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What is that stuff the old timers put on the backs of their hands?

Original Post
JeffL · · Salt Lake City · Joined Jun 2012 · Points: 65

I met a crew of old timers who hand some kind of paste or solution in a small brown bottle with a brush attached to the lid. Tinchture sounds right, but I thought that was just some kind of THC drug kids ingested. Anyways these guys put it on the back of their hands to make them either sticky or toughen up the skin a bit for sharp granite crack climbing. Instead of tape gloves they pretty much put a single layer of tape over the backs of their hands and called it good.

PRRose · · Boulder · Joined Feb 2006 · Points: 0

Benzoin.

wivanoff · · Northeast, USA · Joined Mar 2012 · Points: 674

Yes, Tincture of Benzoin.

BITD, used on fingertips and back of hands. Sometimes used to glue down flappers - but it stings. Best use, IMO, is for making tape stick better. Smells bad and stains clothing.

Creed Archibald · · Salt Lake City, UT · Joined Apr 2012 · Points: 1,016

Warning: I've asked lots of docs and medical professionals about this procedure and they have ALL said it was a bad idea.

But... I've used tincture benzoin for blisters on my feet. I used to work as a wilderness guide. If I got a bad blister, I would pop it, and using an irrigation syringe shoot tincture benzoin into the blister. It stung like hell. When the tincture dried it formed this really hard shell over the spot, and I could hike for miles. It worked great. The docs say I am inviting infection.

C'est La Vie · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jul 2010 · Points: 35

^

Clostridium tetani called; he said, thanks for making a perfectly anaerobic environment for me to make tetanus toxin.

Sent from my TI-83

Woodchuck ATC · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Nov 2007 · Points: 3,280
wivanoff wrote:Yes, Tincture of Benzoin. BITD, used on fingertips and back of hands. Sometimes used to glue down flappers - but it stings. Best use, IMO, is for making tape stick better. Smells bad and stains clothing.
Exactly. I still have a 70's era bottle around somewhere, probably leaking goo in the bottom of an old pack stored in the garage. Cleanses, disinfects flappers, glues them down, sticky base for great tape job, helps keep chalk on hands for a long time,,,why did it go away and lose popularity? Was great stuff. I used to go pick it up from my pharmacy with no need for a prescription back then.
MRock · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Apr 2013 · Points: 10

Not sure if they still do , but the army teaches medics to drain blisters and replace with benzoin tincture like said above. Dries out the new skin under the blister or something along those lines.

Woodchuck ATC · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Nov 2007 · Points: 3,280

yeah I think the stuff was definitely a first aid material at first intent. Stickness gave it a second life for fingers of climbers,,probably cuz they had some in their old first aid kits and put it to use, finding a new purpose for it.

Mark Griffin · · Boulder, CO · Joined Apr 2006 · Points: 95

Benzoine tincture is good stuff. I dunno about injecting into blisters, sounds pretty masochistic to me, but it works great for keeping tape/moleskin in place. It's a tincture so there's plenty of alcohol in there to sterilize I would think. Not the best for your wound's recovery though. Never considered using it to keep tape gloves on... I rip enough hair off my hand removing the tape as it is. And don't hate, that shit smells great. Edit to add you can buy it at REI in a little plastic bottle, it's in the first aid section.

Mic Fairchild · · Boulder · Joined Jan 2003 · Points: 360

I love the smell of tincture in the morning, it smells like... redpoint.

Woodchuck ATC · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Nov 2007 · Points: 3,280
Mic Fairchild wrote:I love the smell of tincture in the morning, it smells like... redpoint.
Yeah, back in the day, that smell was part of my climbing day..I loved the smell cuz it did smell like a 'send was coming up right soon.
Rob WardenSpaceLizard · · las Vegans, the cosmic void · Joined Dec 2011 · Points: 130

sticky rubber is aid, cams are aid, non-oval biners are aid. fancy climbing outfits from prana are aid, tape is aid, bleeding is at least A1. if I want my milelage on thin hands in zion or the creek I do a boxer wrap with tincture. I have no problems climbing 5.10-12 A0...hah

Rob WardenSpaceLizard · · las Vegans, the cosmic void · Joined Dec 2011 · Points: 130

I only climb naked, after cutting off my own hands, using my own manhood for pro...anything less is aids

Woodchuck ATC · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Nov 2007 · Points: 3,280
Rob Warden, Space Lizard wrote:sticky rubber is aid, cams are aid, non-oval biners are aid. fancy climbing outfits from prana are aid, tape is aid, bleeding is at least A1. if I want my milelage on thin hands in zion or the creek I do a boxer wrap with tincture. I have no problems climbing 5.10-12 A0...hah
++ 1 on the Prana panties, they are soo aid' I don't know what to even think.
Salamanizer Ski · · Off the Grid… · Joined Sep 2005 · Points: 18,914

Tincture of Benzoin was taken off the shelves in many places years ago because it was found to have something in it the apparently causes cancer.

Well, so does wood. I always wanted to get a bottle and try it out. I think you might still be able to order it online.

Tom Nyce · · Flagstaff, AZ · Joined Nov 2010 · Points: 45

I guess that I'm an old timer (54, and climbed for 30 out of the last 35 years). I like the smell of benzoin. I use it to make the tape stick. Us old guys have thin skin, and the scarred areas don't build callouses.
Buy the liquid and use a q-tip to put it on very thin, and a bottle will last years. To prevent spills, I transfer some benzoin into an empty eye drop bottle (they have good lids). For further safety, eye drop bottles fit nicely into the most common size of prescription med. bottle. Maybe overkill, but totally secure.

flynn · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Feb 2002 · Points: 25

Hey, Tom, what you're doing might sound like overkill until the first time the TofB comes open in your pack and glues everything in there to the chalk and dog hair. But for keeping tape gloves on your hands at, say, Devils Tower, it has no equal. The 'unique' scent is just a bonus.

It is great stuff to have in your first aid kit, too. My husband, as durable as he is, has fairly thin skin (he's Norwegian; it figures). If we're hiking any distance at all, the TofB and moleskin are in the top of the kit.

wivanoff · · Northeast, USA · Joined Mar 2012 · Points: 674
Salamanizer wrote:Tincture of Benzoin was taken off the shelves in many places years ago because it was found to have something in it the apparently causes cancer. Well, so does wood. I always wanted to get a bottle and try it out. I think you might still be able to order it online.
http://www.rei.com/product/752451/rei-tincture-of-benzoin-1-oz

I bought some up at the corner pharmacy last year. Was less than $10 though
Woodchuck ATC · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Nov 2007 · Points: 3,280
flynn wrote:Hey, Tom, what you're doing might sound like overkill until the first time the TofB comes open in your pack and glues everything in there to the chalk and dog hair. But for keeping tape gloves on your hands at, say, Devils Tower, it has no equal. The 'unique' scent is just a bonus. It is great stuff to have in your first aid kit, too. My husband, as durable as he is, has fairly thin skin (he's Norwegian; it figures). If we're hiking any distance at all, the TofB and moleskin are in the top of the kit.
Agree totally,,it's a great disinfectant and helps hold down moleskin or any dressing. And I keep my small old bottle in a plastic bag, cuz it's true, if it gets out on stuff, your pack will hold that smell forever and will sticky glue everything nearby the spill. Somewhere buried around this mess of gear in my house,,I know that bottle still exists but haven't used it since the early 90's I'm sure for trad cracks and tape job.
John Husky · · Unknown Hometown · Joined May 2011 · Points: 5

Do like I did and grow a pair of leather gloves. Never need tape.

DuncanKL · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Aug 2008 · Points: 0

Huh... I love ToB, but had never even considered it for hand tape. I guess it just makes too much sense. Well, assuming you want your tape glove to stay on for a week. Generally, I just use it to hold tape on my heel as soon as I start feeling a hot spot.

Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

Trad Climbing
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