How to Remove Pine Cone Sap or Pitch from Skin, Clothing or Cones
When working with cones, bark and other parts of nature, we are bound to get sap on our hands or clothes. While some people enjoy the scent, most of us don't enjoy the sticky mess that follows until we get the sap off our hands.
Removing Sap from Skin
An easy way to get sap off skin and clothing is to apply a greasy product. Anything from Vaseline (petroleum jelly, mineral oil), water-based hand lotion, vegetable oil, butter, mayonnaise, peanut butter, coconut oil etc. can be applied and rubbed on your hands or skin where the sap is.
Next, wash your hands with soap. Good old-fashioned bar soap works just fine. Liquid soap does too. If there is still some lingering sap left on your hands, repeat.
Using hot water from the tap also helps to melt the sap so it flows more easily off your skin.
Using hot water from the tap also helps to melt the sap so it flows more easily off your skin.
You may still have some of the pine sap scent left but it will soon wear off.
Removing Sap from Clothing
For clothing or other materials, freeze the material first for about 2 hours until sap is hard. Break or pick off as much pitch as you can safely do using a dull knife without damaging the material. Warm the material up to room temperature and apply the greasy substance or vinegar to the spot, rubbing it into the sap with a tooth brush or small cloth wrapped on the tip of a finger. Then use powered laundry detergent mixed with water or liquid detergent applied to the spot to remove the greasy substance. Avoid spreading it around as the sap also gets spread around and the stain will be larger. This will not work on all materials and may in fact damage some delicate ones but it's worth a try.
Removing Sap From Cones
One common way to remove sap from cones, especially the longer white pine cones, it to bake them in an oven at about 80C (180F) for about an hour. Place the cones on parchment paper on a cookie sheet. The paper will catch the sap as it melts. You may need to repeat this process a second time if there was much sap to start with. I personally don't like to do this as I don't like the smell of the hot sap in the house. It may affect anyone with severe pine allergies as well since the scent gets in the air and they breathe it in (Yes, that's correct! It's not the pollen or contact with the sap that affects people with allergies. The volatile oils get aerosolized when heated.). It may lead to headaches and skin and breathing issues depending on the severity of allergy.
Dunking the cones in hot tap water (above 38C or 100F) can decrease how much sap is on overly sappy cones. Hold them vertically for the best result. You will have to dry them afterward.
Place the cones in a garden bucket or bin and pour hot (but not boiled) water over them. Repeat until you have the amount of sap that works for you. This heats the sap enough that it will drain off easily. It does leave a residue that is a thin layer over everywhere it drained. This is mildly waterproof.
Instead, I prefer to choose older cones that have weathered outside and most of the sap is naturally removed by the elements. The key thing is that the collected cones are not too brittle from age and do not have mold on them. If all you can get are cones with sap, then you can leave them outside laid in single layers during warm weather and let them naturally age there. The key to prevent mold is that they have air circulating around them.
For clothing or other materials, freeze the material first for about 2 hours until sap is hard. Break or pick off as much pitch as you can safely do using a dull knife without damaging the material. Warm the material up to room temperature and apply the greasy substance or vinegar to the spot, rubbing it into the sap with a tooth brush or small cloth wrapped on the tip of a finger. Then use powered laundry detergent mixed with water or liquid detergent applied to the spot to remove the greasy substance. Avoid spreading it around as the sap also gets spread around and the stain will be larger. This will not work on all materials and may in fact damage some delicate ones but it's worth a try.
Removing Sap From Cones
One common way to remove sap from cones, especially the longer white pine cones, it to bake them in an oven at about 80C (180F) for about an hour. Place the cones on parchment paper on a cookie sheet. The paper will catch the sap as it melts. You may need to repeat this process a second time if there was much sap to start with. I personally don't like to do this as I don't like the smell of the hot sap in the house. It may affect anyone with severe pine allergies as well since the scent gets in the air and they breathe it in (Yes, that's correct! It's not the pollen or contact with the sap that affects people with allergies. The volatile oils get aerosolized when heated.). It may lead to headaches and skin and breathing issues depending on the severity of allergy.
Dunking the cones in hot tap water (above 38C or 100F) can decrease how much sap is on overly sappy cones. Hold them vertically for the best result. You will have to dry them afterward.
Place the cones in a garden bucket or bin and pour hot (but not boiled) water over them. Repeat until you have the amount of sap that works for you. This heats the sap enough that it will drain off easily. It does leave a residue that is a thin layer over everywhere it drained. This is mildly waterproof.
Instead, I prefer to choose older cones that have weathered outside and most of the sap is naturally removed by the elements. The key thing is that the collected cones are not too brittle from age and do not have mold on them. If all you can get are cones with sap, then you can leave them outside laid in single layers during warm weather and let them naturally age there. The key to prevent mold is that they have air circulating around them.
Spot Removal
For spot removal on a single cones-maybe I found the perfect cone for a project except it has a few spots of sap on it-I use the following process to salvage the cone.
First freeze the cone for about an hour. Once it's cooled off, use a blunt object to scrape off any excessive lumps of sap or pitch.
Next, rub grease on it (as above). Then dab the spot with soap, scrub a bit and rinse with hot water. At this point the scale may have a sheen to it as the grease seals the woody material on the cones scales. Let dry overnight to use the next day.
Before and After
Here is a before and after photo of a white pine I did a spot removal to show you.
Before.
Quite a lot of sap on the cone overall.
After.
You can easily see the patch where I removed the sap with vaseline (upper 6 scales). The entire cone was briefly washed with hot water which also reduced the overall amount of sap on each scale.
Here's a close up of the cleaned scales.
The shine on the scale is the oil that has spread and coated the scale. This makes it waterproof, which is useful if you are using the craft outdoors in the elements. Over time, the vaseline will evaporate and the shine will disappear.
For comparison on a lower section, I tried using 5% vinegar as recommended by some sites. For the same amount of effort, the sap just got gummy and the sap was still there. When I waited longer, the vinegar evaporated and the sap got hard again so all it did was soften the sap so I rubbed it, the sap moved around. It did get a bit of shine on part of the scales. It was possibly more waterproof than it was due to thinning the sap so it could coat the scales. It was less sticky than it was previously. I suspect you'd have to soak the whole cone in vinegar for awhile and re-dry it to get rid of more sap. If you try it, let me know!
Avoid doing this in sinks in your house since once the sap goes down the drain and cools, it also hardens, which will clog the drain. Try using an old garden container or ice cream bucket instead. If you do need to unclog sap from a drain, consult a plumber. There are chemicals that will dissolve it but may also dissolve your pipes.
Interesting Facts: Pine sap is used to make turpentine, a toxic paint thinner. Interestingly, turpentine can be used to remove pine sap. Be warned, turpentine may damage some materials and has a strong smell that takes a long time to wear off. First Nations people used pine sap mixed with soil as a glue and heated it to seal canoes.
Avoid doing this in sinks in your house since once the sap goes down the drain and cools, it also hardens, which will clog the drain. Try using an old garden container or ice cream bucket instead. If you do need to unclog sap from a drain, consult a plumber. There are chemicals that will dissolve it but may also dissolve your pipes.
Interesting Facts: Pine sap is used to make turpentine, a toxic paint thinner. Interestingly, turpentine can be used to remove pine sap. Be warned, turpentine may damage some materials and has a strong smell that takes a long time to wear off. First Nations people used pine sap mixed with soil as a glue and heated it to seal canoes.
