First attempt at making cordage

[Welsh Dragon]

I decided to have a play with making some nettle cordage the other day. So I split a couple of stems up and left them to dry on top of a tin roof of a shed
When I went to check them the next day (after a hot day about 18 degrees) they had tried a tad too much! they just crumbled as soon as i tried to pick the fibres up
So gonna have another go at the weekend.....but not gonna leave the nettle fibres on a tin roof again!


Brian

 

[spamel]

In this weather, just hanging them over a nail on the side of the shed or similar will suffice. Don't forget to wet them before using them though!!

 

[Backyard Bushcraft]

yea just leving them to air dry for an hour or so usually soes it for me too! but mine seems to perish after a day or so is that meant to happen?

 

[Welsh Dragon]

yea just leving them to air dry for an hour or so usually soes it for me too! but mine seems to perish after a day or so is that meant to happen?

Maybe the nettles in North Wales are sensitive to the sun

 

[Toddy]

You're too early for really good fibre, that's all.
Just now the nettles are still good for soup, pale dyes, and peeled and spun and laid cordage if done still in the green.

Cheers,
Toddy

 

[Welsh Dragon]

You're too early for really good fibre, that's all.
Just now the nettles are still good for soup, pale dyes, and peeled and spun and laid cordage if done still in the green.

Cheers,
Toddy

I think I read somewhere that nettles are best in the Autumn,just before they die off,to use for cordage??


Brian

 

[Toddy]

The fibres are certainly more plentiful then, longer too, but sometimes the stem splits and the skin lengths are shorter, and the seed heads can get in the way too.

Nettle fibres are really only about 3 or 4 inches long, but they are bundled together inside the skin and this allows us to work them in longer lengths. However, when retted (rotted and broken out of the rest of the plant material) the fine white fibres that are used for spinning fine thread for weaving are obvious.
Two very different processes, or three if you wait until the leaves fall off and just rub the fibres free from the stem.

For hand made cordage we use the fibres still in the skin and the extra plant material shrivels and holds them together while we make cords. In use the extra skin material slowly breaks free and comes away as fine dust leaving the strong twisted fibres behind.

Nettle fibre is right up there with lime bast, hemp and flax as the best of the native natural fibres............and the soup is good too

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Welsh Dragon]

Thanks for that Toddy :You_Rock_

What else could I use for cordage material? The most common and readily available to me right now are Willow bark and Bramble, I'm pretty sure I don't have any Lime,Hemp or flax available.

I did have a quick go at making cordage from willow bark from a fallen branch but i ended up with cordage that was a lot weaker than the individual strands

Brian

 

[leon-b]

you can make cordage out of wych elm
leon

 

[Toddy]

Willow bast is wonderful stuff; the oldest piece of surviving cordage we have in Europe is willow bast (still attached underwater to a log boat) and unmistakeably willow.
It's at it's stongest when wet and it works into cordage best when wet too.
There are an awful lot of things that can be used for cordage, sometimes it just need patience and a lot of practice to get the best from the material available. I made good string last week from the withered leaves of my spider plant, just as I would from the leaves from the loch rush, or the greater reedmace or even just from long grass leaves allowed to wither a bit. Flag iris, chestnut bast, mallow stems, fireweed, ivy, bramble, honeysuckle....they all work, just have a go and don't breenge at it, let the materials work together, watch what you're doing, if it doesn't work, put the kettle on and have another go It's a peaceful sort of thing.
Maybe try the nettles again, just as they are straight from the plant. It'll shrink as it dries out but since the fibres will have learned to twist you can undo it in a little bit, and twist it up again and it'll be sound this time. It's just a little young for stringing and drying it before twisting, not that it's bad material.

atb,
Toddy

 

[Welsh Dragon]

Had a quick go at using the individual nettle fibres from the old dead stems still around...and I was impressed, the short length I made was surprisingly strong for the diameter

 

[rich59]

Some of our garden plants make good cordage. I have made cordage from buddliea - the bark from fine twigs. I have made a really strong cordage from Phormium (New Zealand Flax) - strong enough to cope with the bow drill.

One of the most ornamental ones I have made came from the shopping basket - the drying leaves from a sweet corn.

 

[woodwalker]

Sweet corn sounds like a good idea; I have been meaning to try both celery and banana skins for a while now after noticing their stringyness! Has anyone tried either of these?

woodwalker