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John Morrow
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PostThu Jul 27, 2017 9:29 am 
treeswarper wrote:
You'll also get pitch all over your knife.
Then your fingers, probably your shirt/pants, and then you got a mess I have never found a good way to clean up! Hydro peroxide, alcohol, peanut butter, white gas, spit...nuthin' works for me!

“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”-Mary Oliver “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.” ― MLK Jr.
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Schenk
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PostThu Jul 27, 2017 9:37 am 
WD-40 or butter have worked for me with most of my interactions with conifer pitch. I have heard margarine works too...but I have never buy margarine.

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Kim Brown
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PostThu Jul 27, 2017 9:43 am 
I put dirt on the pitch if it's on my hands or clothes. That way it doesn't bug me for the rest of the trip, and by the time I get home I have forgotten about it and it doesn't matter. A tool, though, is different. In the days white gas stoves were prevalent, wellsir, Bob's your uncle.

"..living on the east side of the Sierra world be ideal - except for harsher winters and the chance of apocalyptic fires burning the whole area." Bosterson, NWHiker's marketing expert
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Sculpin
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PostThu Jul 27, 2017 10:00 am 
Kim Brown wrote:
re: noble fir. Their extent isn't that far north, so I'm thinking silver fir.
"A" and "B" are mountain hemlock needles but the trunk with resin blisters is true fir. The fir needles are subalpine fir, not silver. Silver fir has needles along the branch, hiding the top of the branch. Noble fir has not been found north of Hwy 2 AFAIK. You can see it growing in the old clearcut up the Trout Creek trail in the Icicle drainage, I have never seen it north of there.

Between every two pines is a doorway to the new world. - John Muir
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Kim Brown
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PostThu Jul 27, 2017 10:03 am 
Thanks John & sculpin; you're the best.

"..living on the east side of the Sierra world be ideal - except for harsher winters and the chance of apocalyptic fires burning the whole area." Bosterson, NWHiker's marketing expert
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GaliWalker
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PostThu Jul 27, 2017 10:16 am 
The needles in A look like a hemlock, but the bark photo is all wrong for hemlock. Not sure if the photos match...? If so, this isn't hemlock. The needles and bark for Tree B both match for hemlock. Tree D is some type of spruce, I'm not sure which particular one.

'Gali'Walker => 'Mountain-pass' walker bobbi: "...don't you ever forget your camera!" Photography: flickr.com/photos/shahiddurrani
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Sculpin
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PostThu Jul 27, 2017 10:27 am 
GaliWalker wrote:
Tree D is some type of spruce, I'm not sure which particular one.
I disagree. Spruce needles (both Sitka and Engelmann) are stiff and pointed; a good test is if you press your fingertip against the tip of the needle, it will hurt. A fir needle will always bend and not hurt. These needles have rounded tips. They look exactly like subalpine fir needles to me. The bark damage on "D" is most likely from a bear. Porcupine damage looks different and is typically higher up on the tree.

Between every two pines is a doorway to the new world. - John Muir
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treeswarper
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PostThu Jul 27, 2017 3:41 pm 
Tree D looks like Subalpine Fir. If we were out in the woods, if you grabbed a branch and said OUCH, it would be spruce. Spruce has pointy stiff needles that hurt. Spruce bark is kind of rough and guess I'd call it platy? Ah, the scaling manual calls it bark that looks like scales. A sure way to figure out if a tree is a Doug fir, besides looking for cones on the ground, is to look and see if the buds are pointy on the ends. True fir will have rounded buds. Of course, this works only in the fall, winter and early spring. If you chop into the bark, it should look freckled and kind of corky. This book is an excellent book for anyone interested in log scaling. And for more tree ID info, go to page 74 where it tells how to tell tree species by the bark. Pictures are even in color. No Noble Fir included though. Tire fir have cones that explode before hitting the ground so you won't find their cones unless a rodent has clipped them off. Go to page 74

What's especially fun about sock puppets is that you can make each one unique and individual, so that they each have special characters. And they don't have to be human––animals and aliens are great possibilities
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treeswarper
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PostThu Jul 27, 2017 3:47 pm 
John Morrow wrote:
treeswarper wrote:
You'll also get pitch all over your knife.
Then your fingers, probably your shirt/pants, and then you got a mess I have never found a good way to clean up! Hydro peroxide, alcohol, peanut butter, white gas, spit...nuthin' works for me!
Clothes stay pitchy until it wears off from wear and repeated washings. I have used Jungle Juice and WD 40 to clean D tape and Logger tapes with. The latter also lubricates them. I prefer WD 40 but the bug dope was used when nothing else was available. For pitch on skin--mayonaise, butter, margarine also work and might be better in the long run than WD40. Rub it on pitchy patches of skin then use soap and water and you may need to repeat. I imagine hand lotion might also work. Anything greasy seems to work.

What's especially fun about sock puppets is that you can make each one unique and individual, so that they each have special characters. And they don't have to be human––animals and aliens are great possibilities
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GaliWalker
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PostThu Jul 27, 2017 8:09 pm 
Not all spruce needles are pointy (although I've been scratched up by plenty of spruce needles). doh.gif Here's an example of a red spruce from West Virginia:
Having said that, I believe that you guys are correct and that Tree D is a subalpine fir. My understanding was that you can tell spruce and fir needles apart as follows: fir has flattened needles whereas spruce needles are rounder. I seemed to have missed this in my initial look at the needles photo of Tree D.

'Gali'Walker => 'Mountain-pass' walker bobbi: "...don't you ever forget your camera!" Photography: flickr.com/photos/shahiddurrani
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treeswarper
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PostThu Jul 27, 2017 8:52 pm 
Well, since it is Warshington here, it's safe to say that our native spruces are pointy and sharp. An evil forester even suggested that households with babies and toddlers should get spruce Christmas trees.

What's especially fun about sock puppets is that you can make each one unique and individual, so that they each have special characters. And they don't have to be human––animals and aliens are great possibilities
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pcg
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PostThu Jul 27, 2017 9:32 pm 
John Morrow wrote:
Then your fingers, probably your shirt/pants, and then you got a mess I have never found a good way to clean up!
turpentine

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Kim Brown
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PostThu Jul 27, 2017 10:22 pm 
Now that the tree ID issue is solved, now I'm trying to figure out why you people need to clean up in the first place. Just put dirt on the sap so it is no longer sticky, which I think we can agree is the gist of the problem. Then you forget about the sap, and one day it hits you: "hey, I had sap all over myself not too long ago," and you can't even remember where it was. One should always have going to meetin' clothes in the closet; those that you don't wear to work outdoors. That way, you have your outfit for years of baptisms, bar/bat mitzvah's, church, socials, weddings - all taken care of. Or you can be like me and weasel out of events. up.gif

"..living on the east side of the Sierra world be ideal - except for harsher winters and the chance of apocalyptic fires burning the whole area." Bosterson, NWHiker's marketing expert
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owmyknees
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PostFri Jul 28, 2017 8:01 am 
Thanks all for the great discussion. I guess I got the photo of the wrong trunk, is the consensus. I blame exhaustion (all photos taken going down). And now I don't feel as bad for thinking all these firs and hemlocks look alike smile.gif I did recognize the cedar as a cedar, but did not know which species. I am also a fan of the rub dirt on it school of sap treatment!

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treeswarper
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treeswarper
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PostFri Jul 28, 2017 10:48 am 
Dammit! I tried to get a more focused picture but either me or my lens did not cooperate. I noticed that the DFs around here are forming buds and you can kind of see that they will be pointy. Sorry about the picture quality. This was a very happy tree growing on the west side of the Cascades in a working forest.

What's especially fun about sock puppets is that you can make each one unique and individual, so that they each have special characters. And they don't have to be human––animals and aliens are great possibilities
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