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Pine trees especially in North Carolina were tapped for sap which was doubly distilled to make turpentine and rosin (aka resin)–hence the name tar heels. The trees were scored with a ledge called a “box” to collect the sap. Large numbers of slaves were used to score the trees, collect and process the sap. Zallen describes this as ...
With the demise of wooden ships, those uses of pine resin ended, but the former naval stores industry remained vigorous as new products created new markets. First extensively described by Frederick Law Olmsted in his book A Journey in the Seaboard Slave States (1856), [3] the naval stores industry was one of the economic mainstays of the southeastern United States until the late 20th century.
Pitch produced from petroleum may be called bitumen or asphalt, while plant-derived pitch, a resin, is known as rosin in its solid form. Tar is sometimes used interchangeably with pitch, but generally refers to a more liquid substance derived from coal production, including coal tar, or from plants, as in pine tar. [2]
Resin is usually collected by causing minor damage to the tree by making a hole far enough into the trunk to puncture the vacuoles, to let sap exit the tree, known as tapping, and then letting the tree repair its damage by filling the wound with resin. This usually takes a few days. Then, excess resin is collected.
Rosin (/ ˈ r ɒ z ɪ n /), also known as colophony or Greek pitch (Latin: pix graeca), is a resinous material obtained from pine trees and other plants, mostly conifers. The primary components of rosin are diterpenoids, i.e., C 20 carboxylic acids. Rosin consists mainly of resin acids, especially abietic acid. [1]
Resin soap is made by reacting resin acids in wood with sodium hydroxide, as a byproduct of the Kraft process for manufacturing wood pulp. It is also called Kraft soap. Acidification of the resin soap produces tall oil. Pine soap is refined from resin soap via tall oil by acidification, refining and resaponification. [2]
In the United States the pine tree Pinus palustris, known as the longleaf pine, once covered as much as 90,000,000 acres (360,000 km 2) but due to timber harvesting was reduced by between 95% and 97%. The trees grow very large (up to 150 feet), taking 100 to 150 years to mature and can live up to 500 years.
The collected sap is then boiled. As the sap boils, the water is evaporated off and the syrup left behind. 40 litres (8.8 imp gal; 11 US gal) of maple sap are required to be boiled to produce only 1 litre (0.22 imp gal; 0.26 US gal) of pure syrup. This is the reason for the high cost of pure maple syrup.