This last week, has been amazing, after my weekend course at Jonny Crockett survival school. Ive been using my eyes and ears more on my runs and long walk. So far this week I have spotted a crab apple tree, an escaped dessert apple tree (I think they will be very sweet when fully ripe), two wild plum trees and a wide growing apricot (tree? bush?) several more hazel bushes with nuts as yet unnoticed by the tree rats. I pointed the fruit out to my wife on our run today and they (my wife and little girl) are out planning to go foraging tomorrow (Ill be asleep)
In keeping with the bushie theme I made fire using a firesteel and fatwood feather sticks made some charcloth on the resultant fire, as I was feeling quite pleased with myself (and after heavy and pointed prompting from my wife) I noticed that the ten year old grapevine (Vitis vinifera black homburg) needed trimming again. (Small garden and a vigorous healthy rapidly growing vine)
I decided to try and combine the bushie theme and trimming the vine. From a pile of cuttingsI selected the longest and stripped the stringy outer, (for wont of a better word) bark off some of the new leaders, (less than three months old shoots,) it was quite easy to do once I worked out how to get past the leaf joints, and I was left with about two dozen two foot long lengths about 8mm wide. I split them up in to narrower bits and before being called away to make the evening meal I managed to make about six inches of good(ish) cordage, it was a fairly difficult process as the vine sap was sticking everything together. I hung all the remaining bark out of the way of the garden plague (slugs) and left them dry out overnight.
Next morning before my run, but after my daughter had her coached swimming lesson, I had another go. This time I got on really well, the fibres seemed to want to twist and make some really nice (if slightly uneven and a little bit woody cordage. In the few minutes I had spare I added quite a few inches to the total, I will admit I was feeling smug, and planned on returning to the cordage making after my run, or at work. (I work nights and I need something to fill in the time after my midnight lunch break) So I stopped and caught a few hours sleep in preparation for my shift
Here is where the problems started, the place where I had finished just a few hours before was very dry and as it turns out incredible brittle, I had not twisted the cordage more than a few times before it snapped off, a clean dry break. The cordage would no longer flex and as I tried to coil the short length it snapped again at the place where I had stopped the night before. Where am I going wrong? Is there anyway to use vine as cordage? If there is, what do I have to do it to make it usable, and longer lasting.
In keeping with the bushie theme I made fire using a firesteel and fatwood feather sticks made some charcloth on the resultant fire, as I was feeling quite pleased with myself (and after heavy and pointed prompting from my wife) I noticed that the ten year old grapevine (Vitis vinifera black homburg) needed trimming again. (Small garden and a vigorous healthy rapidly growing vine)
I decided to try and combine the bushie theme and trimming the vine. From a pile of cuttingsI selected the longest and stripped the stringy outer, (for wont of a better word) bark off some of the new leaders, (less than three months old shoots,) it was quite easy to do once I worked out how to get past the leaf joints, and I was left with about two dozen two foot long lengths about 8mm wide. I split them up in to narrower bits and before being called away to make the evening meal I managed to make about six inches of good(ish) cordage, it was a fairly difficult process as the vine sap was sticking everything together. I hung all the remaining bark out of the way of the garden plague (slugs) and left them dry out overnight.
Next morning before my run, but after my daughter had her coached swimming lesson, I had another go. This time I got on really well, the fibres seemed to want to twist and make some really nice (if slightly uneven and a little bit woody cordage. In the few minutes I had spare I added quite a few inches to the total, I will admit I was feeling smug, and planned on returning to the cordage making after my run, or at work. (I work nights and I need something to fill in the time after my midnight lunch break) So I stopped and caught a few hours sleep in preparation for my shift
Here is where the problems started, the place where I had finished just a few hours before was very dry and as it turns out incredible brittle, I had not twisted the cordage more than a few times before it snapped off, a clean dry break. The cordage would no longer flex and as I tried to coil the short length it snapped again at the place where I had stopped the night before. Where am I going wrong? Is there anyway to use vine as cordage? If there is, what do I have to do it to make it usable, and longer lasting.
