else on this forum as it always seems to be me that doing the asking

Cheers Andy

 

[wildranger]

Look for white stains on the trunks of sitka spruces and douglas firs.This is the dried resin after the volatile components have evaporated. You can scrape chunks of it off the tree with your knife or with a sharp stick. There will be bits of bark, insects, needles and other impurities in it but these can be removed later. You can also pop and drain the huge resin blisters on the noble fir and others, collecting this in a small container. This is liquid resin and is very sticky and runny. With pine trees the dried resin can be more discrete, you might have to examine the trunk more closely to see if there's any hardened lumps stuck between the fissures in the bark. Hope this helps.

 

[Treeclipper]

Thanks Wildranger,
I'm going out to Beecraigs, a local country park near me for a walk this morning so will have a look, most of the pine is the forestry commission stuff in rows, but I'll take my tree book and look for other kinds around the edge of the park. Hopefully I'll find some, as I'm going out myself so won't have to keep an eye on my daughters and will have a bit more attention.

Cheers Andy

 

[wildranger]

Great =D You're bound to find some, although it isn't the most abundant resource I have to admit, most trees will have nothing but then sometimes you'll come across one very generous tree which provides almost of the resin you need!

 

[Treeclipper]

, Well had a most productive morning. found lots of resin, white dribbly kind down the length of tree and found quite a bit that was dripping of the end of broken stumps of branches, also a lot of wind damaged tree's so lots to chose from.
I also managed to nab myself a stump to use as a wooden anvil so I won't damge my axe blades as much when chopping things up.
got myself home and set up a quick melting pot arrangement to refine the resin. got quite a lot(didn't take pics of setup , lol I forgot), then had a small fire in my shed, need to use a deeper pot next time. managed to put it out side and put it out , so it was all good. Manged to get quite a bit of resin though.

quite a few good size lumps and small tin of ground charcoal in the rear, just need to find some filler now, where's all the rabbits when you need them.

Had fun and learned something today so thanks for the advice Wildranger ,most appreciated . ~S~

Cheers Andy

p.s. Have to remember to take pic's all way through next time.

 

[Toddy]

Good for you (not the fire, though that happens) glad you got it sorted out.

cheers,
M

 

[wildranger]

Wow, you got loads! I wouldn't worry so much about the fibrous material like rabbit droppings and such, one line of thought out there is to simply mix it with charcoal in a 50:50 ratio. Apparantly it's beeswax that gives pitch a really flexible quality. Do make sure the charcoal is very fine though by sieving it after you've ground it up!

 

[Treeclipper]

ahh right , no rabbit then, not sure where I'd get beeswax, will have to have a look online. The only honeycomb I have is in a jar of honey , don't think that would be any good.

 

[Miyagi]

Wish I'd have seen this on Friday, I'd have chummed you.

Some numpty on our farm threw out ten kilos of beeswax last month, I was raging!

Give me a shout the next time Treeclipper.


Liam

 

[Treeclipper]

Hi Liam,

Thanks for the offer, I'll give you a pm next time I away for a wander, same if you ever want company on a stroll yourself.
bummer about the beeswax, what a waste. I tried to get the beeswax out of the honeycomb I had , but failed miserably...lol ended up in bit of a mess.

Cheers Andy

 

[Toddy]

If you pm me your address I'll send you some beeswax.
I buy in bulk from Tengu (lovely stuff, very good price, just quite a lot at once).

Liam, 10kgs :yikes: what a complete choob!!!

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Scots_Charles_River]

Cool stuff. I go out MTBing and with my Outdoor Class to Beecraigs. Lots of wind blown pine about so you had a good collection.

 

[grey-array]

What would a kilo worth of beeswax cost to ship to Holland?
And how much would a kilo's worth of beeswax count for?
Gonna use allot of that stuff in the future so better start exploring some suppliers eh ^^
yours sincerely Ruud

 

[Treeclipper]

Hi Toddy,

Thanks for the offer, PM inbound.

I saw the basket you made from the cordage in the other thread , really nice. That'll be one of the next things I would like to learn. I tried to make nettle cordage last year, but just couldn't get the twist right..lol, kept falling to bits.

cheers again Andy

 

[Treeclipper]

Cool stuff. I go out MTBing and with my Outdoor Class to Beecraigs. Lots of wind blown pine about so you had a good collection.

I was at the bit of Beecraigs along from the War memorial, Cockleroy I think. Lots of windblown trees there, it took a while to get round the paths near the cliff/ravine as there were so many over the trail. Was still nice, hope they tidy it up a bit though.

Andy

 

[Scots_Charles_River]

That area has a large Badger sett, hope it's ok. It's set in the loose hill overlooking the farm.

My class love Cockleroy. Unfortuantely one of my GEOCACHE got muggled there recently.Muiravonside has lots of windblown which might yield resin.

 

[Miyagi]

Hi Liam,

Thanks for the offer, I'll give you a pm next time I away for a wander, same if you ever want company on a stroll yourself.
bummer about the beeswax, what a waste. I tried to get the beeswax out of the honeycomb I had , but failed miserably...lol ended up in bit of a mess.

Cheers Andy

I'll PM you my mobile number Andy.

Liam, 10kgs :yikes: what a complete choob!!!

I know, there'll be lip balm made this year. It only needed warmed over a bain marie and the solid yucky bits settle to the bottom. Ho hum...


Liam