Preparing and Using Bast

[Emdiesse]

Hello.

I was just wondering. How would I go about preparing and using bast to make twine and such?

Thank You

 

[Toddy]

If you can get it, willow is just right, just now, for using. The sap is rising and long lengths of bark can be stripped off the branches. The inner bark strips off from the crusty outer quite easily by just peeling. I then split the lengths into finestrips and use these to spin and twist to make a 'lay'. This is basically a fine two or three ply cord. If I want rope I then repeat the process to make three ply. Willow is strongest wet. I collect just now, prepare the strips and dry them for use later in the year. I soak them for a couple of hours in water and use them straight from the bucket. They don't seem to mind being left in the water for quite a while, even if it does ferment a bit. The earliest rope found in Europe was willow bast, found in a sunken log boat off Denmark, and it was still sound, thousands of year after it was made.
Sweet chestnut is good too, shrinks a lot though. Lime stinks while it's being prepared. Pine roots are good, and so are birch. Haven't tried much more from the trees, I usually use smaller stuff, nettles, rush, bramble.....flowering lobelia is astonishingly good!, but very little beats hemp or flax.

Have fun, tell us how you get on.
Cheers,
Toddy

 

[Moonraker]

Nice info Toddy.

Lime bark is good for making bast. Look for the small-leaved lime Tilia cordata, a native. Here is some interesting historic info with basic idea of how it was prepared on it's use, part extracted from:

History, manufacture and properties of lime bast cordage in northern Europe
Authors: Tor Myking1; Anja Hertzberg2; Tore Skrøppa3
Source: Forestry, January 2005, vol. 78, no. 1, pp. 65-71(7)
Publisher: Oxford University Press

Manufacture of lime bast cordage in northern Europe has been an unbroken tradition from the Mesolithic (9000–3000 BC) to the present day. The cordage was usually manufactured by stripping off the bark of lime trees in midsummer, submerging it in water to dissociate the adjacent bast layers, and then peeling off the outer bark and separating the bast layers in narrow bands. The bast bands were then spun to make cords, which in turn were twisted to cordage. Lime bast cordage is characterized by pliability, low specific weight, low extensibility and limited water absorbance. While the strength is superior to bast cordage of other European trees, particularly in wet conditions, it is susceptible to wear, has less strength than cordage of hemp and nylon, for example, and requires laborious manufacture. The skills required for making lime bast cordage are rare at present, but increased interest in natural fibre products might safeguard and revitalize the craft for the future.

I like limes The Romans called it the 'tree with a thousand uses"

Emdiesse, there is a very nice illustrated guide to making cordage, including bast fibres once the bast has been prepared here:

Making Cordage By Hand

Also another one with a short animated clip showing the rolling technique here:

www.nativetech.org - Cordage Technology

There is a good page here which is about preparing bow strings from flax but it demonstrates well the process, including retting (breaking down the material to loosen the bast fibres through soaking or wetting in some way) and dressing for most bast production (with adaptation for the base material used). It is prepared at the guys house but techniques and materials can be found outdoors too.

Primitieways - Grow Your Own Bowstring - by Dick Baugh (5/7/04)

Finally on the latest Ray Mears 'Ray Mears Bushcraft Survival Series 1 DVD' there is, amongst the extra filmed features on the DVD, a nice demonstration of making nettle cordage, from gathering to finished cordage.

Good Luck

Simon

 

[match]

Further info on preparing tree bast is given here:

http://homepage.mac.com/laddie/basswood_twining.html

(Basswood is from the same family as Lime (Linden) Tree (Tilia ssp).

 

[Moonraker]

Further info on preparing tree bast is given here:

http://homepage.mac.com/laddie/basswood_twining.html

(Basswood is from the same family as Lime (Linden) Tree (Tilia ssp).

What a great page! Thanks match

The American 'basswood' name for Tilia species is a corruption of 'bast-wood'

 

[Toddy]

Nice set of links people Thanks lots.
Doesn't the quanitiy of basswood bast make you green with envy? I've *got* to find somewhere where I can rett down lime without it bothering anyone.

Cheers,
Toddy

 

[troy]

Its a fasinating subject, making cord out of fibres. and as 'sad' as it may sound, I spent a good three weeks last year experimenting with different types that I had gathered, plus a few garden type cords in order to see which would be best suited for the bows I make, that is apart from the linen and B50 that I mostly use.

The best bought garden type cord was a white course three ply, which lasted quite a while on the 30 -40 lb bows but due to its courseness I just use it in the tillering process now.

I used a few gathered fibres and the best two for the job where nettle and basswood (equired when last in the US) and if I had to choose between the two - I would go for the basswood because it is not nessesary to splice in new lengths and the end product is far prettier. The initial reverse twist method in the making process was alot easier to learn then having to ensure that each twist was of equal size. This needed to be mastered to ensure that there was no weak spots, which could spell trouble for the bow. Paying attention to each twist also produced a smooth frayless cord that looks great.

I have still got some of the basswood left over, so if one or two of you would like to try it out, then give us a bell.

 

[spamel]

I don't think it is sad in the slightest, it is part of bushcraft and that's what we do.

I had a go with nettles last year and asked my wife to try breaking it with her hands. I had already cheese wired my fingers off in an attempt to break it, and I was amazed at how strong a few plant fibres twisted together could be. I have also used roots to make shelter frames, and again was impressed with the breaking strength of them. There were loads of willow trees when I was in Hameln, but since moving here it's coniferous with a few birch thrown in, take it or leave it. I've even found a few really slow moving streams which would have been good for prepping the stuff, but alas it is not to be!!!

Spamel

 

[Toddy]

Its a fasinating subject, making cord out of fibres. and as 'sad' as it may sound, I spent a good three weeks last year experimenting with different types that I had gathered, plus a few garden type cords in order to see which would be best suited for the bows I make, that is apart from the linen and B50 that I mostly use.

The best bought garden type cord was a white course three ply, which lasted quite a while on the 30 -40 lb bows but due to its courseness I just use it in the tillering process now.

I used a few gathered fibres and the best two for the job where nettle and basswood (equired when last in the US) and if I had to choose between the two - I would go for the basswood because it is not nessesary to splice in new lengths and the end product is far prettier. The initial reverse twist method in the making process was alot easier to learn then having to ensure that each twist was of equal size. This needed to be mastered to ensure that there was no weak spots, which could spell trouble for the bow. Paying attention to each twist also produced a smooth frayless cord that looks great.

I have still got some of the basswood left over, so if one or two of you would like to try it out, then give us a bell.

Have you tried hemp? I've got a stash of fibres just now...and I'm open to a barter. Basswood for hemp? It makes a strong cord with excellent handle. It seems to get better with use too.

Cheers,
Toddy

 

[troy]

Ye I'm up for an exchange of fibres. Do we exchange details here or directly email them to each other?

 

[Toddy]

p.m. sent....its not a secret folks, just a bit off topic.
Cheers,
Toddy