An old engraving showing the stages in collecting resin (ills 1–4) for distilling into turpentine (5) and extracting tar (6) in the USA in the 1800s. It is from a Victorian book of the 1880s. Turpentine (spirit/oil of turpentine, wood turpentine, terebenthene or turps) is a fluid obtained by the distillation of resin harvested from trees – usually pines. It is mainly used as a solvent. Step 1: ‘hacking’; Step 2: ‘hauling’; Step 3: ‘dipping’; Step 4: ‘chipping the face’; Step 5 shows a ‘turpentine still’; Step 6 is a ‘tar kiln’. See ADDITIONAL INFO for more details on each stage.
An old engraving showing the stages in collecting resin (ills 1–4) for distilling into turpentine (5) and extracting tar (6) in the USA in the1800s. It is from a Victorian mechanical engineering book of the 1880s. Turpentine (or spirit of turpentine, oil of turpentine, wood turpentine, terebenthene, terebinthine or turps) is a fluid obtained by the distillation of resin harvested from trees – usually pines. It is mainly used as a solvent. Step 1 shows ‘hacking’ – removing the bark from the tree. Step 2 is ‘hauling’ – tar and turpentine resin weep from the wood into V-shaped groves cut into the tree. Step 3 is ‘dipping’ – using long spoon-like instruments to collect the resin in buckets and barrels. Step 4 shows ‘chipping the face’ – more ‘scrape’ (less-runny gum) is collected from the tree by scraping. Step 5 shows the ‘turpentine still’, a refinery for manufacturing turpentine. The gum is distilled in copper vats with the resin drawn into channels before barrelling. Step 6 is a ‘tar kiln’ where tar can be extracted from cut-down pine wood. A fire is lit at the top of the timber pile. The heat causes the tar to trickle down through the pile to be collected below.
Size: 15031px × 2067px
Location: USA
Photo credit: © M&N / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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