#PineTar from scratch - How to make it using simple tools
Gustav Thane, Sep 24, 2021
"This is a rather unusual way of making tar these days. It is also a way of making tar of a higher quality than you’d buy in the store. This is brown tar, or should I say reddish brown, with a higher resilience to water, ampler then black tar and on woodwork far more beautiful if you’d ask me. It is made from pine root in a tjärdal (tar ditch kiln) as tar has been made in Sweden for at least a thousand years. The old ditches can be found every here and there in the forests of Småland but I made my own one, about a fourth the size of what I believe is a normal size."
Learn more:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXPi-NLDSYo
#SolarPunkSunday #TarKilns #PineTar #SyntheticAlternatives #Waterproofing #PetroleumAlternatives
![<div><img alt="A black, rectangular box is shown, with a number of waterproof screw connectors on the front." class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" height="450" src="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/halpi2_front.png?w=800" style="margin: 0 auto; margin-bottom: 15px;" width="800" /></div>
<p>Nautical navigation has a long history of innovation, from the compass and chronometer to today’s computer-driven autopilot systems. That said, the poor compatibility of electronics with saltwater has consequently created a need for rugged, waterproof computers, a category to which <a href="https://docs.hatlabs.fi/halpi2/" target="_blank">[Matti Airas] of Hat Labs has contributed with the open-source HALPI2</a>.</p>
<p>Powered by the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5, the electronics are housed in a heavy duty enclosure made of aluminium, which also serves as a heat sink, and closes with a waterproof seal. It has a wide variety of external connectors, all likewise waterproofed: power, HDMI, NMEA 2000 and NMEA 0183, Ethernet, two USB 3.0 ports, and an external WiFi or Bluetooth antenna. The external ports are plugged into the carrier board by short extension cables, and there are even more ports on the carrier board, including two HDMI connectors, two MIPI connectors, four USB ports, and a full GPIO header. The case has plugs to install additional PG7 or SP13 waterproof connectors, so if the existing external connectors aren’t enough, you can add your own.</p>
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