Wilderness Glue

What is Pine Pitch or Pine resin?

Pine pitch or resin is the sap that oozes from an injured part of coniferous trees or evergreen trees like the pine tree, pinon tree, white pine tree, spruce trees and a few others.

These trees use the sap to seal the wound to prevent disease. The resin contains compounds that prevent the growth of microorganisms. This same resin can be used on a open cut on a person to help prevent infection. To use as a first aid treatment use the sap that is fresh and sticky and has not dried for best results.

While out and about on your hunting and gathering mode, pry off a few chunks of the dried sap and keep it with you for when you need it. That's if you are in an area that has coniferous trees. But, if you have the opportunity, gather it when it is available to you. The sap can be heated to mix with the other components when it is time to use it.

The following glue recipe allows for many uses, such as securing arrow heads to the shaft; securing spear tips; mending holes in plastic tarps or fabrics; gluing fletching on arrows. There are many other uses for this survival glue just let your imagination work for you.

The recipe I used in the above video was:

5 parts pine resin
1 part finely ground wood charcoal
1 part finely ground plant material (i.e. rabbit poop)

The reason I used rabbit scat or poop is because the ingredients call for finely ground dried plant material. Since rabbits, deer, elk, moose are Herbivores, meaning they only eat plant materials, their scat is mostly plant material that has already been ground up for you. Just make sure you use the driest scat you can find. It will look grayish or tan when it is ready. Usually when you grind it up it will look green like oregano. So let the animals save you the time in having to grind up the plant stuff.

You can get the charcoal left over from a camp fire. It needs to be ground up as fine as possible to avoid having chunks in your glue.

To make the glue, you need to have a small fire going and something metal to melt the resin in. A flat rock can be substituted for the container, but may take longer to heat and keep the resin flowing.

First allow the resin to melt. The resin may catch on fire, so watch it carefully and blow it out when it does catch fire. Once the resin melts all the way, add the 1 part charcoal and 1 part plant material (rabbit or deer scat). Mix thoroughly.

The mixture will look like roof tar when it is mixed. The glue is now ready to be used. It will dry fast after you begin to use it. Use a small twig to apply the glue. If it the glue starts to harden, you can reheat it while it is on the twig and can be applied to where ever it is needed.

The left over glue can be reused after it has dried. If a metal container with a lid was used, you can store the glue for later reheating and use.

Here are some other ingredients that can be mixed with the resin. A little experimenting may be needed, but usually the ingredient ratio is 5 parts resin to 1 part of two other ingredients.

The follow items can be used:

pitch
charcoal
animal dung (herbivore- plant eaters)
ground plant matter
wood ashes
sulfur
iron filings
hair or fur
bees wax
animal fats or tallow

Stay Prepared! Stay Alive!

Charlie