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How to Make Pitch Resin

Pitch, sap and resin are all essentially the same thing. Resin is the purified form of pitch (once the bugs, dirt, branches, bark and sediment have been removed). Most trees secrete sap/resin/pitch, but you will find it most often weeping from trees in the pine family. You will often times see large collections of dried and crusty pitch on the knots of tree trunks. You can peel the pitch from the trunk with your hands or you can use a chisel and hammer. The necessary method depends on the consistency of the pitch.

Pitch resin has multiple practical uses around the house and in the outdoors. You can use it as natural fire starting material, as a water- and weather-proofing material, as adhesive and as torch fuel. You can use items found around the house to process raw pitch and to separate dirt, bugs, twigs and other impurities from the end result. Take extra care when rendering and processing raw pitch, as it is highly flammable and contains turpentine.

Things You'll Need

Chisel (optional)
Hammer (optional)
Grill or similar outdoor heat source with grate
2 large tuna cans
Soup can
Finishing nail
Hammer
Metal tongs
Long-handled spoon or stick
Cheesecloth
Thick rubber band

Instructions

- 1
  Collect enough pitch to fill a soup can or similar metal container. Remove only pitch deposits found naturally on the trunk or branches of the tree to diminish the chances of causing additional damage. Peel the deposits away with your hands or chip them away using a chisel and hammer.
- 2
  Punch multiple holes in the bottom of a soup can using a finishing nail and hammer. Hold the nail firmly against the soup can and strike downward with the hammer until it has just punctured the metal bottom.
- 3
  Place the punctured soup can inside of a large tuna can. Fill the soup can with your tree pitch.
- 4
  Preheat a grill or similar outdoor heat source and place the tuna can containing the soup can and pitch over the heating source.
- 5
  Stir the pitch with a long-handled spoon or stick and push the debris to the bottom of the can until everything has completely melted.
- 6
  Place a piece of cheesecloth over the clean, spare tuna can and secure it with a rubber band.
- 7
  Grasp the soup can containing the debris from the pitch with a pair of metal tongs. Slowly remove the soup can from the tuna can. Be sure not to spill any of the pitch.
- 8
  Pour the hot, rendered pitch resin through the cheesecloth-covered tuna can to remove any additional debris. Carefully remove the cheesecloth from the can and squeeze it to remove any additional pitch.
- 9
  Use the resin as desired.

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