Show us your home made cordage...

[offroadmick]

I'm gonna try making some string / cord with nettles this year...
Not tried it before but it looks like something i'll enjoy doing in the woods with a nice cuppa....

It would be great to see the cord you guys make and the material and methods you use.

What do you use your home made string for???
Bow strings, setting up a tarp... would your cordage hold up your hammock....lol...????

 

[Tor helge]

Two ply string made from stinging nettles.

Just crushed the nettle (with my fingers), removed the pith and made the string.
the string becomes a little stiffer when it dries, but remain strong.
Still have it somewhere.

Tor

 

[offroadmick]

Very good...quite a length you've got there too....Thank you...

Not been much interest in this thread so far.... Maybe it's been done to death already or making cord is not as interesting as I thought it was....!

I've been using leather string on my firesteels, and thought it might be nice to use homemade stuff instead....
Does it last well or does that depend on what you make it from???

 

[Stanleythecat]

I'd love to have a go at this, must be very useful to be able knock up cordage from thin air. I do wonder if I have the dexterity to do this, I'm pretty good with wood but when it comes to patting my head and stoking my stomach at the same time... I imagine cordage and floating hands might elude me!

 

[tobrien1]

Here's mine I made from yucca leaves:

 

[rancid badger]

unfortunately, I dont have any specific pictures of the cordage but you can see a few types in the picture above.

The large bucket type container is sewn together with spruce root, while the rim is held in place, with a combination of spruce root & Wych Elm inner bark. The cord that forms the handle, is made from Wych Elm bark too.

The water container ( the one with the pitch sealing) is also sewn with spruce root and the handle is made from honeysuckle bark.

and finally; the loops on the birch bark container lids are made from fine inner bark from honeysuckle.

all of the above containers were made back in 2006 and are all still going strong, particularly the cordage

The making is really very straight forward, though I don't mess about trying to roll the cordage on my thigh, I just make with my hands, often as I'm walking along through the woods!

The Wych Elm cord needs retting before conversion to cord, otherwise it becomes brittle and doesn't last very long.

A good training/practice exercise, is to use the plastic handle tape you get on mulitpacks of bog roll as your raw material.

remove it from the rest of the pack, then stretch it, till it thins out and threatens to snap.

Then you can start your twisting and rolling, to form a cord.

This saves on using up potentially precious resources ( it can take a while to find/prepare your natural materials) and you can perfect your techniques.

good luck

R.B.

 

[Stringmaker]

Here's mine I made from yucca leaves:

That's my main source of cordage; I keep picking up dead leaves whenever I see them. A lot easier and quicker to extract the fibres from than nettles and they don't need any dampening before you twist them up.

One of the lengths of cord in my avatar is made from fur I combed off my cat!

 

[John Fenna]

I do not have any pictures of my cordage but in general I use willow bark, nettle and palm fibre.
I use quite a bit for lanyards, hat bands, whipping on arrowheads and ... general use!
I have yet to make enough for netting and none strong enough for hammock use!
I prefer the "rolling on thigh" method and use a leather apron (also used for flint knapping) if I have it with me - done on bare flesh the rolling method rips out hairs!
Raffia - from garden cenres - is a great cheap natural fiber ideal for trying out techniques and is very strong
just found a photo!

 

[jojo]

Here are some samples I was working on last night.

I used Yucca fibres, I happens to have a lot of them growing in the hedge! The largest is about 4mm diameter. The medium is about 2 to 2.5mm, and the smallest here is 1mm diameter. I am making a Otzi type knife and I am going to use the thinnest to tie the blade on with tar or animal glue and the thickest for the strap to pull the knife out of the sheath, when it's made!

 

[offroadmick]

Wow... Some interesting and beautiful things you've made there rancid badger!
What is 'retting'?
Don't think i'm gonna shave the cat to practise my skills though like stringmaker!

 

[Stringmaker]

Don't think i'm gonna shave the cat to practise my skills though like stringmaker!

Believe me, at this time of year when he's moulting you just have to pick it off him!

I might see if his fur makes decent tinder too; he could be my all-in-one bushcraft companion

 

[offroadmick]

Swiss Army Cat...

 

[Stringmaker]

Indeed.

That should go into the abbreviation thread: SAC!

 

[ex member coconino]

My son has made a fair few attempts to make nettle cordage but it always seems to snap easily. It's not a subject I know much about, so I'd be grateful if anyone here can suggest why it should be so fragile. Could it be the type of nettle or the wrong season?

 

[Stringmaker]

My son has made a fair few attempts to make nettle cordage but it always seems to snap easily. It's not a subject I know much about, so I'd be grateful if anyone here can suggest why it should be so fragile. Could it be the type of nettle or the wrong season?

My experience so far is that the best time to harvest the nettles and extract the fibres is late summer, just before they die back. The best technique for then processing the fibres is to let them dry thoroughly, but dampen them just before twisting up into cord. As long as a thick enough twist is made up it's reasonably strong. I used some for my bow drill out of interest and whilst it did snap eventually it took a few goes to ruin it.

Hope that helps.

 

[rancid badger]

"retting" is the process of allowing the fibres to soak in water for up to a few months, so that they separate from the starch and other matter in the inner bark.

Nettles are best processed in the same manner, ideally, you gather your fibre into a large bundle or "hank" and place it in a slow moving stream.

The starch etc, then rots and is washed away, leaving a sickly smelling, bundle of strong fibre, which is then dried, ready for conversion into cordage.

I did mine in a large rain water butt and the smell when the water/fibres were disturbed was gut wrenching!
I ended up with a lovely shade of cadaverous green from this process and the cord proved to be incredibly strong and durable ( still in use today)
I've also processed Wych Elm bark by boiling, in a strong solution of wood ash, "A la Ray Mears" this turned it a rich brown.

Lime bark is also excellent for cordage of course, as it separates into very supple, paper thin layers.

second the raffia reference; it's an excellent training fibre

cheers

R.B.

 

[John Fenna]

The loop on the birch pot I had from RB (front middle - the pretty decorated one) is still intact

 

[ex member coconino]

My experience so far is that the best time to harvest the nettles and extract the fibres is late summer, just before they die back. The best technique for then processing the fibres is to let them dry thoroughly, but dampen them just before twisting up into cord. As long as a thick enough twist is made up it's reasonably strong. I used some for my bow drill out of interest and whilst it did snap eventually it took a few goes to ruin it.

Hope that helps.

Yes, thanks for that, I'll pass it on to him. He's doing his main project this school year on bushcraft and wild food so he's been trying all sorts of techniques. Of course summer nettles will be too late for the project but he'll still be interested.

 

[offroadmick]

Raffia - from garden cenres - is a great cheap natural fiber ideal for trying out techniques and is very strong

Off to HomeBase tomorrow to get some and practice... Thanks John

"retting" is the process of allowing the fibres to soak in water for up to a few months, so that they separate from the starch and other matter in the inner bark.

Nettles are best processed in the same manner, ideally, you gather your fibre into a large bundle or "hank" and place it in a slow moving stream.

The starch etc, then rots and is washed away, leaving a sickly smelling, bundle of strong fibre, which is then dried, ready for conversion into cordage.

I did mine in a large rain water butt and the smell when the water/fibres were disturbed was gut wrenching!
I ended up with a lovely shade of cadaverous green from this process and the cord proved to be incredibly strong and durable ( still in use today)
I've also processed Wych Elm bark by boiling, in a strong solution of wood ash, "A la Ray Mears" this turned it a rich brown.

Lime bark is also excellent for cordage of course, as it separates into very supple, paper thin layers.

second the raffia reference; it's an excellent training fibre

Ahhhh.... Yes... I've see 'Ray' doing this, didn't know it was called retting though... Thanks for the info...

 

[rancid badger]

Here you go Mick;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retting

kind regards

Steve