willow or other natural cordage

[andyn]

Hi all,

I was hoping to obtain some strips of inner bark of willow to practice making some cordage, but the amount i'd need doesn't in my opinion justify me limbing a tree. Plus I don't want to wait till spring

I was wondering if anyone here had any spare that they would be willing to either send me a few lengths of, or sell me a small amount?

Thanks in advance.

 

[rich59]

I have practiced on:-

Ordinary grass (not exactly strong)
Phormium (New Zealand Flax)
Buddliea bark - strippings from young shoots
Bramble shoots outer layer
Lime tree bark(Basswood)

Do you need a whole limb? The bark from some whippy young growth might be what you are after.

Does willow bark need any preparation or can you make cordage directly? Did I hear that boiling in somthing helped?

With Lime tree - I first used fibre from old dead branches. With live branches I found soaking for about 2 months seemed to eventually release the fibres.

 

[Big John]

I've been playing with nettles lately, it works pretty well. Helpfully there are always loads around and no-one minds you chopping them down!

 

[andyn]

Does willow bark need any preparation or can you make cordage directly? Did I hear that boiling in somthing helped?

Gosh, i sound like such a sheep saying this but the way that Ray did it in the last series of his bushcraft program was so boil up some water then add some old ash to make a solution that im sure he had a name for. Then boil the strips of inner bark which turns them a much darker colour and more workable

 

[Ranger Bob]

andyn, I've got a couple of small sheets i'd be happy to send you.

But, you'll be suprised how much bark you can get from a small branch! You don't need to worry about damaging the tree, you are effectivly only pruning out a single branch.

If you would like that bark PM me.

 

[bambodoggy]

Gosh, i sound like such a sheep saying this but the way that Ray did it in the last series of his bushcraft program was so boil up some water then add some old ash to make a solution that im sure he had a name for. Then boil the strips of inner bark which turns them a much darker colour and more workable

It's called a "lye solution", and the whole proccess is called "retting".

Cheers,

Bam.

 

[andyn]

Thats the one! Cheers Bam

 

[gregorach]

A really easy material to play with for cordage is plumber's hemp - widely and cheaply available at any DIY store. Good tinder too...

 

[rich59]

Funnily enough one can practice quite well with string! OK no splicing needed but the twisting is the same - to make up thicker string. And you could easily practice splicing by taking short lengths of string. I did a whole ball like this once to make up a thicker cordage.

I find making cordage a tedious and slow business and a bit hard on the hands after a while.
I usually start with a single length of fibre - as long as I can get - and bend it to have 2 unequal lengths. I always have the rope on my right and the loose ends of fibre on my left. Then I simultaneously twist the 2 bundles of fibre away from me between thumb and finger - first with the left hand and then with the right before letting go with the right so that the two twisted bundles can spiral round each other and lock together. Correct me if I am wrong but I think this is called "Reverse Wrapping". As the fibre bundles get shorter so you need to splice in some more fibre bundles. One of the tricky things to manage is stopping the fibre bundles getting entangled as you twist them, especially if one has material more than a few inches long to work with. When doing the ball of string I had to carefully hang rolled up lengths from a hight to let the twists escape and to keep from tangling.

A bit of spit can help a lot to keep the right friction feel. But bear in mind some plant saps may have unpleasant effects. Phormium sap made my tongue tingle and I felt queezy after a while. Willow bark has aspirin in so watch out.

I have seen descriptions and pictures of people doing it much quicker rolling it on the leg. But I can't get this to work reliably.

Any advice from others gratefully received.
I think there are other techniques but this is the only one I know.

 

[gregorach]

Yeah, I've never managed to get the leg rolling technique to work, but I've only tried it when wearing jeans, which don't provide enough friction - the fibres just slide. I keep meaning to try it with a piece of leather on my thigh.

I start the cordage off by twisting it between thumb and fingers like you, but once I've got two or three inches of two-ply, I move to rolling it between my palms. I roll the two loose bundles between my index fingers and control the rotation of the main cord with the heels of my palms. It's a technique I first saw on "What The Ancients Did For Us" when they showed the making of a old-fashioned South American rope suspension bridge, made entirely out of grass. Takes a bit of practice, but I reckon it's quite efficient.

 

[dliwehtfollac]

willow makes pretty weak cordage....irecommend using the nettle. if you ret the nettle youll be left with really good looking and very strong fibers. try it

 

[rich59]

How do you ret nettle? Is it just soaking in water, and if so for how long?

Came across this article on the future of nettle fibre:-

http://www.globalhemp.com/News/2003/October/grasping_the_nettle.html

 

[JoshG]

I have absolutely no idea how to make cordage. There are thousands of nettles on a green belt just behind my back garden so i'm keen to get going. Could any of you folks teach me, or perhaps point me in the direction of a useful turtorial? Thankyou in advance.

 

[andyn]

There are loads of threads in here if you do a search for nettle cordage, but this one stood out for me:

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/community/showthread.php?t=6429

 

[JoshG]

There are loads of threads in here if you do a search for nettle cordage, but this one stood out for me:

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/community/showthread.php?t=6429

Thanks man, that's perfect.