Removing pine sap from down jacket?

Hand sanitizer or alcohol stove fuel work great. Might take a little bit of rubbing to break the sap up, but it should come off with zero residue left over.

Little dab of gas from your white gas stove. :)
Duane

Alcohol and a soft cotton cloth.

Push the down away from the spot. Snap the fabric with your finger.
Drip the alcohol on the cloth, enough to easy squeeze out, but not dripping wet.

Do this on top of another cloth. If you do it on a hard surface like a countertop the alcohol will spread out and start working on the down.

Push the cloth onto the sap, let it sit, moving it around just a little.

You want to let the alcohol do the work of dissolving the sap.
If you scrub hard you might pill the fabric.

For thick blobs it might take a couple of iterations.

Duane has it. For me, white gas is much more effective than alcohol.

–B.G.–

hand sanitizer works fine IME

of you can simply wear the dead bird proudly with the sap !!!

at least it means yr using it for more than walking da dawg

;)

Some guy with far too much time on his hands tested a number of different products:
http://www.hikelight.com/63howtocleanpitchandtreesapfromyourgearorhands.html

He ranks nail polish remover the highest, but all the suggestions here should also work reasonably well.

The last time I had this problem, I used some almond butter in a manner similar to Greg’s instructions (i.e. give it some time to sit; let the chemistry do the work for you).

Hey everyone, thanks for the comments. Duane, would you care to elaborate on that for me? I don't quite get how that works. Also, what is considered a white gas stove?

White gas == naptha == liquid petroleum fuel such as one might use in an MSR Whisperlite. It's usually a clear liquid which you pour into a fuel bottle to take with you, and the fuel bottle attaches to the stove with a small hand-pump to pressurize the bottle.

Canister stoves, on the other hand, have contents that are actual gasses at normal pressures and temperatures and thus have no need of a pump.

If at home, I use margarine or butter, Crisco, cooking oil or such to apply to hands, allowing time to work, heat helps it act, allowing the agent to melt and break up the sap. Not good I'd think for our bp gear as you'd then have to wash it. I do this when gathering pine nuts or getting firewood without gloves. I've heard mechanics hand cleaner works too, but Coleman fuel, white gas would be much less smelly or at least an odor you can take. If wanting to just dry it up, apply fine dirt/dust so the sap does not spread, but then the sap won't come out. You'll have a dirty spot then.
Duane

I only travel in black bear country, but I like to amuse myself with games on the trail, one being, how scrupulous can I be…what if grizzes were about? Even with only the black bears, I go to great lengths to keep foodstuffs off my clothes, so on principle i'd avoid smearing margarine, etc. I like how well turpentine did on the list you linked, Jeremy B, turpentine being (before advent of "sub-turps" anyway) a product of pine trees. Doesn't surprise me the most 'powerful' solvents (the ones with acetone, Methyl-ethyl-ketone, toluene: nail polish, Goof-off) work best and fastest, but I'd worry about them compromising the nylon. Intuitively, the alcohol based feel safest.

White gas is Coleman fuel

In the field, the fuel options described.

If you bring it home before cleaning, and especially if you have a thick glob, put the garment in the freezer. Once the pitch is frozen you can break it off pretty easily, and then clean up the rest with alcohol etc.

Yep, my first suggestion was Goo-Gone and I see it tops the "A List".