Tree Resin?

[meshel]

Hi all, thought this would be the right place to ask, but I'm not sure - so help me out here...

I have several fruit trees in my garden, and a bunch of pine trees, some of these trees extract a "resin" (I have no better name for it) at times (I'm told this is a protection mechanism to protect the tree from attacks)

My question: is there something a nice jewish penturner can do with these? what would that be?

Thanks!

Attached are some pics of the stuff (didn't touch yet)

 

[Darley]

You may do, but leave it to cure or cook it up to hard it

 

[meshel]

Originally posted by Darley
<br />You may do, but leave it to cure or cook it up to hard it

Thanks for the answer, but can you please elaborate a little, I never even turned a pen from plastic yet, so to create my own material would be a first for me...

 

[RONB]

Hold on to it for a thousand yesrs and you have Amber.[][]

 

[fstepanski]

Have you cut into the tree to see if the grain is interesting enough to work with?
I’m guessing you’ll want to make pens with this wood?
If the trees have a nice grain or color pattern I would cut them into 1†squares at least 12†long. The wood will need to be dry before using in pen making. You have multiple options for drying:
Set them on stickers (small sticks which allow air to flow underneath) and wait 9 â€" 12 months

Place the wood in a large kettle of boiling water for a good hour or so. Remove the kettle from the heat source. Before removing the wood from the water allow the water to cool.

Just a couple ideas.. Most fruit trees have a heartwood/sapwood color differential which I find attractive. You can take advantage of this color difference with cutting them up.

Shoot some pictures of the cut wood when you get started…

 

[jkoehler]

I have seen this before. we call it tree gum.
my experience with it is that it is initially gooey and sticky.
i have seen it dried, but it will crumble. i dont really know what you would be able to treat it with in order to make it usable.
good luck. i would be interested if you can do something with it.

 

[GaryMGg]

Moshe,

Growing up, we had fruit trees such as wild plum and cherries which looked similar to what's in your photos.
While I never worked with the sap per se, we played tag and hide-n-seek in the yard at night and at times we'd bump into a branch covered with sap. What a nasty sticky mess! Hard to get off. Mom used some volatile chemical that also removed tar from our shoes to clean us. [B)]

As an adult down in Florida, we've got lots of pine trees that excrete sap which looks much like what's in your photos. I have worked with pine w/ lots of pitch -- which is internal sap still in the lumber -- and sap. It's a nasty mess, gums up your tools, and is a PITA to clean off.

I've made a few pens from pure pitch pine; you can nearly see through them. As you make shavings, the wood becomes transparent because it's mostly just gum. This is the stuff they made turpentine from.

It is challenging and IMHO worth tackling, albeit infrequently.

 

[loglugger]

Our cherry trees have that on them and I have thought I would try to make a stain out of it as it has a very nice color. Just don't know what to mix with it to make it workable. As was said when it dryes it crumbles.
Bob