My climbing rope is full of pine pitch. Help!

[TreeandLand]

Ground man and I just finished removing two large white pines that I spent a lot of time climbing in. I tried to use a false crotch whenever possible, but still got my rope pitchy. The vt hitch sticks to the rope....causeing big headaches.
Who knows a good way to clean pitch off? Washing machine? Dish soap?

 

[flushcut]

opcorn:opcorn:opcorn:

 

[rarefish383]

Never fails, every time I get a new rope or climbing saw, I wind up in a big White Pine. When I got my little Echo 305 I had my hands and the saw so covered in pitch that I could hold my hand wide open and the saw just stuck to it. I climb old school with a taughtline hitch and the only thing I did was switch ends and use the rope till it wore off. Good luck, Joe.

 

[2FatGuys]

Flake the rope losely into a tub of lukewarm water with a generous amount of Woolite in it. Let it soak for a few hours. Rinse. Check rope for more pitch. Repeat if necessary.

It removes most of the sap but doesn't harm the ropes.

 

[mic687]

I cut a 80' white pine this spring had to climb it three times ( got so windy the first two times I could not top it safely in its tight location) by the third climb that sucker was oosing bad and it gummed up my two in one lanyard bad. I just kept using it until it wore off and it works good now after about 20climbs it was ok again. I am guessing you can wash your rope in a large washer at the launder mat and it will at least help get some of the sap out.

 

[flushcut]

Mineral Spirits will work well to clean up your saw but the climb line is another matter. I use a cheap line like Arborplex in pines figure that into the bill and now it's a light rigging line. I haven't spent much time up in pines lately because it's the year of the silver maple for us.

 

[pdqdl]

Get a laundry bag for washing clothes in. Loose, open weave that lets you toss in a load to wash without letting anything get out. Something like this: https://www.laundrybag.net/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?search=action&category=MESH

Just wash your rope inside the laundry bag, set the washer for heavy soiling, with no spin cycle. Use a hefty dose of regular laundry detergent.

You'll get a clean, wet rope, with only a few tangles, and not much time or money spent on it. Wet ropes dry without any special effort, and spinning them will probably shake the washer to pieces, since the load will almost certainly be off balance with a rope inside one laundry bag.

Last white pine we did, I thought the rope was ruined. A few days use, and it wasn't as sticky, but it was still stiff, dirty, and difficult to use. We washed it as described above, and it came out fluffy, soft, and white.

 

[pdqdl]

opcorn:opcorn:opcorn:

Yeah. Maybe we should make a sticky for all the "white pine sap on rope" problems. Nobody suggested peanut butter yet...

 

[Maggies dad]

The easiest way if you can find one is an extractor that is used to wash bunker gear at the fire house. The best cleaner is some citrus stuff that we use at the fire station, { cant remember the name right now} Anyway you just throw it in a mesh bag dump some cleaner / soap whatever in and come back in 45 min. I had to do my climb line last year after a pine take down and it was amazing. 1 time in the extractor and it looked, felt, and climbed like new.

 

[TreeandLand]

Flake the rope losely into a tub of lukewarm water with a generous amount of Woolite in it. Let it soak for a few hours. Rinse. Check rope for more pitch. Repeat if necessary.

It removes most of the sap but doesn't harm the ropes.

Thank you for this tip. I will try it soon. While I'm at it I'll wash my lanyard and 3 split tails as well. Damn white pines are a nusance.

 

[TreeandLand]

thanks

Get a laundry bag for washing clothes in. Loose, open weave that lets you toss in a load to wash without letting anything get out. Something like this: https://www.laundrybag.net/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?search=action&category=MESH

Just wash your rope inside the laundry bag, set the washer for heavy soiling, with no spin cycle. Use a hefty dose of regular laundry detergent.

You'll get a clean, wet rope, with only a few tangles, and not much time or money spent on it. Wet ropes dry without any special effort, and spinning them will probably shake the washer to pieces, since the load will almost certainly be off balance with a rope inside one laundry bag.

Last white pine we did, I thought the rope was ruined. A few days use, and it wasn't as sticky, but it was still stiff, dirty, and difficult to use. We washed it as described above, and it came out fluffy, soft, and white.

Thanks for this advice too. I know I will be putting it to use.
My arms are so tired from trying to force the VT hitch to advance when it was sticking to the rope. Pitch really does defeat the function of a friction hitch. I switched over to using a Blakes hitch later that day, which was easier to shove over the sticky parts. But when coming down it took a lot of yanking to get it to break free, and then I would drop 6 or 8 feet at a time. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. Thanks again.

 

[Lawnmowerboy48]

Did a 65 foot 7 leader white pine removal two weeks ago. It was easier going up than coming down.

 

[Saw Dust Smoken]

soak

That the truth. Woolite works well. Give it a try..

 

[Rftreeman]

I just chew the sap off my ropes....

 

[TreeandLand]

Multi-leader pines

Did a 65 foot 7 leader white pine removal two weeks ago. It was easier going up than coming down.

That sounds like one hell of a job- a 7 leader pine. The tree your talking about must have had about 3 or 4 cords of wood in it. We have some big nasty pines in Maine I would never want to attempt to take down. I'm sure Mass has it's share too.
What I found to be the hardest part about multi-leader pines is that the crotch between them is where your rope gets jammed, and where you have to put your body when you cut each one. I made the mistake of rigging an eight foot chunk to a point a few feet above me...it traveled around the tree and hit me in the shoulder. Lucky it was only going about 5 miles per hour.

 

[tree md]

I used to have to do pines everyday when I lived in the Southeast. I never did anything special to my ropes but wash them periodically. If I washed them every time they got covered in pine sap I would be washing them everyday. I just kept climbing with the rope and the sap would rub off. I learned to climb on mostly pines so this was never a particular problem for me. I just looked at it as part of the job. I would wash my hands in straight gas to get the sap off but never really worried about the ropes. I never had it effect my climbing hitch either but that was back before I used a VT.

I do very little work in Pines anymore. When I do I have an older Safety Blue line that I reserve for climbing in Pines or in muddy conditions so I can spare my good climbing line. I also use an older split tail with that line so I don't mess up my prussic cord.

Anyway, wash it if you want but it will be good as new after a couple of climbs anyway.

 

[flushcut]

Yeah. Maybe we should make a STICKY for all the "white pine sap on rope" problems. Nobody suggested peanut butter yet...

I like the fact you said STICKY in reference to sticky lines, so true. I did try the woolite thing on a shirt of mine that looked like I had bathed in pitch and it had come out cleaner but not spotless. I have a few pines to dead wood coming up in the next few weeks so I'll give it a try on my lines next.

 

[millbilly]

I'm old school and still prefer three strand safety blue. Believe it or not Ive all ways liked climbing a big white pine with a brand new rope. I t might be a pain for the next few trees but after that I felt it gave me better grip making hip-thrusting alot easier and the rope didn't't wear as bad.

 

[lync]

Gojo or goop hand cleaner, w/o the pumice. Auto parts stores sell it rub it in let it sit for a while and rinse w/ water

 

[tree md]

Gojo or goop hand cleaner, w/o the pumice. Auto parts stores sell it rub it in let it sit for a while and rinse w/ water

Those hand cleaners are petroleum based. Absolutely terrible on ropes as it is corrosive. I wouldn't be using that on any of my ropes. I go to great lengths to make sure I keep my ropes separated from my gas and bar oil during transport just for that reason.