Anyone who has enjoyed maple syrup on hot cake can tell you tree sap is inherently sticky , but if you left your painted lawn chairs near the treeline or parked your railcar under a redwood Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree during a windstorm , you already know that . It is n’t just sequoia and maple Tree that exude sticky cosh — well-nigh all trees are capable of that — and the sun can bake the sap into hard crystals that can be almost insufferable to scrape off . In fact , the best approach is n’t to endeavor to scrape them , but todissolve or lubricatethe sap away , and a number of solvents and crude can do the job .

Dissolving Tree Sap Resins

rosin from the sap of pine and other Tree have long served as Mrs. Henry Wood finishes . For as long as mass have used them , they ’ve also used turpentine , which is distilled from petroleum from the same Tree , to disband these resins . Mineral spiritsis the innovative reading of turpentine , and it ’s a born remedy for tree sap spots on crank . It ’s also an appropriate resolvent for removing sap from painted woodwind , because it is n’t potent enough to harm a aged paint finish .

Removing Tree Sap with Mineral Spirits

Step 1

Moisten a rag week with mineral spirits so that the rag feel wet to the feeling without being dripping soused .

Step 2

Use the rag to abstract the tree diagram sap spots off of glass or painted Ellen Price Wood . annul itch , which can spread a thin film of sap over a wide arena .

Step 3

Let the tabloid rest on larger sap deposits for a minute or two to give the solvent time to dissolve the resin , and then remove the rosin with a crimp question .

Step 4

Scrape stubborn deposit with a plastic key scraper after sop them with mineral spirit . Once most of the rosin is gone , use the solvent - soaked rag to pass over off residue .

Alternative Removal Methods

Loosen the Sap With Oil

If you ’re squeamish about allowing any type of solvent to come in contact lens with a paint surface , you could use oil colour to untie the grip of the sap to the surface to which it ’s adhering . Put a few bead ofolive oilon the sap , or embrace the tomfool with mayonnaise — which contains olive oil — or peanut butter , which contains peanut vegetable oil . Wash off the oil or condiment — and the muggins with it — after a few hours . A similar scheme is to pouroil soaponto the sap deposit , look 15 minutes , then scrub and rinsing with water .

You may take a stronger solvent to remove some type of Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree sap , but if you ’re removing sap from a painted airfoil , you you do n’t want to use a dissolvent that damages the rouge . Nail polish removerthat containsacetoneis always safe to utilize on glass , and it ’s dependable for most finishes , but you should test it first .

likewise , isopropyl alcoholquickly removes sap from glass and is safe for crude finishes , but nullify using it to remove sap from a Earth’s surface painted with latex paint paint , because it will involve the color of the paint .