Here's the best that I could find: http://agrirama.com/main/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=37&Itemid=53 http://www.valdosta.edu/turpentine/index.htm
PJ On Thu, Oct 1, 2009 at 12:02 PM, Peter Aplin <[email protected]>wrote: > Thanks Will, I just spent a good hour off on a tangent finding out about > lightered stumps and Turpentine, etc. Is there a museum about this industry > in your area, or is that all local knowledge?Peter > On 1-Oct-09, at 11:52 AM, Will wrote: > > Rereading my response I don't think I answered Carolyn and some others who > asked what they gathered from the sap. What they gather from the pines is > not sap, but resin commonly called pine tar or gum. Resin is produced in > resin ducts within the wood. I think most conifers produce resin, some more > so than others. In the southern pines, Slash is by far the most resinous > followed by Longleaf and then by maybe Pitch or Pond Pine. The other pines > produce it, but it doesn't flow enough to justify the collection of it. > > The resin is distilled into fractions with the lighter being the various > grades of turpentine and the remainder being the various grades of rosin. > The old fire stills so common throughout the deep south were relatively > small operations run by a stiller and a couple hands. They would run off > around 10 to 20 barrels of gum at a time. It took several hours to run off a > charge. They would dump the raw gum, the charge, into a copper still pot and > heat with a fire built in the brick firebox under the still. As the gum > heated they would cap the still. Being a good stiller was an art as they > would have to judge the process carefully to control the heat, know when to > add water to keep the distillation process active. Like a liquor still, > there was a large copper condensing coil or "worm" that was submersed in a > large wooden tank that condensed the distillate and they captured the water > and turpentine as it condensed. They would continually sample the condensate > and judging by the proportion of water to spirits and the color they would > know when to strike the fire so as not to degrade the rosin in the pot. Once > the fire was struck they had to wait to uncap the pot and draw the rosin > off. Draw it off to soon and you risked it flashing and burning down the > still or wait too late and it would no longer flow. There was a fine line. > The hot rosin was drawn off into long wooden troughs covered with screening > and cotton batting to filter out the chips, bark, needles and other debris > known as "dross" Once the rosin cooled it was cut into blocks and bagged for > shipment. It was also graded by the USDA by color with "WW" water white > being the best. > > Turpentine is used in a large number of uses from paints, medicines to > cosmetics. Gum Rosin also has many uses from soap to fillers for synthetics > to even food products. > > There are three main ways turpentine, rosin and related pine chemicals are > produced. Gum Turpentine, which is the discussion at hand, is the direct > distillation of pine resin, Wood Turpentine which is the steam extraction of > lightered stumps and Tall Oil, a fractional distillate from the paper > industry. The gum turpentine industry is gone from the US and is now > concentrated in China and to a lesser extent in Latin America. There is > still one wood turpentine plant in the US in Brunswick GA. Not sure where > the market has gone or if it is even much of a player anymore. And finally > the tall oil industry is still strong where pines are pulped. I understand > the quality of the product is related to the process with the Gum providing > the highest quality and the wood process somewhat below and the tall oil > process a low quality product > > Image #1 > This is an old lightered stump I dug out of my woodpile this morning with > an old gum box cut into it. These boxes were cut and used before 1900 when > the Herty cup (setting on top the stump) was invented. The clay cup dates > from before the first world war when they were replaced by the rectangular > tin cups. > > <afa turpentine.jpg> > > Image #2 > An old preserved fire still used up until about 1960. > > <AFA Turpentine Still.jpg> > > Image #3 > Some old ATFA calendars from out in my shed that show the modern method of > facing the trees with bark hacks and tin cups and gutters. The young ladies > where crowned Miss Gum Spirits of Turpentine each year until the > organization folded about 1995. Each county would have a pageant at the > county fair and they would compete at the ATFA pageant in Valdosta. > > <afa turpentine queen.jpg> > > > > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Eastern Native Tree Society http://www.nativetreesociety.org Send email to [email protected] Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
