Airblown asphalt and water are hard to emulsify with either tall oil or triethanolamine as the emulsifying agent. The use of both tall oil and triethanolamine gives a synergistic effect, and weight percents based on the total weight of the emulsion of 0.9 tall oil and 0.7 triethanolamine produced stable emulsions while 1.6 of either one alone failed to produce an emulsion. Alkali metal hydroxide to adjust the pH above 7 and known emulsion stabilizing agents may be added.