Netting Needle and Net

[Tank]

Its been a while since I posted last so I thought I would share a recent bit of carving.

Over winter I spent many hours making a net with a plastic needle and netting gauge.
Using the plastic needle has helped me better understand it's function and requirements to make a net.

The dimensions of the needle are important, the needle needs to be narrower than the gauge, the gap between the needle and the point needs to be small enough so it doesn't unwind if dropped but big enough to easily release the line when need.

In preparation for the next net I carved a new netting needle and gauge to use... and then I carved another.

When I come to using the needles I will fine tune the tongue to be flexible.

Left - Cherry
Right - Cedar


The two books I used as reference for the needle and net were Mors Kochanski Basic Netting pamphlet and Hillary Stewarts Indian Fish Early Methods On The North West Coast.










For the last net I used a lot of jute, from memory 800-1000m worth.



Not sure yet what material I should use to make the next net, but I would like to try making a net (even a small one) from nettle or cedar cordage. **but that depends on me making the cordage first and I have never made more than 20m.

ATB.
Tim

 

[Man of Tanith]

looking good mate
i like how you had a plastic needle already but went with carving a wooden one.


definately look forward to seeing a ceder bark net

 

[Toddy]

Nicely done

I have made a lot of cordage over the years. I would advise that you learn to spin. I really would. It makes really good cordage and it makes it without knackering your hand joints.
Simplest way is to make a drop spindle. A distaff rolled on the thigh works, and works well, but the drop spindle is easier to use to keep the tension even on whatever fibre you choose and it builds up very quickly indeed.
I've spun everything from wool, flax, nettle and hemp to highland cow on a drop spindle. Lime bast is lovely to use on it though I haven't tried cedar. Fine stripped willow bast is very good on it, though folks seem mostly to plait that for cordage these days.....horsehair, traditionally used for fishing line, needs plaited.

Interested to hear how you get on with it.

 

[Tank]

Thanks Toddy, Do you have any posts of what you have done?

Is this what you were referring too as this was something I was going to look at for making the net.

 

[Toddy]

Somewhere, in the annal of previous incarnations of the forum....sorry.

Yes, both those methods are sound, and the spindle allows you something to wrap the spun yarn on, which matters, it really does.
Y'see that's singles yarn, it only has one twist, and it will fankle and knot itself into a pretzel if it's released without care (or soaked and stretched and allowed to dry) , but if you double it up and gently allow it to twist agin itself, then it will make a most stable and secure cord. Look at a bit of string, unravel and you'll see what I mean
That's why folks do the double ply thing on thigh rolling. Twist one way and help it a bit to twist together the other = stable cordage. I do the same thing by hand. I think there might still be photos up of a little basket I made from hand made cordage. I'll see if I can find a link.

I stand to spin, because that way I can get two yards of spun line before I have to wrap it onto my spindle. But then, when I was young I was taught to hand spin fine wool and flax, so I'm kind of biased. I don't believe that lumpy uneven spinning is the mark of handspun, I really don't. I know better, I know that machine made was done in emulation of the best of handmade, and that from prehistory onwards the people of the past, who had to spin their own, made beautifully even and fine threads, cords, ropes and nets.

I think the finest hand made cordages I have seen are those made by Patrick McGlinchey at Backwoods Survival. His workmanship is absolutely superb
Look at the photos on his Gallery, the hunter gatherer one has cordages.

Gallery - Backwoods Survival School

 

[punkrockcaveman]

They are works of art! Looks like you knocked up a fair bit of netting too. Is it a long process? I really fancy knocking up a lobster pot with homemade netting and needle.

 

[JonathanD]

Good to still see you on here mate.

And beautiful work.

 

[Robson Valley]

When you move on to using western red cedar bark, there are some 50+ pages of photos and line drawings of bark and withe preparation in CEDAR by Hilary Stewart ISBN 978-55054-406-0. Just for sheer entertainment value, any of Hilary Stewart's books on the First Nations culture in the Pacific Northwest are worth a read.

 

[Tank]

Good to still see you on here mate.

And beautiful work.

Its been some time mate but I dip on from time to time.

 

[Toddy]

Thanks Toddy, Do you have any posts of what you have done?

Is this what you were referring too as this was something I was going to look at for making the net.

View attachment 67688

@Tank
Some threads, but an awful lot of broken links and missing photos

Sod's law, it's just wear and tear and time and things moving along.
If you fancy doing a decent new one though ....... ?

Making rope from rushes

Juncus effuses, the soft rush, the little field rush, the common clump that you see on damp untilled fields and waste ground. This is the rush plant that I pulled three weeks ago. It's growing in the snarled tangle of the overwintered pond in the back garden. I generally don't tidy too much so...

bushcraftuk.com

Of potential and baskets

I saw the berries on the ivy on the side fence. They'll be ready in a few weeks, and I want them for dye. I'd pruned the Irises not so long ago, and the dried leaves were still lying beside the greenhouse. They looked useful I thought :D I reckoned they had potential. So I made a half a...

bushcraftuk.com

 

[Tank]

When you move on to using western red cedar bark, there are some 50+ pages of photos and line drawings of bark and withe preparation in CEDAR by Hilary Stewart ISBN 978-55054-406-0. Just for sheer entertainment value, any of Hilary Stewart's books on the First Nations culture in the Pacific Northwest are worth a read.

I have Cedar and Indian Fishing love them, also lucky enough to that manoftanith has kindly lent me stone and bone for over a year

 

[Man of Tanith]

I have Cedar and Indian Fishing love them, also lucky enough to that manoftanith has kindly lent me stone and bone for over a year

You really need to pass that on to the next borrower.....


so i can finally get it back myself

 

[Tank]

They are works of art! Looks like you knocked up a fair bit of netting too. Is it a long process? I really fancy knocking up a lobster pot with homemade netting and needle.

Thanks. The net was done in the even when the wife was on night shift and the kids in bed, so did the odd hour or so a night when I could. Sadly I cant remember how many hours I did.

I will have to record the next one better.

 

[Tank]

You really need to pass that on to the next borrower.....


so i can finally get it back myself

Will keep trying mate, you know how bad at doing this we are.

 

[Tank]

@Tank
Some threads, but an awful lot of broken links and missing photos

Sod's law, it's just wear and tear and time and things moving along.
If you fancy doing a decent new one though ....... ?

Making rope from rushes

Juncus effuses, the soft rush, the little field rush, the common clump that you see on damp untilled fields and waste ground. This is the rush plant that I pulled three weeks ago. It's growing in the snarled tangle of the overwintered pond in the back garden. I generally don't tidy too much so...

bushcraftuk.com

Of potential and baskets

I saw the berries on the ivy on the side fence. They'll be ready in a few weeks, and I want them for dye. I'd pruned the Irises not so long ago, and the dried leaves were still lying beside the greenhouse. They looked useful I thought :D I reckoned they had potential. So I made a half a...

bushcraftuk.com

Thanks for the threads.

I have been looking at some old post from time to time and its a shame the photo and links are missing/broken.

 

[Robson Valley]

Dip net fishing in the wild water of the Kispiox, Thompson and other coastal rivers has to be seen to be believed. I can imagine your netting used with good application.

 

[Toddy]

Many of the 'traditional' fishing methods, and tools, are illegal here though.
No nets on a salmon river, no unattended hooked lines, bows and arrows, that kind of thing.
It rather limits the actual practice of obtaining dinner vs sport, iimmc ? and that limits the practical use of the stuff folks like us like to make.

 

[Robson Valley]

Our First Nations do well in season to harvest fish (salmonids). Sockeye and Coho might go 10 pounds or a little more. Those are the fish to target with Tank's netting. Even just to use as a barrier to steer the fish into a trap or weir for spearing. Those fish will be cleaned and smoked by the hundreds then distributed through the community as a winter staple.

 

[Toddy]

Our salmon fisheries were always 'controlled' since the advent of feudalism. The rights to site them, etc., were part of the system of permissions, fees, etc.,

Nets on the river estuaries, nets in the rivers (my big brother worked the nets in the Tay the Summer holidays of his first year at University. My Mum took me and my wee bother up to visit him. The men were pulling in the net, and it looked hard work, but there were only a couple of the fish in it that time. The foreman said that the numbers were falling year by year. That would be mid 1960's)
All removed now and the ones at the estuaries bought out and closed. Our local rivers are salmon rivers, and they're not owned by any estate, but the local anglers associations keep an eye on things. I believe that the salmon and big trout are catch and release.

 

[CLEM]

Its been a while since I posted last so I thought I would share a recent bit of carving.

Over winter I spent many hours making a net with a plastic needle and netting gauge.
Using the plastic needle has helped me better understand it's function and requirements to make a net.

The dimensions of the needle are important, the needle needs to be narrower than the gauge, the gap between the needle and the point needs to be small enough so it doesn't unwind if dropped but big enough to easily release the line when need.

In preparation for the next net I carved a new netting needle and gauge to use... and then I carved another.

When I come to using the needles I will fine tune the tongue to be flexible.

Left - Cherry
Right - Cedar
View attachment 67680

The two books I used as reference for the needle and net were Mors Kochanski Basic Netting pamphlet and Hillary Stewarts Indian Fish Early Methods On The North West Coast.
View attachment 67681

View attachment 67682

View attachment 67683 View attachment 67684

View attachment 67685

View attachment 67686

For the last net I used a lot of jute, from memory 800-1000m worth.
View attachment 67687


Not sure yet what material I should use to make the next net, but I would like to try making a net (even a small one) from nettle or cedar cordage. **but that depends on me making the cordage first and I have never made more than 20m.

ATB.
Tim

Those look very nicely done, well played there. Very nice.
I think one of those will be my next whittling project, I’ve meant to do it for ages and it’s long over due now.