Nettle Cordage, How Strong!!

[P@ul]

After reading a recent post I thought I would have a go at making some nettle cordage. I was surprised how strong it was so I thought I would carry out a small test.

I made about 50cm of cordage and used a bowline knot at each end to form a loop at each end, pictured below with group buy Para cord for comparison. This cordage was made straight from a freshly picked nettle.

The cordage was then looped over a tripod with both loops hanging down to witch a hanging basket was attached, so in fact I have doubled the strength of the cordage by doubling it up. The basket weighed in at 2.2kg

So for a bit of fun how much weight do you think the cordage managed to support? I only had wet house bricks as ballast so it was a very basic test in every sense of the word.

I know there are many variables and a chain is only as strong as its weakest link etc, etc, but just have a wild guess and I will post the answer in a few days.
Cheers P@ul

 

[g4ghb]

its pretty strong stuff when gradually loaded so I reccon 9 bricks!

 

[leon-b]

well i made some and me and my sister tried to break it by having a game of tug of war with it, and it didnt break then so i'll go for 11 bricks
leon

 

[torjusg]

No, you are too positive:

6 bricks is my guess.

 

[JonnyP]

Well being a bricky, I have to ask what sort of bricks were they....I will assume they are flettons and go for 14 bricks.........

 

[P@ul]

Doh, I knew I would fail to mention something.

Well being a bricky, I have to ask what sort of bricks were they....I will assume they are flettons and go for 14 bricks.........

Not a bricky, but the same bricks as used to build the wall in the photo.

P@ul

 

[steveo]

i am going for 10 bricks

 

[stovie]

I reckon you'd have a hard job to squeeze ten brick into that hanging basket, so I'm going for 7...

Boy is this the cutting edge of science, or what

 

[British Red]

Lower, lower...sorry, "play your cards right" moment there

I'm going for 5

And giving some rep for the best new thread in a long while - well done mate!

Red

 

[James_m246]

Well seen as they were wet bricks i'll go for 6.

 

[Pignut]

I think the bottom of the basket fell out at 200 bricks

(OK 4)

 

[andyn]

I'll put in a rather optimistic bid of 12 bricks.

 

[Big John]

Hmm, I can't see the pic here at work - is there a join in the cord or is it made from a single length?

If it's joined I reckon it will come apart at 6 bricks (that's where mine always fails anyway), if it's one piece then I'll go for 10.

 

[Bisamratte]

9 and a half bricks

 

[JoeG]

16.
Or then again it could be 13. :eek
I think 16 will be it until it breaks.

 

[Marts]

I'll try 8.

 

[James_m246]

Come on!!! I wanna know how many, the suspence is killing me.

Hey, maybe you could make it into a movie?

 

[WhichDoctor]

Having been lugging bricks around all last week to make are chicken run more interesting I do know they are heavy , but then again the cord is doubled up and fairly strong. So im going for more bricks than you can fit in the basket .

Failing that about eight.

 

[bent-stick]

I'm going for 3 bricks because I made some last week that didn't even register on the bowscale (15lbs) before it broke...

 

[jojo]

i'll go for 4!