Removing Tree Pitch?

[Benning Boy]

Pitch desolves easily in turpentine. I've used turpentine to remove pitch from regular clothes. I see no reason why it won't work on wool. Of course, the kilt would need to be aired awhile to get the odor out, perhaps dry cleaned. Dry cleaning involves the use of solvents, turpentine works as a solvent, so why should it be harmful to wool? I make simplified varnish every once in a while by dissolving pitch in turpentine. If you just use a little turpentine to remove the pitch, you might just be smearing varnish around. Use a lot, get it wet.

White gas should work as well. One way of cleaning high quality wool felt hats is to soak them in white gas, which dissolves the grime. If it won't hurt high-dollar hats, I doubt it would do any harm to wool tartan.