pitchy lines

[klimbinfool]

Took down a hundred ft cedar today, and of course I brought my good climb line. (XTC)Usually I use High-vee for pitchy trees and my good line for prunning.Now, by the time I was done with this bugger,my bull line was half ruined, along with my 12 ft steel core flip line and my climb line as well. Made it very difficult to let the big chunks run on the porta wrap. Geezo,I could have hugged the trunk and never slid down .Anyway, what are some of your folks methodes of cleaning pitchy lines? When there that bad I use a preasure washer with a mild soap.Anything else?

Thanks
Greg

Greg

 

[Treepreacher51]

Greg, I know it sounds crazy.... but Brian Mc Govern said he's used mayonnaise! If your'r already gonna be preasure washing it, it might be worth a try.

 

[Roger_Barnett]

Greg,I don't know about cedar down chico way, but up here, they ain't bad. but a young doug fir can be covered with pitch bubbles. They explode when you disturb them, so pitch gets everywhere, even past the sides of safety glasses. Thankfully not all firs do this.

Pitch up here is a common occurrence, usually I just let it wear off lines, equipment, fliplines. After a while, things are reasonably clean.

A not too hot (for the rope's sake) soapy wash will break the stuff down pretty easily.

[ April 07, 2002: Message edited by: Roger Barnett ]

 

[John_Paul_Sanborn]

For the body I've found shaving cream to be the best pitch remover. About as good as the petrol gells like Goop, without drying the skin out.

I would be concerned with Mayo, it is a veggie oil and that could still degrade the rope.

We have a bad cytosporea problem here, so I've removed a lot of spruce (none so big as out there) and I've found the same results as Roger, just daisy them up into the washer on warm and they come out smelling Christmasy clean.

 

[klimbinfool]

Hmm never tried shaving cream John, I will have to try it. Like you said, it has to be better than Gasoline or throttle cleaner.

Thanks
Greg

 

[Gerald_Beranek]

I learned the mayo trick years ago while eating lunch. It really does clean the hands better that anything else I tried.

On the ropes I'll reserve the mayo as the effects over time have yet to be documented. Least that I know of.

As roger said, The bubbles on young douglas fir, ugh! The White fir (A.Grandies) as well. Ever get the pitch in your eye. Eeyow!! And don't forget the bleeders during a bishop pine removal in the spring. It all can jam your prussics and frictions hitches solid. In the cool of the mornings your safety can stand out stiff as steel core. After all these years I have yet to find a descent remedy for pitched up safeties. Least it leaves you smelling fresh as the outdoors.

 

[biest]

I have used peanutbutter in the past to get major wads of pine sapp out of my hair . The peanut oil seemed to cut it pretty good .The nice thing about this method is you can use the left overs for tommorows lunch! good luck with the pitchy line!!

 

[Randyboy]

I have a buddy that showed me to use butter and it works. ( I CANT BELIEVE IT )

 

[Tom Dunlap]

A long time ago I had pitch all over my hands so I walked into the house and asked my wife to help me out without asking questions. She put a big gob of chunky peanut butter on my hands and I used it to clean up. I licked my hands clean! A nice, woodsy taste.

Any vegetable oil will loosen the sap. You could use olive oil or canola oil. Petro solvents aren't a good idea. Pine Sol seems to work OK too. Fast Orange is a great cleaner. A run through the washing machine to remove the last residue should work. Add a tiny amount of fabric softener to lube the fibers and the rope will be in better shape.

Tom