Preventing Pine-Sap Buildup
Pine sap is building up on the bed and rollers of his moulder, reports a shop owner who's milling up large batches of flooring from reclaimed pine. Others supply advice for cleanup and prevention. October 20, 2005
Question
I am running quite a bit of heavy resin heart pine (new and reclaimed) into flooring. I am having a tremendous buildup of the resin on the rollers and bed of my moulder. The knives self clean. How can I keep the resin buildup down on the rollers and bed?
Forum Responses
(WOODnetWORK Forum)
From contributor B:
What's the pitch been set at?
From contributor C:
You can use a bed lubricant such as MBL40, Waxilit, or Opti-Slide for lubrication for the bed plates. At Wood Tech Tooling we also offer a couple of pitch removers for pine pitch called Pitch X and Kutter Kleener.
From Gene Wengert, Sawing and Drying Forum technical advisor:
Typically, to avoid much of the pitch problem, the lumber will be dried at 160 F or hotter. This will evaporate much of the sap that would be liquid or soft at room temperature or slightly hotter. Consider heating your reclaimed wood and having your new wood properly dried, in addition to using the products mentioned above.
From contributor T:
Try diesel fuel sprayed lightly on bed and rollers between every 20 boards. Wax-lit will sometimes gum up with the heavy sap and eventually stop the material from feeding .
From contributor J:
Do not solve this problem and create another that is harder to fix. Any silicone or oil on the wood is going to cause major problems in the finish department. Don't they have a product called mold release that is free from said contaminants?
From contributor C:
You bring up a very valid point about some lubricants causing finishing issues. All the products I've recommended have been extensively tested to assure that they won't cause fisheyes or other finishing problems.
From contributor W:
If you need to clean up first, use straight pine oil cleaner like Pine-Sol. As long as the pitch is fresh, it will take it right off and no residue. The diesel will work fine to keep the buildup down.
