First crack at Lime cordage

[bushcraftbob]

Got myself a suitable bit of Lime to try and have a crack at Lime cordage, and blimey is it tough to strip the bark from the wood! I scored all the way down with my knife, and then tried to use a spud to chisel it off but still very hard work! Is it due to the time of the year I have cut the Lime - is it easier in summer months?

Anyway i managed to get a few strips of bark off about 2.5 feet long by 2 cm wide. Am I ok to rett it in my waterbutt in my garden? Does it have to go in to a slow moving stream? Im not that close to a stream so water butt a lot more convenient.

cheers

 

[spamel]

Yes, the water butt will be fine. When The Ratbag and myself retted lime bark in a stream a few months back, we had a nightmare as the water level dropped and when we went back it was hard and dry where it was out of the water. The Ratbag put it in a bucket in his garage for a few weeks and it works fine.

 

[dwardo]

If you find it hard to get the strip started when pulling it from the log/branch try beating it with another stick as it tends to loosen it a little. I also find making another chisel shaped stick helps to get under the bark to free it. This works well with wych elm also.

 

[Lithril]

Waterbutt will work fine. I really like making cordage from liime bark, nice to work with.

 

[Stew]

Were you trying to remove the bark in a big sheet like you see in 'the books'?

Personally I just remove strips - it's going to be broken down into even thinner sections eventually anyway so why worry about how it looks before hand!

 

[jon r]

I personally think that lime bark is one of the best natural materials in the UK. It is so versetile and strong! I am going to try weaving it to make a small blanket one day.

One really good way to bind something with lime bark is to wrap it around the thing that you want to bind together and then melt on birch tar or spruce pitch and then hold it over the embers just for a few seconds so that the pitch propperly liquifies and absorbs into the lime bark. Very strong..

Lime bark is also my favourite for the binding in coil baskets.

 

[bushcraftbob]

Yes i was trying to remove it all in one go - im going to have a go mid summer to see if it is easier.

 

[bushcraftbob]

After a week of retting, the bark looks and feels more or less the same, but a bit slimier. How long will it be before the fibres start to separate????

 

[Toadflax]

After a week of retting, the bark looks and feels more or less the same, but a bit slimier. How long will it be before the fibres start to separate????

I've not tried it myself, but I seem to remember from various books that it could be several weeks (6 or more). I don't know how the process works, but it may be that bacteria need time to develop to break down the material that is binding the fibres together. That could explain why it smells so awful when the retting process has finished.


Geoff

 

[bushcraftbob]

OK, its been well over a month now that my Lime bark has been retting, I checked it yesterday and found that the fibres have not started to separate at all, the bark looks more or less the same, be it a bit more slimey, and its still quite brittle and when bent it will snap like a fresh piece of bark - what am I doing wrong?

Im beginning to doubt now that the wood is Lime at all!

I have had much more success using the young Lime shoots to make cordage without retting, I have found this extremely strong.

cheers

 

[Lithril]

when I made lime bark cordage I actually put two knifes into a piece of wood and then threaded the bark through to cut it down and then used that, didn't split the fibres out.