# Survival > Foraging & Wild Edibles >  Tap a pine tree

## erunkiswldrnssurvival

I use pine sap extensively in my wilderness work some times i have to get more than i can get from seepage so i thought that i would share the method of tapping pines that i trust 
http://www.wikihow.com/Tap-a-Pine-Tree

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## mountain mama

erunkiswldnssurvival, could you also please share some of the uses you have for the pine sap?

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## erunkiswldrnssurvival

> erunkiswldnssurvival, could you also please share some of the uses you have for the pine sap?


my pleasure mam,1 it makes an exelent water proof sealant for boats, buckets,tarps ect..

                        2 i use it to make fish hooks,"glueing" lashings on arrow heads,water proofing rope

                         3 i use it as a stove fuel to cook, heat ,and light my campsites

                         4 i use it to make chewing gum

                         5 i use it to make varnish and "Brewers Resin"
 so that makes pine sap a pretty important survival tool
             Turpentine can also be distilled from sap if you have the knowledge.

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## mountain mama

wow, I did a search on it and found this: http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...read.php?t=716

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## mountain mama

> Medicinally, Pine pitch is used alone or in combination with other ingredients as an anti-viral, anti-fungal, anti-bacterial agent, internally and externally.


This is what I had heard about using pine sap for.

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## RBB

I don't know about other parts of the country, but here you can often collect pine gum in chunks from the base of some evergreens, most often spruce - sometimes red pine.  You won't get a lot of gum this way, but the only thing I've ever used it for was making pitch for seams on a birchbark canoe, and it was enough for that purpose.  

The gum appears in chunks, between 1/2 inch to a couple of inches.  To prepare pitch for seams, you heat and mix the gum with tallow and campfire soot.  This does not work particularly well as a sealant for canoes, and needs looking after almost every time  you use the canoe.  Roofing asphalt and other commercial preparations work so much better, that I did not use gum pitch after my first  bark canoe.

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## erunkiswldrnssurvival

I build birch bark canoes, the tempered pitch i use between the sheets of bark, i use 

raw uncooked pitch with chopped grass or rope mixed into it for a water seal in large areas that bend or twist, the soft pitch doesnt crack   Great posts! thanks

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## Rick

I had a cousin that had a perpetually leaking John boat he dubbed the "Leakin' Leana". He always had a small coffee can of roof asphalt with a splash of gas to make it more pliable. If the boat sprung a leak, and it always sprung a leak..often several, when we were out he'd just work up some asphalt and shove in the hole. Come to think of it, that boat was more asphalt than boat I think. Ah, to be young and dumb again....now, I'm just dumb I guess. :Blushing:

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## erunkiswldrnssurvival

i discovered using the soft pitch and rope to seal things one day one of my birch bark buckets sprung a leak and i just shoved raw pitch and grass into the water and pressed it into the split in the bucket and the flexable material held. so i discovered a good way by accedent

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## crashdive123

If you call right now, I'll throw in not one, but two packs of spruce gum.

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## erunkiswldrnssurvival

the spruce is an oil producing tree, spruce oil is even used in perfume; seeds from the cones are pressed and the oil is collected

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## snakeman

Thank you so much for the thread. I needed another way to collect sap rather than scavenging off of tree wounds. The sap is also used in colonial soapmaking for its anti bacterial properties. They used to seal gunshot wounds with it. That stuff is so useful. I like to keep a pitch stick handy because it dries hard and faster than super glue and is easy to apply. I have heard that crushed egshells and lard in it make it stronger. I also made a torch by getting a blob of sap covered in juniper bark. It burned good but is not good to breath. Cooking over pine sap is very efficient.

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## erunkiswldrnssurvival

I am going to try and tap a tree this week. i intent to take a few pics of the whole affair so i'll keep everybody posted on the results.the sand pine is what i am using this time, the bark is thicker than the ponderosa pines that i like the most.but in the north i use the spruce tree it produces mounds of sap that drip off of the tree and form "pillows" on ground.

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## vthompson

Thanks for the post, that was some good information to know about.

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## danmc

> erunkiswldnssurvival, could you also please share some of the uses you have for the pine sap?


I have used it for extracting a sliver without having tweezers.  Heated it up (carefully to not catch it on fire).  Removed from the heat source (to avoid an accident) and when it was cooled just enough to not burn I put my finger with the sliver in it.  Held my finger there until the pitch was fully cooled and then pulled it off, sliver and all.  Neat as could be.

I'm still not tossing out my tweezers that are in my first aid kit.

-Dan

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## danmc

oh, I forgot to mention, I've been told that mixing it with hardwood ash makes a pretty solid epoxy-like glue.  I haven't had a chance to try it myself yet though.  I'd be interested to see how much of a difference the addition of the hardwood ash makes.

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## erunkiswldrnssurvival

some mixes can make it as hard as concrete, ash, and sand make good additives. i have experimented extensivly with pine sap strengthening mixtures, bone dust and sand make the hardest that i know. you mix the three parts togather then compress it down tight while its soft and pliable, and you get concrete.
Adding lard or bees wax makes the resin soft like caramel, so if you want hard pitch dont add lard or waxes.they also take away the stickyness so it wont be adhesive.
hard  tempered pine sap is this...

boil and strain pine resin.
boil a second time. sap will foam up indicating proper temperature.
cool sap imediately, sap will crystalize and become hard as candy,and the sap is tempered.
sap can be melted again and mixed with chopped rope and ground charcoal and used as a watersealant.
or use bone and sand for concrete, use bees wax and sap for chewing gum.

And dont forget to use pine sap for your cooking stoves a small chunk of clearified sap makes a good sized blaze.
pine sap when burned is a powerful fuel. use with care.

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## erunkiswldrnssurvival

I tapped two trees today. they were old lodge pole pines(sand pine).The Resin started running within moments of scoreing the sap wood layer.I mounted the buckets with poly coated deck skrews(easy to remove, and dont rust). in one week i will go back there and check to see how the sap is flows.(i usualy go in 3 days but cant this time). I need about one gallon of sap.these two trees should give about 3 pints.

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## crashdive123

Cool deal.  Hope you took (and take) some pictures.

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## erunkiswldrnssurvival

yes I did, and i worked out a cool project to demonstrate the benefit of having enough pine,sap.I may add in some mixtures and thier uses. that may be informative.

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## trax

> yes I did, and i worked out a cool project to demonstrate the benefit of having enough pine,sap.I may add in some mixtures and thier uses. that may be informative.


knock on wood.

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## crashdive123

I've never tapped a pine tree.  I've tapped a keg or two, but never a pine tree.

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## snakeman

Can you tap pines in the summer and fall as well or just in the spring?

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## erunkiswldrnssurvival

> Can you tap pines in the summer and fall as well or just in the spring?


spring is the best time. cold weather slows down the flow of sap.

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## Beo

awe never mind I thought it said trap a pine tree, I was gonna ask if you really need lessons in that.

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## crashdive123

They can be tough to sneak up on...takes practice.

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## bulrush

I bet if you took a plastic bottle, cut out a crescent-shaped piece with flaps, you could make a sort of lip, nail it to the tree, and hang your bucket under the plastic lip, making sure to get all the sap.

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## erunkiswldrnssurvival

That would work good. i think that just one angled slash would work better also, when the tree seals up, I just cut the cambium and sap wood a little higher causing it to bleed> the volume is less but i can use the tree for months, so at the end i get way more sap.

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## texashiker

> 4 i use it to make chewing gum


The first thing I thought of when I saw that was chewing tar.  That pine sap is some pretty rough stuff, its almost like a super glue that never dries.  Which can make it good for some purposes.

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## snakeman

For the chewing gum, magnolia bark extract is used to flavor spearmint gum. The buds and twigs smell like it to. I don't know how to process it and all that but its an idea.

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## erunkiswldrnssurvival

i like that . some of the techniques include for flavoring is to crush green plants and put the food you want to flavor in with it in a bag and let them dry out togather. ths scent and flavor will be added to your food.

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## your_comforting_company

I was hunting last week and spotted a damaged pine tree across the way. I noticed big orange stalagtites hanging from the tree at the point where it was burned (assuming a controlled burn was implemented). I had only a snack wrapper to put it in but I harvested all I could from the already damaged tree.

Perhaps it's too "dirty" or old, but I can't get this stuff to burn. I tried several different wicks, punk wood, true tinder fungus, twine, fatlighter "matches", cotton wick.. all sorts of things but nothing worked.
How do I get this stuff to burn? What do you use for wick material?

I'd also like to get your gum recipe trapper jack. My dad said I could tap all the pine trees on his property if I wanted, but I'm gonna stick to the ones that are already damaged.

at this point I'm thinking tallow is a more dependable fuel but I know that just isn't true. Please help!

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## your_comforting_company

well.. i want to post a pic of what I got, but photobucket is acting stupid this morning... pics to come (sorry!)

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## your_comforting_company

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sorry about that.. my connection must be soggy from all the rain.

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## COWBOYSURVIVAL

I collected some sap back in the spring. I placed it in a small pot and melted it or rather boiled it. I haven't tried burning it yet, but will give it a go and get back to you YCC.

Edit- You might also try a more porous wick. I just noticed how you had it set up. Missed that on first glance.

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## your_comforting_company

Thanks CS. I'd like to know what you find. I tried a few things, but none of them would burn more than a few minutes even if you kept adding sap.. I'm thinking it was the old sap not workin like fresh would.

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## Rick

One possibility is that it was already present when the fire occurred. If that's the case, the heat could have driven off some or all of the turpenes and what you're left with is a state of near amber referred to as copal. Copal is actually between a resin and amber.

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## trax

that right there is why he's Minister of Science for Free Traxistan people, yep. Number 1 answer Richard, keep up the good work.

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## Rick

I tank ya. Me mudder tanks ya. Me brudder tanks ya......

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## crashdive123

Well, since that's the case - mix a little gasoline with it and see if......

Nevermind.

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## your_comforting_company

would just being exposed to the environment (sun and rain) drive out the terpenes and make it lose it's mojo? I do think it is copal and lacks the "fire element" from being exposed. you can tell more about it in the top pic.
Thanks for the info, this sap might be better used as a sealant than a fuel.

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## Rick

It shouldn't. It would take higher heat to do that. You should be able to burn it much like incense if it is copal. I think the term copal came from copalli, which is Spanish for incense (?)....I think. Or maybe it's Spanish for an incense like product. Anywhooo. Try burning it and see if it reacts like incense. If it does, then I'd bet you have copal.

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## your_comforting_company

nah, it melts like wax and runs when hot. very fluid and burns very violently with lots of popping and crackling.. the fire just doesn't last. I'll toy with some more wick materials soon. got 2 hides to smoke and one to brain.. gotta get back to work lol.

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## rwc1969

Maybe it somehow got water mixed into it.

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