Favourite cordage for bowdrill?

[torjusg]

I have tried natural materials for bowdrill-cordage. Occationally it even works for me. But to get a lot of experience in this method, I find the string to be a weak link in the chain. Are there any good, durable commercial cordage available? What are your favourites?

Torjus Gaaren

 

[Toddy]

I have tried natural materials for bowdrill-cordage. Occationally it even works for me. But to get a lot of experience in this method, I find the string to be a weak link in the chain. Are there any good, durable commercial cordage available? What are your favourites?

Torjus Gaaren

Flax, hemp, nettle (from the East, called Ramie) are all good. Ropeworks will supply all three.

Cheers
Toddy

 

[match]

Animal products (leather, sinew etc) can be good for cordage - however, these are obviously difficult to obtain 'in the wild'.

Aside from learning hand drill techniques the only cordage I have used with success is from clematis bark, but I made several thick strands and braided these together - even then I only got two fire starts out of it - saying that my technique has improved a lot, and whereas before I tended to go through man-made cord every 10-20 tries, now I've got the same piece on the bow that's been there for nearly 18 months...

 

[leon-1]

I have tried natural materials for bowdrill-cordage. Occationally it even works for me. But to get a lot of experience in this method, I find the string to be a weak link in the chain. Are there any good, durable commercial cordage available? What are your favourites?

Torjus Gaaren

It is a bit of a cheat, but I have been in to climbing since I was a kid, most climbing shops have various types of cordage, but I find that the thin accessory cord pretty good (about 5 or 6mm). It is also pretty light in weight.

Can never remember whether it is Spectra or Dyneema , but due to its role in life it has to be pretty resistant to abrasion as it used to rope up old walnuts or rocks amongst others.

It works for me, so you never know it may work for you also

 

[moduser]

I've only used standard 550 paracord so that and that worked fine.

 

[Stuart]

If you are practicing to improve technique and you want a cord that won’t need regularly replacing, lawn mower pull start cord is difficult to beat.

 

[torjusg]

Thanks for your replies. When I get more familiar with the the process I may return to natural materials. I think I'll buy some paracord and test that.

Torjus Gaaren

 

[bambodoggy]

As people have said below normal paracord is about the easiest and cheapest but Leon's climbing suggestion cord is a good one. I've undone climbing prusik loops to use the cord on a bow drill before myself.

However, if you want to go for purely natural cordage then the natural suggestions below are very good too.... (Why post to to say what others have said, you may ask.....).... well, if you look up the Egyptian bow drill method and use this with natural cordage you will find there is a lot less wear on the cordage and so it lasts longer and doesn't need to be so stong as when used with a normal bow drill.

As I say, best to look up the technique properly but basically, you clove hitch the cordage to the spindle first and then wrap round the ends in opposite directions enough that once the ends are tied to the bow tips the bow is able to move backwards and forwards. This seems to give less friction on the cordage and is much better in my experience for a natural alternative to paracord.

Hope that helps,

Bam.

 

[falcon]

I bought a thin piece of leather strapping from Drew (Trekdirect/Survival School ) at the Wilderness Gathering 2 years ago. It folds down very small and is obviously very tough.

 

[Jeff Wagner]

Flax, hemp, nettle (from the East, called Ramie) are all good. Ropeworks will supply all three.

Cheers
Toddy

Do I understand correctly that Ropeworks offers these raw fibers? Or rope made from them?

 

[Toddy]

Do I understand correctly that Ropeworks offers these raw fibers? Or rope made from them?

Okay, two things.
1) I can get raw fibres without any difficulty.....I'm a spinner & weaver
2) Yes, our local ropeworks will sell all three as strings or ropes....in fact they'll sell me hemp rope up to 10cm diameter. (It weighs a ton!)

Cheers,
Toddy

 

[Jeff Wagner]

Am I able to purchase bulk fiber? Will they ship to the US? Thanks

Our supply of hemp and jute dried up about two years ago with nothing further coming out of India.

 

[Toddy]

Am I able to purchase bulk fiber? Will they ship to the US? Thanks

Our supply of hemp and jute dried up about two years ago with nothing further coming out of India.

Don't see why not.
Try contacting these people, they are very helpful, I find. If they won't post to the US, I could buy it here and post it to you marked as a 'Gift'

http://www.winghamwoolwork.co.uk/

This link takes you directly to the plant fibres page :-

http://www.winghamwoolwork.co.uk/plant__fibres.htm

If Wingham doesn't have what you're after I can find about a dozen other suppliers, but few carry all of the range that Wingham does.

Cheers,
Toddy

 

[bambodoggy]

Toddy, sorry to hijack the thread a bit but can you tell me the best thing to use to dye two white army blankets either dark green or brown? Don't mind natural or bought dye so long as it's easy and fairly quick? has to be easily aailable in the south east uk too.... woolworths maybe?

Thanks very much

Bam.

 

[Toddy]

Toddy, sorry to hijack the thread a bit but can you tell me the best thing to use to dye two white army blankets either dark green or brown? Don't mind natural or bought dye so long as it's easy and fairly quick? has to be easily aailable in the south east uk too.... woolworths maybe?

Thanks very much

Bam.

Hi Bam,
There's a problem here; an awful lot of the commercial dyes won't take on wool at all; many are configured now for polycotton, etc., However, Dylon do make a hand wash dye that will work. You may have to double up the packs to get the intensity of colour you're after though.
My advice is to try for one colour on one blanket and see how you get on.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/DYLON-HAND-FA...37080QQcategoryZ28156QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItem

This link is selling a suitable dye for wool.

To get an even dye on a piece of cloth like a blanket I usually wash out a big black bin and use that as dye bath...it lets me move the cloth about to get an even colour.
Best of luck with it.

Cheers,
Toddy

 

[bambodoggy]

Many thanks My Dear, I'll have a go at it early next week in preparation for our 1800's weekend..... I'm wearing a blanket kilt so hoping it won't be as warm as it was down here today!!!

I had a feeling most dyes nowadays would be iffy with wool so it's great to be able to pick your brains as I know you're very good with all the various fabrics and i am somewhat of an amature

Cheers,

Bam

 

[Toddy]

Many thanks My Dear, I'll have a go at it early next week in preparation for our 1800's weekend..... I'm wearing a blanket kilt so hoping it won't be as warm as it was down here today!!!

I had a feeling most dyes nowadays would be iffy with wool so it's great to be able to pick your brains as I know you're very good with all the various fabrics and i am somewhat of an amature

Cheers,

Bam

Hi Bam,
In a blanket kilt you'll cook! Hope you're wearing linen underneath
D'you have some sort of link to this 1800's stuff? I make costumes and it's always interesting to see what others get up to. Truthfully, I get a reputation for making period 'clothing'; I reckon there's a huge difference.

Cheers,
Toddy

 

[bambodoggy]

Yep, it's sure going to be warm if the weather stays hot but then again it's been raining hard here now since 4am this morning!!!!

I'll either be wearing linen under the kilt or nothing....depends how hot it is. I've got some nice dark brown dearskin too so might knock up a loin cloth out of that.

There aren't any links to the 1800's weekend we're doing as we've not done one before. It's less about dressing up in period costume anyway and more about a few of us going to the woods for the weekend with nothing but items that were available in the 1800's. Our basic kit will be the clothes we stand up in which must be made of natural fibres with no zips or poppers etc and to carry...just knife, blanket and billy can...maybe an axe. All food to be wrapped in paper so there will be no plastic comeing along all weekend and seeing how we get on, it's part of a sort of drive some of us have to use absolute minimum kit. It's happening next weekend so I'll post some piccy's when we get back. We're using a modern camera but will be only using it in cepia mode so all the pics come out looking old lol Should be a giggle if nothing else!

Thanks agan for the info on the wool dye

Bam.

 

[Toddy]

Oiled cloth used to be widely used for wrapping kit & food in.
Hmmm, must investigate how I'd make it from something that wouldn't taint food.
Any ideas?
Cheers,
Toddy

 

[storm]

perhaps this will only be of use in California, Oregon and China, but Redwood inner-bark cordage is soft and strong--works well for the bow drill cord.

Another good cordage for this use comes from the Tree Lupine, which is a lupine that flowers yellow and grows about 6 feet tall with a 1-2 inch woody trunk. i was suprised at this lupine's size the first time i came across it on the California coast.

i have friends who swear by yucca and dogbane bow drill cords...