recommendations for removing pine sap for nylon clothing?

[Mark Verber]

Without destroying the nylon? I have found that the majority of the sap sitting on the surface can be easily removed with a bit of butter… but there is some sap which is soaked into the nylon and doesn’t want to come out. I would like to get it out without destroying the fabric or the DWR on my windshirt.

–mark

[paul johnson]

1. DWR can be reapplied if necessary after cleaning, so don’t worry about this aspect of the problem.

2. nail polish remover works, but this might do something bad to your fabric. [note: much older formulations contained acetone. not sure about present day formulations]

3. try cooking oil: pour some cooking oil in a cupped palm of one of your hands and rub it on the pine sap. work it in good. if it’s still soft, it should come right off. see #8 below if it has already hardened. cooking oil, due to its relatively benign nature when compared to my other suggestions, would be my choice.

4. mineral spirits or paint thinner works great, but again, might damage the fabric. obviously, turpentine is a good solvent for pine sap (since it is basically made of the same stuff as pine sap). however, it too might damage the fabric.

5.commercial automotive bug, tar, and sap remover. this too might damage your fabric. if you use it on your car, you need to wash and wax it afterwards.

6. alcohol stove fuel (denatured alcohol) might work also. since this is a semi-polar compound, it shouldn’t work as well as a non-polar solvent. while we’re on the subject of fuels, you could also try kerosene – my guess is that it should work better than alcohol.

7. many years ago, heard that mayonaise might work. never tried it though.

8. if the sap has “set” and is hard, you might have to soak it in the solvent of choice, to soften it a bit.

9. if you use cooking oil, you’ll need to wash it out afterwards. rinsing with water won’t work (water is a polar solvent, and cooking oil is non-polar, hence it won’t emulsify the oil and remove it). try hand washing and rinsing the spot/area only first to get the cooking oil out. DON’T use a detergent (dish, laundray, or otherwise) to accomplish this. use plain SOAP or one of the appropriate McNett ReviveX products – sold on this website. detergents will remove your DWR in a single washing as some who have posted previously in other Threads have testified.

hope this info helps. if you care to, let us know what you did and how it worked.

[EndoftheTrail]

As above, alcohol (either denatured or isopropyl) works well.

[kevin davidson]

what about silicon impreganated fabrics like sil-nylon or Epic ? any chance of damage using alcohol?

[EndoftheTrail]

Alcohol is AOK for silnylon and Epic.

[paul johnson]

Ben’s right on. alc. shouldn’t harm silnylon or Epic (anyone ever spill their stove fuel in their pack or a pack pocket? other than lost fuel, no harm done.)

[Mark Verber]

Thanks. Alchohol did a good job removing the vast majority of the pine sap. Fabric seems to be in find shape. Water doesn’t roll off that section quite as well as it used to.. but I suspect that is because I haven’t been able to get 100% of the sap out.

–mark

[doug rawlings]

i’ve always had good luck with alcohol….

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