Pine Pitch, How to deal with

D

Duzzy

Joined
Sep 1, 2009
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Thanks to some recent luck, and some very generous people I've now got some pine pitch/resin. Right now most of it is in the form of the little clunks and globs that have been plucked from trees.

I'm still intent on trying out some of the NFTP's and making some of my own fatwood and I have a few questions.

Is it possible to over-cook pitch? (In essence, can you cook away the chemicals that make it flammable?)

Can I melt it in water and then simmer/boil away the water? (I'm thinking that thinning it with water would make it easier to strain the foreign material.)

Thanks for any help.

(I did try a Google Search, and a Google Search of BF, but I didn't have any luck.)
 
SAFETY FIRST! pitch is mega flammable. USE A DOUBLE BOILER and medium heat only. ABC class fire extinguisher handy...........etc etc etc



next, put all the pitch into the top pot and slowly melt. You cannot over cook it, but when it cools it will be hard.............all the bark, dirt and crap will settle to the bottom of the pot and the top layer will be clean pitch. I pour in "Pam'ed" ice cube trays to make hard pitch cubes, which i use for fire starting (shave off pile of pitch shavings onto cotton ball, light....)

if making pitch sticks, dip, let cool,roll in ash, dip again, repeat.
 
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Gotcha, any idea on adding water and then simmering it off? Or straining it in general?

Also, how did you do your magnesium shavings? I've just been attacking a magnesium bar with a file. Works well, but the shavings are small.

And, while I've got you for an audience, what size Jewler's case did you use?

I also want to expirement with adding the top stub of a "trick" birthday candle, and someone in the old thread mentioned strike anywhere matches... Hopefully, all will end well and I'll have pictures to accompany it.

Thanks for the insight.
 
adding water to the pitch could be done, but the pitch might trap some of it......

I used the medium jewelers tins for my pitch candle firestarters...i did mix in beeswax FYI....and stuck in a good chunk of cotton.
 
I saw the cotton, but I didn't know it was beeswax... Oh well, I have some of that as well.

Thank you again sir.
 
no prob. :) pitch is good stuff, you can seal holes on boats, start fires, roll up a little ball of it and seal off cavities..... etc etc

i use a large and small coffee can for my double boiler
 
Loose is right.

You can use pine pitch on an object, say a head of an arrow - and then sprinkle on the white ash from a fire.

ROCK hard instead of sticky.

TF
 
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