Best cordage material

[xylaria]

My present project is making a bow string with horse hair. It a very stong easy material esspecially if it waxed up early in the process.

Diffinatly going to try willow herb in the summer. I like lying about and eating the inner pith on a warm afternoons, so making cordage with whats left sounds perfect.

 

[PatrickM]

In my opinion the ability to make cordage in the wilds belongs within the core survival skills/bushcraft or whatever you want to call the subject. It is the key that opens many other doors. When you are out and about gather up what you think might work and experiment with it, you might be surprised with the results from something you may have dismissed because there is no reference to it. Many bark fibres, reeds, rushes, grasses, plants, shrubs etc need to be processed at a certain times of the year for maximum strength. So if you try one in the spring with no success revisit it again during the season. All the usual lists of fibres that we hear about are just the starting point in what is a fantastic journey of discovery.

Now, where did I put that roll of paracord

 

[Stew]

I suspect that stripping the outer layer off a sunflower stem may work quite well.

One to try next year.....

 

[bent-stick]

If you can pinch some dead leaves of agave out of someones garden it is very strong and fine.

I brought some fibre back from spain. They flower and die out there and it's just laying around all over the place. Dunno what customs would have thought.

It might be a relative of nz flax. the big difference is that the leaves can be easily 6ft long and you can get fibres that length out of it.

 

[WhichDoctor]

If you wont really good fibers you could always try growing hemp ing the garden ( Its for making string officer, honest ) we get it growing from the bird seed sometimes but it always grows to late in the year and they are never big enough before they get killed by the frost .

I would be interested to know how you made cord out of bindweed Fenlander, I've tried a couple of times but it was never any good . I always thought it should work, how did you prepare it?

Is making lime bark cord the process that involves leaving the bark sitting in water for 6 months or something, if so is there a quick way of doing it? There are lots of lime trees round here and they are always dropping branches.

I also didn't know you could eat willowherb, will have to try that out next year.

 

[dave k]

Grass doesn't win much on strength but it's great for availability. It's everywhere.

I've used whatever was close to hand and it's ok for light bindings but any cordage can be twined or trebled for greater strength.

There are rope bridges in many parts of the World made with grass ropes you just have to have enough of the stuff.

I remember seeing a programme on this a very long time ago - in the southern america's somewhere they built a complete bridge out of grass - took them several days and it only lasts a couple of month's I think - but it looked fantastic.

Can't for the life of me remember the programme though...

 

[gregorach]

Yeah, I think I remember the same programme... If I recall, they rebuild the bridge every year.

 

[Fire Starter]

Ooooops....correction added.

Cheers Fenlander, I thought you may have been on to something there

 

[pierre girard]

Anyone know which roots work best? :?:

For making watape, black spruce works best over here. This isn't really a cordage though, and is rather used for lashing things permantly in place or sewing birchbark together.

Inner bark of basswood (wiigob) is my favorite and makes cordage stronger than hemp.

 

[madrussian]

Thanks for the info. We have American Basswood down here. How do you prepare the inner bark to make cordage?

 

[Diederik Pomstra]

Spruce is good. Long, straight roots can be found in boggy areas and also where an old tree is rotting away. All the trees around it are quickly making roots to the dead one to suck up the juices. I think tamarac (? the one with the bundles of needles that fall off in wintertime) always makes long straight roots. Not as strong as spruce or birch though.
The time it takes to soak bark depends on temperature. In summertime four weeks can be too long. But boiling (with or without ashes added) works well too. Does anyone know why we have to do this? What is being broken down in the bark exactly and why do the fibres that remain get so incredibly soft?

 

[Pipistrelle]

I ve made very successful cord out of willow, I find nettle a bit too temporary. I found leaving the outer bark of the willow in boiling water and allowing it to cool before disguarding1/2 the water and adding new boiling water makes the inner bark strips lovely and pliable for weaving. once woven I add charcoal to the water and re-heat it and chuck in my cord. It seems to last better that way, even when used as a fishing line.

Is there a way to decrease the temporary nature of nettle? Has anyone used willowherb?

 

[jon r]

Willow herb is great! really strong fibers, but its hard to get really long fibers. Not sure how long it lasts though.

 

[Toddy]

Is there a way to decrease the temporary nature of nettle? Has anyone used willowherb?

My nettle bootlaces lasted three years............how temporary do you mean?

Can anyone find the old thread on horsehair fishing lines that gave the translated ancient Greek instructions?

I don't like willowherb much, it's okay for binding but I don't find it lasts very well. I know other folks like it a lot, but I'm not a fan. I do like lime and willow though, but best of all I like hemp and flax for everything from rope to thread.

Cheers,
Toddy

 

[Neanderthal]

Haven't made a grass rope since I was a kid. I used the long grass growing round the football field and made a swing tied to the cross bar on the goals. Also made a loop to put my feet through so that I could climb up to the top of the rugby posts. Actually that probably wasn't very bright of me.

Thanks for the trip down memory lane Wayland.

Stu

 

[Pipistrelle]

My nettle bootlaces lasted three years............how temporary do you mean?


Cheers,
Toddy

3 years ..... !I must be doing something Wrong, my nettle cord lasts 6-8 months at most but under pressure more like 2-3, it goes all dusty and degrades, eventually snapping.... What time of year do you harvest, as I have had some very conflicting info and how do you treat?

I collect nettles as late in the year as possible, to give the butterflies a chance. I strip, soak then dry my nettles and store as looped ribbons, then soak (in warm water) when needed, is this correct? Do you use charcoal like with bark or not?

cheers Pip

 

[Toddy]

Hmmm. Okay, I process nettle differently depending on the time of year I need it.
Spring stuff is easy stripped by hand (better for eating though ) and makes a very fine, tight thin string. It needs to be plied up to make a cord or laces, but it works well as a *sewing* thread for holding grass bunches to a frame for a shelter or for binding tools to handles. It'll work for bow drill but it wears kind of quickly.

Summer stuff is long and fibre filled but juicy. This juicieness makes it pliable and easily stripped but makes loose ply when it dries out. This is the stuff that gets stripped and hung to dry before use. Makes brilliant cordage, good for almost anything needed.

Autumn and Winter the fibres are *dry*, need time and labour to break free or to be just brought to the boil in gentle lye water. These fibres are true nettle fibre, soft, fine white and very strong. However, they're only truly about 10cms long. Nettle isn't really a long fibre, but the structure of the skin it lies in allows us to use it as though it were. By breaking out the fibres properly the true length is revealed. This fibre is superb , as good as flax, spins a fine, fine thread, soft and white and weaves up into a magnificent, hard wearing but comfortable to the skin, cloth.
Fishing line made from this fibre is strong, thin, enduring and doesn't weaken when wet.

Commercially (European) nettle is at least ten times as expensive to produce as linen. Flax stems will yield about 12% fibre, nettle it's about 1% of the weight.

To use nettle now, in mid December, gather and stook somewhere airy to dry. Try not to get it mildewed or foosty. Roll the bundle up in a cloth and beat with a short wooden batton. This will seperate the fibres from the chaff. Gather and comb with a wide toothed comb. Spin or make cordage from damp fibres.

The boot laces were made from Summer nettles, 3 ply hand twisted cord. They had to be undone, given extra twist and re-plied a couple of day after they were made but that was it.

Let us know how you get on?

Cheers,
Toddy

 

[Rod]

Pig intestine works well. Don't know if you would say this qualifies? Gathered by the bag from the butcher - what you don't use to make sausages can be made into cordage.

1. Soak in water for a couple of hours.
2. Tie one end to a tree / stationary object, other end to a small stick.
3. Walk the line out till it's no longer slack, but not taught. Start winding. This can take 1/2 to 3/4 hour depending on how long a piece of intestine you have selected!. Every so often flick the line to shake the moisture you are wringing out of it away and give it a little pull to stretch it.
4. Keep winding!
5. When it starts to feel taughtish, secure your winding end - so it doesn't unwind and check to see how things are going. If your static tied off end has no twists at it - you have more winding to do.
6. Once you are happy that you have wound enough, secure both end and leave to dry.

The result will be a flexible thinnish cord that can be braided to form a rope. The cord on its own has a small amount of elasticity, makes a great lashing and if you braid it is pretty strong.

P.S. Word to the wise: If your Mrs is a veggie - DON'T tell here what your lovely cordage is made from

cheers

 

[jon r]

"so what are your shoe laces made from?"
"Pig intestine"



Not sure im gonna try that one! Sounds good though

How did you actually think that one up?

 

[chrisanson]

Pig intestine works well. Don't know if you would say this qualifies? Gathered by the bag from the butcher - what you don't use to make sausages can be made into cordage.

1. Soak in water for a couple of hours.
2. Tie one end to a tree / stationary object, other end to a small stick.
3. Walk the line out till it's no longer slack, but not taught. Start winding. This can take 1/2 to 3/4 hour depending on how long a piece of intestine you have selected!. Every so often flick the line to shake the moisture you are wringing out of it away and give it a little pull to stretch it.
4. Keep winding!
5. When it starts to feel taughtish, secure your winding end - so it doesn't unwind and check to see how things are going. If your static tied off end has no twists at it - you have more winding to do.
6. Once you are happy that you have wound enough, secure both end and leave to dry.

The result will be a flexible thinnish cord that can be braided to form a rope. The cord on its own has a small amount of elasticity, makes a great lashing and if you braid it is pretty strong.

P.S. Word to the wise: If your Mrs is a veggie - DON'T tell here what your lovely cordage is made from

cheers

For doing similar things I use an ordinary hand drill (not electric) although I think a battery one might be ok. Just put a small cup hook in the chuck and away ya go
Chris