Uses for pitch

A

andrew7978

Joined
Mar 19, 2007
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When I finish up finals and return home next week, I am going to work on a tutorial for how to make pitch from birch bark. I thought in addition to showing people how to make it, I would show people how to use it.

So this is where you guys come in. There are so many uses for the stuff, I thought I would let everyone post what they want to see it used for and I will attempt their ideas and photograph it. There will probably be a limited amount of pitch so, I will demonstrate the ideas that seem to have the most interest.
 
Cool, I didn't even know you can make pitch from birch bark. Your gonna have to show me at the gathering also.

I can try to cut up a bunch of poplar, and maybe we can make some fire bowls at the gathering and us the pitch to seal them.
 
great stuff... pitch has so many uses... looking forward to the tutorial...:)

-hafting primitive ponits to arrows or spears..
-hafting flint knapped blades to handles..
-sealing wood projects..
 
One of the Ray Mears vids has a traditional ski maker using it to finish a pair of skis.
Also, a question, in gluing applications isn't ash or pulverized charcoal added as a binder to decrease the brittleness of the glue?
 
beckerhead said:
One of the Ray Mears vids has a traditional ski maker using it to finish a pair of skis.
Also, a question, in gluing applications isn't ash or pulverized charcoal added as a binder to decrease the brittleness of the glue?
Click to expand...


I personally couldn't tell you, I have only made this stuff once before. That could be something I will try. Using just pitch as a glue then using pitch combined with some charcoal as glue.
 
I'm interested in seeing the tutorial as well as I am only familiar with pine pitch. Thanks in advance.
 
If you're talking about birch tar it can be used to like linseed oil to seal wood or diluted with water rubbed on skin as an ointment
 
I'm very much interested in how this develops. It would be great to use a traditional method to seal a scandi handle.

Looking forward to it,

- Mike
 
A craftsman in Eagle, AK uses it to seal birch bark canoe seams. He said the natives mixed it with animal blood (apparently favoring bear) to get it to set up better. The only problem was that small varmints would then chew on the mixture if you didn't protect the canoe.

DancesWithKnives
 
I've seen reenactment groups talk about "tarring" things for period correct waterproofing (caps, bags and the like).

Frank
 
i use it to help start fires....

and i have made glue a few times...i used ash...worked pretty good....
 
I'm familiar with pine pitch, not birch tar, but –

As langston302 mentioned, pitch makes a great accelerant for fires.

Also, I've heard that pitch can be used as a topical antiseptic; however, I haven't personally tried this.
 
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