Wednesday I encountered this veiled tree in the park near my work (it was pristine then):
It´s the combined work of thousands of caterpillars of a species of ermine moth (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ermine_moth)
Out of curiosity I stripped a piece of the silk from the tree bark, it feels smooth like satin and is quite strong. After removing three encapsulated caterpillars I had a 5x30 cm strip of silk. I turned it into a small piece of cordage by rolling on my thigh, the end result was quite similar to dental floss silk in thickness and strength; I could lift a glass bottle with half a liter of fluid easily with it.
As a test, I put one half of the strand in water overnight and compared it with the other half that was left dry in the morning, there was no difference in strength of the thread.
So on thursday I was back to take some pictures and do some more testing.
Here´s the tree again, with my hand poking in the hole that was made by my initial test on wednesday, the silk is spun quite tightly around the bark but does not make real contact; there´s some space in between:
Small strip torn of:
Same strip turned on itself :
and made into a short piece of cordage:
A 1.5 liter cola-bottle was no match and was lifted with ease. The cordage is slightly elastic and feels very strong. I reckon it can be made into snares and it might even work as fishing line.
Other uses;
instant band-aid (although the caterpillar silk might not be sterile it will probably work as a styptic by enlarging the blood surface area):
Airtight seal for a fire piston (instead of rubber O-ring, it looks and works a bit like the teflon tape plumbers use), it gave me a chaga-coal in two tries
Conclusion:
Ermine moth caterpillar silk is a surprisingly strong and versatile material and can be used for strong cordage amongst other things. With some care long strips can be pulled of the tree so turning it into cordage needs less splicing. I don´t know how long this silk takes to disintegrate (I have seen it clinging on trees up till august) but if my trousers needed some on-the-trail-stitching I´d use this stuff!
Cheers,
Tom
PS It also Works great as dental floss
PS PS Sometimes trees are not enough for the caterpillars:
http://www.walterreeves.com/uploads/JPGs/erminemothbicycle.JPG
http://www.dutchdailynews.com/wp-content/uploads/ermine-moths.jpg
`Natura artis magistra`, that´s what the artist Christo must have thought...:
http://media-1.web.britannica.com/eb-media/47/101847-004-B8B7CBD0.jpg
It´s the combined work of thousands of caterpillars of a species of ermine moth (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ermine_moth)
Out of curiosity I stripped a piece of the silk from the tree bark, it feels smooth like satin and is quite strong. After removing three encapsulated caterpillars I had a 5x30 cm strip of silk. I turned it into a small piece of cordage by rolling on my thigh, the end result was quite similar to dental floss silk in thickness and strength; I could lift a glass bottle with half a liter of fluid easily with it.
As a test, I put one half of the strand in water overnight and compared it with the other half that was left dry in the morning, there was no difference in strength of the thread.
So on thursday I was back to take some pictures and do some more testing.
Here´s the tree again, with my hand poking in the hole that was made by my initial test on wednesday, the silk is spun quite tightly around the bark but does not make real contact; there´s some space in between:
Small strip torn of:
Same strip turned on itself :
and made into a short piece of cordage:
A 1.5 liter cola-bottle was no match and was lifted with ease. The cordage is slightly elastic and feels very strong. I reckon it can be made into snares and it might even work as fishing line.
Other uses;
instant band-aid (although the caterpillar silk might not be sterile it will probably work as a styptic by enlarging the blood surface area):
Airtight seal for a fire piston (instead of rubber O-ring, it looks and works a bit like the teflon tape plumbers use), it gave me a chaga-coal in two tries
Conclusion:
Ermine moth caterpillar silk is a surprisingly strong and versatile material and can be used for strong cordage amongst other things. With some care long strips can be pulled of the tree so turning it into cordage needs less splicing. I don´t know how long this silk takes to disintegrate (I have seen it clinging on trees up till august) but if my trousers needed some on-the-trail-stitching I´d use this stuff!
Cheers,
Tom
PS It also Works great as dental floss
PS PS Sometimes trees are not enough for the caterpillars:
http://www.walterreeves.com/uploads/JPGs/erminemothbicycle.JPG
http://www.dutchdailynews.com/wp-content/uploads/ermine-moths.jpg
`Natura artis magistra`, that´s what the artist Christo must have thought...:
http://media-1.web.britannica.com/eb-media/47/101847-004-B8B7CBD0.jpg
