Natural Cordage from Smilax (Greenbriar)

[Jimmy Whisper]

I had a half hour to kill before dinner last night so I made some cordage from a 4' piece of greenbriar vine. Its a fun and useful skill to have but I'm not getting rid of my paracord, bank line, or mule tape any time soon. The cordage held one of Mrs. Whisper's 8 LB weights.

 

[redneck]

did you just reverse twist it as it is or did you split it and remove the pith first?

 

[Goatboy]

Looks handy cordage though I don't know the plant. Good work, always think that in some of te historical programs/films you see that they are a bit too loose with the cordage and rope, chopping it up willy nilly rather than untying it. Cord would be a lot more valued I feel and not just diced up. I suppose we've become a bit lazy with modern cordage being so available. Have found on longer trips that you get more sparing with cord being in short supply.
Nice Buck knife by the way, is the thumb screw an addition you made?

Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.

 

[Jimmy Whisper]

Looks handy cordage though I don't know the plant. Good work, always think that in some of te historical programs/films you see that they are a bit too loose with the cordage and rope, chopping it up willy nilly rather than untying it. Cord would be a lot more valued I feel and not just diced up. I suppose we've become a bit lazy with modern cordage being so available. Have found on longer trips that you get more sparing with cord being in short supply.
Nice Buck knife by the way, is the thumb screw an addition you made?

Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.

Thanks. The buck belonged to my father. I am not sure but it may be older than I am. I added the thumb stud and love it. It clamps on with a set screw so it doesn't alter the knife permanently.

did you just reverse twist it as it is or did you split it and remove the pith first?

I did remove the pith first. It's tricky getting a long piece after you split it because it tends to break at the places where thorns were as you are removing the pith. I think I may have been bending it too far though. After it is twisted it is very strong and can be bent sharply.

 

[Tony]

That's cool, i love making cordage out of whatever I can find around....