Pine tar?

[maddog314]

I have been using different glues to attach my points to the arrow and I am wondering if there is a certain way to use pine tar. I have a pint of it and I am wanting to use it. any suggestions?

[George Tsoukalas]

This is how I put on trades. I use the pine sap right from the tree. Heat it slightly and dab  it on the point. Slide it into the groove. Do the spin test and adjust if needed. Tie on with sinew. I make 3 cuts on  each side of the point and then wrap criss cross with wetted sinew.  I wrap an inch down into the shaft, tie off and coat with hide glue. Jawge

[maddog314]

I just have a can of pine tar that is in liquid form do I need to heat it to get the moister out? I saw something on youtube on some one using horse manure, pine sap resin ,and charcoal. he heated the pine sap resin into its liquid state and added the horse manure and charcoal( ground up) to the mix and as it was cooling he built up the mix onto a stick for later use. when he wanted to use it hi simply heated it back up and used it. I am wondering if I can use the canned pine tar in the same way?

[Pat B]

The pine pitch should be hard and brittle to make good glue. If it is not you will have to cook it to evaporate the turps and that will make it hard.
  I use pine pitch,bees wax and finely ground charcoal to make my glue. The charcoal adds body just like the dried manure would. Dried deer or rabbit manure will work too. The beeswax makes the mixture less brittle but if the pitch is soft it will stay tacky for a long time.
  Be very careful cookingh the pitch because it is very volatile and will combust if it gets too hot.

[sander]

Pat I would like to try your recipe.  However I have hard amber colored balls of sap
from some kind of small decorative tree maybe of the fruit variety.  Will sap from most
trees work? and what percentages of sap beeswax and charcoal do you recommend.
Thanks

[sailordad]

i use pine sap,rabbit poo,charcoal
but have been adding bees wax to it lately,i like it this way much better

i would think that any sap should work as long as it hardens up

as far as mix ratios go
i just melt some sap,add the other stuff untill i get the consistancy i want
dont worry about making "to much"
just put it on a stick and youll have it when you need it
my last batch made a pitch stick that was 4" in diameter
still using it,its about 1.5" in diameter now
hafted many arrows/blades/ and even a hawk head with it

[Pat B]

I have only used pine pitch for glue. I read in an old PA Magazine about making varnish from fruit tree sap. That's what got me thinking about pitch varnish...and I use it all the time to seal sinew wraps and primitive arrow shafts.
   Put a bit of the sap you have in a small jar with an air tight lid and add a bit of denatured alcohol and seal it up. If the pitch dissolves you have made varnish.  If it will melt with heat, like pine pitch does, you can mix it with other ingrenients. 
   Another thought, pine pitch is pretty sticky stuff. As a matter of fact it is quite hard to remove. Is this other sap that sticky? That is what makes a good glue. The charcoal(or dried deer, rabbit dung) and bees wax(makes it less brittle) are the additives.
  I've never measured. I start by melting the pitch and cleaning out whatever trash is mixed in. Then I add the charcoal (maybe 25%) to add body and enough bees wax(maybe 25%) to keep the finished glue from being too brittle. This usually takes a few meltings and solidifing to get the right consistancy.

[JackCrafty]

Pine tar in a can is too thin to be used for glue.  I've got a can of that stuff too.  It has a horse on the label and I believe it's used to treat hoof infections.

If you want, get some pine rosin off the internet.  Then melt it and add a little fat.  Conifer sap is best but other tree saps will work also.  I know hardened mesquite sap will work.

There are many recipes on this site.

[sailordad]

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm mesquite

i bet that smells real nice when your melting it for use
mmmmmmmmmmmm

[sander]

Pat the sap from the decorative trees is smooth and hard bigger than marble size oftentimes
doesnt feel sticky at all. Guess I will have to just give it a try.  Thanks guys for the info.

[Pat B]

Sander, try heating it and see if it melts and if it is sticky.

[sander]

Pat I put a lump in a soup can and heated it up it didn't melt just sort of shriveled up some
and maybe turned black I say maybe because I had beeswax and ground charcoal in the can
also.  Dropped a lump in some water and to some small degree it is shedding little pieces
or dissolving.  You mentioned denatured alcohol and varnish wondering if you could use a
small amount of alcohol to dissolve and then use like pitch?  So melting didnt work resorted
to hide glue to haft my point with a sinew wrap hope its strong enough.  Got to get those
turkey feathers out now another first for me.

[markinengland]

Maddog,

Your liquid pine tar is full of volatile elements like turpentine. You would need to boil those off to make it thicker. Eventually it will turn into pine pitch.

[maddog314]

Thank you all for the great info. I Am going to try just boiling this stuff down and see what hapens if it does not work there is no loss to me.

[Pat B]

Handle it with care, MadDog. It is quite volatile and will combust if it gets too hot. Messy and dangerous!