Detailed Product Description:

Referred to as “rosin”, “Greek Pitch”, or “Colophony”, this natural resin,

distilled from the oils of pine Turpentine, is a pale yellow solid at room

temperature.  It becomes liquid just above the boiling point of water. 

Grade/Purity:

This is a high purity grade with a pale yellow cast.

Applications:

In addition to its extensive use in soap making, rosin is largely employed in

making varnishes (including fine violin varnishes), sealing-wax and various

adhesives.  It is one of the key constituents in hot melt adhesives.  It is also

used for preparing shoemakers' wax, as a flux for soldering metals, for

pitching lager beer casks, and for rosining the bows of musical instruments.

Rosin is used in the rubber industry as a softening agent to make rubber soft

and easy for kneading.  It is an emulsifier in the production of various products

including styrene-butadiene rubber, chloroprene rubber, acrylonitrile-butadiene

rubber and acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene rubber.

In the printing ink industry, rosin is mainly used as color carrier of ink and

to increase its adhesion to paper.  Rosin can be used as a glazing agent in

medicines and in chewing gum.  In pharmaceuticals, rosin forms an ingredient

in several plasters and ointments.

In industry, rosin is the precursor to the flux used in soldering.  The lead-tin

solder commonly used in electronics has about 1% rosin as a flux core helping

the molten metal flow and making a better connection by reducing the refractory

solid oxide layer formed at the surface.  It can be seen as the clear residue

around new soldered joints.

A mixture of pitch and rosin is used to make a surface against which glass is

polished when making optical components such as lenses.

Rosin is extensively used for its friction-increasing capacity in several fields.

Bowed string players rub cakes or blocks of rosin on their bow hair so it can grip

the strings.  Ballet dancers sometimes rub their shoes in powdered rosin to reduce

slippage before going on stage.  Gymnasts use it to improve grip.  Bull riders rub

rosin on their rope and glove for additional grip.  Baseball pitchers and ten-pin

bowlers may have a small bag of powdered rosin nearby, to use on their throwing

hand, for better control of the ball.

Background:

Rosin, formerly called colophony or Greek pitch, is a solid form of resin

obtained from pines and some other plants, mostly conifers, produced by

heating fresh liquid resin to vaporize the volatile liquid terpene components.  

It is semi-transparent and varies in color from yellow to black.  At room

temperature rosin is brittle, but it melts at stove-top temperatures.  It chiefly

consists of different resin acids, especially abietic acid.

Rosin is also known as colophony or colophonia resina from its origins in

Colophon, an ancient Ionic city.

Rosin is the resinous constituent of the oleo-resin exuded by various species of

pine, known in commerce as crude turpentine.  

Rosin varies in color, according to the age of the tree from which the turpentine is

drawn and the degree of heat applied in distillation, from an opaque, almost

pitch-black substance through grades of brown and yellow to an almost perfectly

transparent colorless glassy mass.

The commercial grades are numerous, ranging by letters from A, the darkest, to N,

extra pale, superior to which are W, for window glass, and WW, for water white

varieties.

Physical Properties:

Rosin is brittle and friable, with a faint piny odor.  It is typically a glassy solid,

though some rosins will form crystals, especially when brought into solution.

It is soluble in alcohol, ether, benzene and chloroform.  The practical melting

point varies with different specimens, some being semi-fluid at the temperature

of boiling water, others melting at 100°C to 120°C. 

Precautions:

It is very flammable, burning with a smoky flame, so care should be taken when

melting it.  Prolonged exposure to rosin fumes released during soldering can

cause occupational asthma in sensitive individuals.

May cause irritation to skin, eyes, and respiratory tract.  Combustible.

Download, read, and understand MSDS before using this substance.

                Click here to download MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet)

Packaging:

Contents of 200 grams comes packed in 250ml wide-mouth HDPE Nalgene bottle.