Turps/Resin

[johnminnitt]

I am intending to experiment, for the first time, with a pine resin/turpentine mixture, maybe as a varnish, maybe a combined with heat treating a yew belly.
Any advice about preparing the stuff, will the resin dissolve if simply left in the turpentine long enough (I think I have read that it is risky stuff to heat to try and dissolve it more quickly)?
(I got the resin via eBay from Turkey (I think), it is a mixture of powder and various sized lumps - should it be ground to powder first?)

[Pat B]

It will dissolve quickly in alcohol. I use it as varnish for sinew wraps and sealing arrows that way. When the alcohol evaporates the pitch remains.

[johnminnitt]

Thanks.
Does that work noticeably faster than turpentine?
What variety of alcohol do you mean? Isopropyl?
I'm not using any of my far too limited supply of decent whisky.

[PatM]

 You'll need some oil added to make a varnish up tp any sort of flexing.

[willie]

I had some dried spruce sap that sat for years in real turp without being dissolved, then pat B mentioned alcohol. I used denatured (wood?)  alcohol and it dissolved excellent.

[Pat B]

 

[Hawkdancer]

Might add some linseed oil or flaxseed oil.  Equal parts pine tar, turpentine, and linseed oil make a good varnish.  Depends on what you are using for.  You might also add some tallow or beeswax.
Hawkdancer

[backtowood B2W]

I sealed my first bows with resin dissolved in isopropyl alcohol.
It became a nice finish but started to become brittle in summertime. Changed to tung oil then. Now I mostly use the resin with pigments for staining and tung oil for sealing.
Have to try the resin / oil / iPA solution - great Tip  - thank you
B2W

[kbear]

I have finished a couple bows with colophony (pine resin) dissolved in gum turpentine. It does take a few weeks/months to dissolve though. A certain amount will dissolve, some will settle at the bottom of the jar as a black gooey mass. I found that it took a long time to dry too, literally weeks, but did leave a gloss finish. I have a nice big jar ready to go now.

I have done some research, and according to some sources, most notably a violin building/restoring guild, if it is mixed with linseed oil, and then "cooked" at around 170 degrees C for approximately 2 hrs it will polymerise, and most of the gum turps will evaporate making for a decent reasonably fast drying varnish. It is all in the cooking apparently. My little electric cooktop arrived in the mail this week. I am going to "cook" some this weekend in readiness for my next bow.

This is obviously a very dangerous undertaking and utmost caution should be used. I intend to cook mine out in the yard on an electric cook top, and use an infrared thermometer to measure the temperature. If it catches fire DO NOT DOWSE WITH WATER! It will explode. I would simply turn off the hotplate at the outlet 20 metres away and let it burn out.

[johnminnitt]

Thanks for all the answers.
I will probably try some alcohol. (And then get back to thinking about this resin.)

What difference if the mixture is for application in heat-treating a belly rather than as varnish?

[Sidewinder]

Marc St louis has a mixture he uses. Maybe he will chime in or you can PM him

[bassman]

What Hawkdancer said.Mine is Bee's wax, turpentine, linseed oil cooked to a paste. Put paste on arrow or bow ,and heat with heat gun till the wood takes in what it wants. Then wipe off.Repeat once a year.Water will bead off ,so it is very water resistant.

[willie]

cooking the linseed oil most likely is the same as using boiled linseed oil. it speeds up the drying quite a bit.
I should mention that most boiled linseed oil has chemical driers, and is not to be ingested, as a flax oil you might find in a grocery store.

[kbear]

Thanks for all the answers.
I will probably try some alcohol. (And then get back to thinking about this resin.)

What difference if the mixture is for application in heat-treating a belly rather than as varnish?

I have done this to good effect previously. Originally it was an attempt at "malming", a process of impregnating the belly of a bow with the pine resin/gum turps mixture under a heat gun to enhance the compressive strength of the belly. The jury is still out on that one, but I did note that it allowed a more consistent and effective heat treatment, without so the spotty scorch marks. I will be experimenting more with malming in the future. The trick is to brush it on whilst toasting with a brush that doesn't melt!

[Marc St Louis]

I have used Turpentine to thin Spruce resin but you have to use heat for best results, this mix is for heat-treating and not sealing a bow.