I'd be surprised if there wasn't some plasticizer that would make the stuff
less brittle. The pine tar I had tended to be liquid until it dried up,
anyway. Probably the same is true of sugar, though. If you managed to find
the right kind of chemist, or maybe food scientist, they could probably
give you eleventy-eight suitable choices.
On Sat, Mar 30, 2024 at 1:43 PM Mike Smith <smittypwr@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I have found in further research that pine resins and tars will harden and
become brittle at cool temperatures. So it's usefulness is limited to
warm/hot weather launches. Perhaps the addition of glycerin will help. Of
course that makes a pretty good soap if nothing else.
On Fri, Mar 29, 2024, 11:31 PM Abraham Baker <abrahambaker104@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
My experience with pine tar in general is extremely limited, but be
careful if you try--it's probably going to spit little bits of hot tar at
you.
-Abraham
On Sat, Mar 30, 2024 at 5:02 AM Lincoln Ross <lr21643@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I was introduced to pine tar as a binder to make cross country ski wax
stick to wooden skis. It's really sticky and really hard to wash out! It
does a good job on the skis. It becomes less viscous when heated. No
insight as to effectiveness in rocket fuel, but wear clothes you don't care
about.
On Fri, Mar 29, 2024 at 4:19 PM Rick Maschek <
dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
'gooey and sticky carbonized pine wood'...anyone into that? Let me know
how that works [image: Emoji]
On Friday, March 29, 2024 at 12:55:18 PM PDT, Mike Smith <
smittypwr@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I googled it and it seems resin, pitch, rosin, and turpentine, are all
derived from the pine sap with greater or lesser degrees of processing.
Pine tar however, is made from carbonizing the pine wood itself and is
described as "liquid smoke" by some. I suppose all of these could be used
in rocket fuel as they all burn, and are gooey and sticky. Even turpentine
can be viscous and tacky.
On Fri, Mar 29, 2024, 12:20 PM William Schmiedlin <
wschmiedlin@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Looks like it is $44 / gallon on Zoro.com.
[image: image.png]
On Fri, Mar 29, 2024 at 1:41 PM Rick Maschek <
dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Never thought of that...I cut some trees for firewood that are oozing
all over. Wonder how much is needed for a 6 grain 98mm motor?
Perhaps thin down with turpentine?
On Friday, March 29, 2024 at 10:44:13 AM PDT, Mike Smith <
smittypwr@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Has anyone tried pine resin or even unprocessed pine sap in their
rocket fuel? I thought it might mitigate some of the brittleness of sugar.
It is flexible, flammable and can even be free if you have access to
accommodating trees.
