Mary Allen
Resin is a thick sap from nature. Various plants want to use it to treat injuries on the surface. However, man has also learned to artificially produce various resins. He uses it to make paints and adhesives. One then speaks of “artificial resin”.
Resin is also known as amber. Amber is nothing more than resin that has solidified over millions of years. Sometimes a small animal is trapped inside, usually a beetle or other insect.
What do you need to know about natural resin?
Natural resin is mainly found in conifers. In everyday life, the whole liquid is called “resin”. It is the same in these statements.
A tree wants to use the resin to close wounds in the bark. It’s similar to what we do when we scrape our skin. The blood then coagulates on the surface and forms a thin layer, i.e. scab. Injuries to a tree are caused, for example, by the claws of bears or by deer, red deer, and other animals nibbling on the bark. The tree also uses resin to repair injuries caused by beetles.
People noticed early on that resinous wood burns particularly well and for a long time. Pines were the most popular. People sometimes even peeled off the bark of a tree several times. This not only collected a lot of resin on the surface of the wood but also inside. This wood was sawed and split into finer pieces. This is how the Kienspan was created, which burned for a particularly long time. It was put on a holder for lighting. Wood for pine shavings could also be obtained from tree stumps.
Up until about a hundred years ago, there was a special profession, the Harzer. He cut open the bark of the pine trees so that the resin ran into a small bucket at the bottom. He started at the top of the tree and slowly worked his way down. This is exactly how caoutchouc is still extracted today to make rubber from it. However, the resin can also be obtained by “boiling” the pieces of wood in special ovens.
The resin was used in many different ways in the past. As early as the Stone Age, people glued stone wedges to the handles of axes. Mixed with animal fat, it was later used to lubricate the axles of the wagons so that the wheels turned more easily. Pitch could also be extracted from the resin. Bad luck is very sticky. Bad luck was spread on branches, for example. When a bird sat on it, it stuck and was later eaten by humans. Then he was just “unlucky”.
Later, the resin was also used in medicine. When ships were built, the gaps between the planks were sealed with resin and hemp. Artists used resin, among other things, to bind the paint powder.
What do the experts think about resin?
For the expert, however, only part of the tree resin is real resin. In chemistry, resin from trees consists of various components. When the resin parts are mixed with oil, it is called a balm. Mixed with water it is called “gum resin” after drying.
There are many different types of synthetic resin. They are made in chemical factories. The raw materials for this come from petroleum.