alternative to spruce roots

[Becoming Wild]

looking for any other cordage like spruce roots, don't live near a lot of woodland and have a lot of young pine trees around would these be the same as spruce? I love the idea of being able to store cordage then simply add water to renew it.
thanks in advance

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[crosslandkelly]

I've used Pine roots to make these.

 

[Becoming Wild]

oh wow! so is that the same process? dig them, strip them and let them dry?

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[crosslandkelly]

I kept mine in water to keep it pliable. But it was all on the same day.

 

[Becoming Wild]

do you know if the age of the tree matters? these are only about 2 meters high

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[woodsorrel]

Be sure to harvest conscientiously, especially if the trees are young. You do not want to kill the trees!

- Woodsorrel

 

[Mesquite]

do you know if the age of the tree matters? these are only about 2 meters high

The roots wouldn't be that well established for trees that size so personally I wouldn't harvest them.

 

[Drain Bamaged]

Did the owner of the land and trees not tell you what species they were and their age when you asked if you could dig up their roots?

D.B.

 

[Becoming Wild]

I work for the company and have permission, an no they didn't tell me what species they were

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[Robson Valley]

Spruce and pine are easily distinguished from eachhother.
Approximate age in young conifers can be told by counting the annual whorls of lateral branches.
Of course growing conditions matter. 2M tall? I'll guess no more than 10 years old.

Root system: look at the form, the shape, of the tree.
Notice when rain water would run off the outermost/longest/oldest branches.
This is the "drip line." Most of the youngest root tips will be, more-or-less, in the drip line.
That means that any substantially older and larger roots will be within that circle.

You won't get much. You'll do a lot of disturbance to a small root system to find anything useful.
Plus, as a percentage, you take a substantial fraction of what little root system the tree does have at a young age.
Wait another 20 years.

 

[Dave]

Good advice from an old expert there.

Tend to colect mine from blowdowns. But other speices such as pine work just as well.

 

[Robson Valley]

The 4th corner of a kerf-bent cedar box (Haida/North Coast style) is sewn shut with spruce root. Other conifers work OK, too.
Every spring/early summer at my place, there's huge flooding runoff when the snow packs in the mountains melt off.
Lots of erosion, trees fall into the rivers and get carried into jams on gravel bars.
Best is when the river banks get undercut and the tree roots are just dangling there for the taking!

Right now, the water levels have dropped a lot in the past 10 days and the rivers are clearing up.
About time to wade out to the bars and collect root. Words cannot describe how cold the water is.

If I wanted some plant equivalent, I think I'd look at making cords from linen (flax) thread.
I know in the UK there's a nettle growing wild that is popular for cord-fiber.

 

[Becoming Wild]

thanks all, huge patches of nettles so I will go for them

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[Robson Valley]

Good. I expect that to be far more productive.
There's a processing technique for the nettle fiber which I have never done.
But, here in BCUK, I have seen quite a few threads (pun intended) where practicioners show case
the top quality nettle cordage that they make.

 

[C_Claycomb]

Packing strap. Just like spruce root, except that they don't need water and won't rot. Okay, that sounds like a cop out, but it isn't entirely. My friend Stuart spent time with the Penan in Borneo who traditionally used the most incredibly intricate rattan bindings. On latter trips he found that they were starting to use packing strap, split down in much the same way as you can split down rattan, or spruce root. When he wanted a parang made he had to ask the smiths to use the rattan rather than the new material...they thought that he didn't understand and tried to explain how superior packing strap was compared to the rattan. LOL. Subsequently I used packing strap to braid the lashings to hold my wooden parang sheath together, following the same method that the Penan used, worked very well and still holding after years.

Spruce roots are great for some things, but are just okay for others. It may be that some bindings would be better done with nettle string, or with hazel/willow withies, or willow/lime bark. Roots and withies are a bit more like wire in that they end up stiff, maybe not tight, but durable and able to hold a shape. What sort of trees grow down by the golf course, on the way to Danes Dyke beach? Looks like there are hazel down there and maybe some lime trees. Problem will be permission to harvest. No one much minds if you want to cut nettles, but stripping bark or trimming suckers and shoots is another matter.

Best of luck

 

[Tor helge]

Birch roots have been used here for the same purpose.