The Benefits of Pine Tar for Health and Home

Anything with the word “tar” behind it gets my immediate skepticism.  After all, tar and most of its forms, like roofing tar, have an awful stickiness and smell to them.  Coal tar is a known carcinogen, and although it was long used in shampoo to relieve conditions like dandruff and psoriasis, in recent years smart companies have removed it from their product formulations.  (There are many “cures” to diseases but some are worse than the disease itself!)  However, looking into Pine Tar has yielded a different result for me.  

Just like “Hempcrete” is not completely like concrete, pine tar is not exactly like coal tar.   Yes, pine tar does have a particular smell and stickiness to it, but on the whole, it’s way healthier.  While coal tar is a by-product of coal, which is a hydrocarbon, pine tar is made from pine resin, which is the substance that pine trees excrete to heal wounds in their bark and protect them from insect or microbial invasion.  The resin starts out as thin and sticky, but as it dries, becomes hard.  The toxic ingredients of coal tar are considered to be the phenols and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which can cause acute toxicity (phenols) and cancer (PAHs, longer-term).  However, since most pine tar products today have reduced phenols and 1/6th to 1/300th of the PAHs of coal tar, these risks are greatly reduced for pine tar. (Topical pine tar: History, properties and use as a treatment for common skin conditions)  This paper concludes, “Only one adverse reaction to topical pine tar in the community was reported in the extensive literature search conducted back to the 1950s. Considering the long experience with pine tar therapy and its worldwide usage, the evidence presented in this review suggests that the safety risk from topical pine tar products is very small, while it is useful for treating a wide range of skin conditions.”  Pine tar oil is also under research for treating periodontal disease, as it inhibits microbial cultures.  In 2020 study, three types of gram negative bacteria responsible for periodontitis (gum and tooth disease) were cultured along with a “well” (pocket) of pine tar.  The pure pine tar, as well as dilutions of 1/10, and 1/100, inhibited growth of the bacteria approx 12-13mm outside the pocket of pine tar.  A substance is considered to be antibacterial if it only produces a 1mm zone around it!  (Evaluation of Antibacterial Activity of Pine Tar on Periodontal Pathogenic Bacteria: An In Vitro Study)  Archaeologists are also discovering that ancient humans may have created a “birch tar” that could be used as an adhesive (for example to attach an arrow head to a spear) as well as an antibiotic for skin scrapes. (Neanderthals may have treated wounds with antibiotic sticky tar)

On a larger scale, pine tar does the same for the “skin” of your home: it protects bare wood from the elements.  Did you know that some of the original colored paints were a mixture of pine tar, colored pigments and gum turpentine?  Sweden, being heavily forested, was one of the leading exporters of pine tar in the 17th and 18th centuries, and was famous for its red and black pine tar paints. (Fall in love with our tar paints)  The most famous Scandinavians, Vikings, used pine pitch and pine tar to waterproof and seal the wood of their ships.  Post-Viking Age, pine tar is primarily used as a finish for decks, fences, facades, and roofs in Scandinavian countries, but interest in the wood preservative is growing in the U.S. “What’s old is new again. People are looking for alternatives to modern chemical finishes, and architects are looking for something new to offer clients,” says Michael Sinclair of Sage Restoration, which is based in Tamworth, Ontario. “Our sales have been increasing every year.” (Remodeling 101: Everything You Need to Know About Pine Tar)  Check out the article for photos of sleek modern homes with wood siding preserved by pine tar, as well as some of the earthy colors available in pine tar paints. 

Besides being beautiful, pine tar resists insects and microbial growth on exterior wood.  However, optimal anti-insect and antimicrobial effects depend on the type of trees from which the tar is extracted.   In this paper from 1943, wood tars from various types of woods were tested and found highly toxic to wood destroying fungi; it just goes to show that ancient people knew what they were doing when they coated their boats and homes in tars made from wood. Check out the first ten minutes of this video to see how European civilizations used a “char and tar” technique to preserve wood.  Starting at minute 1:30, wood is first charred by fire, a technique that was recently rediscovered (called shou sugi ban as the Japanese also used it). Charring destroys any insect eggs left on the surface of the wood, as well as the hemicellulose and cellulose on the outside, which are the favorite edible components for fungi and insects.  It leaves carbon and lignin, making it undesirable to these destroyers, UV resistant, fire resistant and opening up pores in the wood.  Secondly, wood tar is applied, because charred wood on its own is sometimes more susceptible to decay than untreated wood due to its cracks and open pores. Then starting at minute 7:00, the video explains how generous amounts of wood tar was made and applied to seal the wood from moisture and pests. . The tar makes a water repellant coating containing phenols and resin acids, the same substances the living pine tree uses to protect itself against insects and disease. In my neck of the woods, carpenter bees are a major problem for exterior wood, and it’s said that old-fashioned pine tar will harden the wood and give it a taste that they don’t like.

Admittedly, pure pine tar as a wood preservative is not as easy to work with as the paints and stains you see on home improvement store shelves.  Because it is thicker and has volatile components, for best application and drying conditions, you’ll need to take care to select a day when the wood is dry and the atmosphere is dry and warm.  Other “cons” include: (Remodeling 101: Everything You Need to Know About Pine Tar)  

• It will need to be reapplied anywhere from five to 10 years.

• It has a campfire smell that can linger for months.

• It takes a long time to dry. “In ideal conditions, dry time is generally in the 72-hour range,” says Yon Eriksson.

• It’s available only in matte earth tones

If you want to try your hand at making some pine tar, this video is super informative about the uses of pine tar and how to make some of its best products, hand salve and pine tar for preserving wood.  

First, hand salve: you can find pine resin fairly easily by examining the bark of pine trees for any wounds, then gathering any resin that has run down the bark and is not actively helping seal the wound. The creator shows how to find the main ingredients: pine resin and fatwood, and then how to refine them.  The hand salve can be done by anyone who can go and collect some resin (looks like he has more or less a cup) and use a double-boiler method on a stove to heat it up and mix in a few other ingredients.  The end product is a hand salve that can be used to heal cracks and keep your skin soft and resistant to diseases.  

Next, wood preservative: the pine tar used for preserving wood requires a different collection method, which is also harmless to the tree.  Since a lot of pine resin is needed, it’s best to find dead trees and examine them for “fatwood”, or resin-soaked wood.  Southerners like to call them “lighter knots”, which is pronounced more like “lotter nots”; these are knots of wood that can be found in the rotted stump of a pine tree or part of the trunk where branches protrude, that are incredibly dense, heavy and when you cut into or break them, very fragrant with a pine smell.  The “lighter” term comes from using them to light a fire; the pine smell is a VOC, which catches fire very easily!  Therefore even if you’re not scavenging them for pine tar, you can use them as a natural fire-starter for a wood stove, fireplace or campfire.  Once you have a good amount of resinous pine wood, you can use this tutorial to “refine” it by heating the wood in an oxygen-poor atmosphere to drain out the resin and make charcoal (another useful by-product).  

It’s true that making pine tar from pine wood does take a lot of heat energy, but if you consider that the process yields charcoal as well, it's probably not as carbon-expensive as manufacturing a chemical preservative. If you are building a small home or even just a shed, chicken house or fence, you might try pine tar (and charring the wood) for preserving the wood, maybe even doing your own experiment on formulas, techniques and comparisons with store-bought products.  It’s a well-preserved method for a reason! 

Photo by Chandan Chaurasia on Unsplash