Brambles.

[Pattree]

Are bramble stems any use at all?

I’ve just pulled out about 500M from a wild patch of my garden. I know, I know but this is all THIS years growth. I can see the beginnings of fruit on last years. Also bramble is welcome in my hedges.
I took it out now because if I’d allowed it long enough to produce side branches it would have smothered my snowdrop area. This of course is natural woodland evolution but it can wait till the primary predator (me) has shuffled off; then it can take its chances.
Good luck to the wheelie bin guys, the thorns went straight through my leather rigger gloves.

 

[Toddy]

It makes good cordage and I'm pretty sure John Fenna posted about making baskets from it too.

The secret to taking off the thorns is folded layers of cloth and drag the stems through it to strip them.
I know someone who used a fixed upright in the ground split stick to drag the lengths through too though.

 

[Chris]

It makes good cordage and I'm pretty sure John Fenna posted about making baskets from it too.

The secret to taking off the thorns is folded layers of cloth and drag the stems through it to strip them.
I know someone who used a fixed upright in the ground split stick to drag the lengths through too though.

My shins are pretty good at pulling the thorns off as well, if the above fails.

 

[Wildgoose]

A brand new pair of expensive walking trousers seem to work great for that too

 

[Pattree]

I think the local council can deal with this year’s crop. This is the year of the Nettle String. I have some magnificent nettles this year and I’ve never made any kind of vegetable cordage. If I can manage nettles then either honeysuckle or bramble can follow next year.

 

[John Fenna]

Yup - I have made cordage (strong enough to lift 15kg of water 20' over a pully), string for lashing seats and baskets out of brambles, over willow framing. The cordage is fantastically strong - much better than nettle!

 

[demographic]

Ha, over the last year I've been quietly guerrilla path clearing an area to reinstate a footpath by one of the local rivers.
Just everytime I walk the dog I've had my old CK secateurs and have removed about 160 yards of dense bramble stems.
Little by little and I'm very nearly through to the point where the path used to come out.
A short section of the path fell into the river and a decade ago it would have been an easy fix to bypass it but I didnt walk a dog round that area then so didn't do it.
Also there's another part where the bank was looking a bit iffy and that was the reason I started clearing the area last year.
I got that length cleared fairly quickly and bypassed the bad part befode that eroded away.
Proper chuffed but it'll be nice to have a time when I don't have any bits of thorns in my fingertips.

Oh and I saw the kingfisher hooning down the river this morning. Yay.

 

[Pattree]

@John Fenna
Is your heavy duty bramble cable plied as well as spun?
If so how many plies and are they counter wound?

As mentioned above, I have never made vegetable cordage but I’d like to have the basics for making cable tucked away.

 

[John Fenna]

I Thigh Spin my cordage so 2ply from fairly generous bundles of fibres... and the heavy duty stuff was doubled ... so I guess that makes it 4 ply

 

[Falstaff]

It can also be used for straw basket making to bind the straw. The old bee skeps were made with this. De-thorn then split while green - Dave Budd sells a very nice 3-way splitter but I cannot bring myself to pay that much. Once split roll up and let it dry, for storage. Soak it to soften before use - pulling it over say a chair leg/cross member help soften the fibres to get a tighter wind on the straw.
Most weavers now seem to use bamboo though. I'll be out getting some bramble myself very soon, I've been given a basket that needs repair.

 

[demographic]

Dethorning is pretty easy with secateurs.
While the stem is still attached, use the fully open secateurs to scrape sideways along the stem, turn it a bit after each sideways stroke then cut it. That way you can grip it without being punctured.
Hold that de-thorned part in one hand and scrape the rest with the open jawed secateurs.
You might need to clip little side stems every once in a while and your secateurs will need sharpened a little more often but the trade off is worth it.