Cordage contest

[beanbag]

Hello Rotte-

I'd like to be in for this.

My first entry, and hopefully 1 of 3, is made of Weeping Willow.

It was about two feet long, and when I thought about it, several bushy/survival skills were required to make it.

1. Tree identification ( Not too hard in the case of a Weeping Willow of course)

2. Braiding ( My daughter taught me how today)

3. Cord whipping ( I finished off the thick end by whipping it with more willow )

I'd say it held around 75 pounds. It snapped right at the middle when my son lifted his feet up. (He weighs about 115lbs.)

Thanks, and more to come.

Bean

 

[kgd]

I don't think they are stinging nettles Ken, definitely not like any I've seen anyway ?

Might be slender nettle Pit. I agree the teeth aren't very exaggerated as common. I did brush up against them on my forearm and it didn't feel so good so I stuck with the stinging i.d.

 

[skab8541]

My first "entry" Thanks for the chance, and the reason to get outside!

Milkweed Cordage

Plants I used

fibers drying

Peeling

Just at 15 ft of cord

Tied it to a bucket with 2.5 gallons of water and some wood chips for the smoker, weighed right at 25 lbs and showed no signs of breaking

 

[kgd]

Nice Scab, I want to try some milkweed now!

 

[hughewil]

number 2

I have a big grass plant in my yard, not sure exactly what it is but it has long stiff leaves.

I stripped the leaves down to the stems, I then braided them stems and tied off the ends.

It was strong enough to tie around and hold up a canteen full of water with canteen cup and cover.

 

[Rotte]

Love what you guys are doing with this contest. i just got back from hiking in the Grand Tetons and finished testing my wool cord.

I started with a wool fleece from a Romney sheep:

Took a handful of raw wool and spun it into yarn using a simple drop spindle:

Then using a pair of double needles knitted an "I-cord". This is just a tube of yarn knitted back on itself:

I got about 4' of cord this way. I tested it by hanging weight from the cord off a ax handle clamped to a table:

I got 25# comfortably, but had a double break at 30#. I thought it would hold the 30#, but it suddenly failed:

So that's one entry so far. Hope to get a second done before the 15th....

 

[jcl-MD]

IN!! My stuff !

Milkweed

Misc Stuff 050 by jclservices, on Flickr


Misc Stuff 054 by jclservices, on Flickr


Misc Stuff 055 by jclservices, on Flickr


Misc Stuff 056 by jclservices, on Flickr


Misc Stuff 057 by jclservices, on Flickr

New fishing Kit


Misc Stuff 059 by jclservices, on Flickr

As for how strong it is (I don't know yet I have to catch something first !! Ha!!! Will post up pics ASAP)

Thanks!!

Ok I put the milkweed to a test!!


Milkweed & Yucca cordage TEST - 015 by jclservices, on Flickr


Milkweed & Yucca cordage TEST - 018 by jclservices, on Flickr

Not bad !! I was very happy !!

THANKS!!

 

[kgd]

That HB's edge is glimmering Rotte! Nice work on the wool. Another milkweed post too. I got's have some milk!

 

[skab8541]

This go, started out like this: Left over from putting up sweet corn, corn husks

After alot.....of twisting and splicing I came up with this, about 13 ft of corn husk cordage.

Used it to wrap some corn stalk containers I made for a sling.

The cordage sucks to make, all the splicing and it really isn't that strong, maybe 10 lbs. But for weaving and what not it will work great.

 

[Rotte]

skab, how'd you make the cord? Reverse wrap? Looks good.

 

[skab8541]

2 strand twist is what I call it.

 

[jcl-MD]

Round 2!! Yucca!!!


Milkweed & Yucca cordage TEST - 005 by jclservices, on Flickr


Milkweed & Yucca cordage TEST - 006 by jclservices, on Flickr


Milkweed & Yucca cordage TEST - 007 by jclservices, on Flickr


Milkweed & Yucca cordage TEST - 008 by jclservices, on Flickr


Milkweed & Yucca cordage TEST - 009 by jclservices, on Flickr


Milkweed & Yucca cordage TEST - 010 by jclservices, on Flickr

I made a small cord and a large cord . The small is from the strands, and the large is from the yucca leaves split in half.


Milkweed & Yucca cordage TEST - 011 by jclservices, on Flickr


Milkweed & Yucca cordage TEST - 012 by jclservices, on Flickr


Milkweed & Yucca cordage TEST - 013 by jclservices, on Flickr


Milkweed & Yucca cordage TEST - 014 by jclservices, on Flickr

The small broke a little above


Milkweed & Yucca cordage TEST - 017 by jclservices, on Flickr

The large


Milkweed & Yucca cordage TEST - 021 by jclservices, on Flickr

and


Milkweed & Yucca cordage TEST - 022 by jclservices, on Flickr

POW!!

The scale only went to 55lbs so I not sure at what point it gave!!

THANKS!!

 

[skab8541]

3rd go, this time Hemp. Grows wild all over my part of the country, and works well for cordage. As that's how the plant came to his area, it was grown for making ropes for the military during WWI and WWII.

The fibers after being prepped

Some twisted up using the same 2 strand twist method.

This stuff is super strong, no real idea on the actual weight, but I had to really pull on it to get it to break, and then it was just my splices soming apart.

 

[dipbait]

Ive been trying to find some hemp.

 

[kgd]

Ive been trying to find some hemp.

I know a guy who'll sell ya some (Not)

 

[kgd]

Here is an entry with cottonwood cambium (inner bark).

Starting it off, I peeled a longish piece, folded in half and began the reverse twist.

I'm dogsitting my son's demon pup (part dobbie part lab) and it was a challenge keeping her from snatching the fibers as I was working on the porch. I was unsuccessful in my attempt to kick her in the head this time.

At this point my thumbs were sore and I stopped for the sake of the entry.

Its a challenge finding uses for the cordage (that you are about to break by break test), so I came up with a goofy one. This is my version of the lip protector for my SS bottle cup

Okay, now for the breakage contest. This one didn't do quite as well as I was expecting it to.

I clocked just over 18# before it snapped.

 

[Orion's Belt]

I was out on a walk in the woods and figured I'd give it a try.

I grabbed a random vine the was crawling along the top of a downed log and cut it to length with my Izula. Then I cut it into 3 equal lengths (not shown)

I started the braid at the thickest end which may not have been the best place to start. As you can see, the braid started out pretty rough.

Towards the middle, the braid started looking tidier. Izula is there for size comparison.

Here's the finished product. Again, the Izula is there for size comparison. If I had to guess, it's about 18-20" long. It could've been longer, but decided to make it shorter for demostration purposes.

Since it was only me, my camera and my Izula in the woods, it was tough to get a good shot of the strength. So, I looped it around a small tree and leaned all of my weight back (admittedly not much, 145 lbs). It held perfectly and had no signs of breaking. Had I taken more time and been more thorough, I'm sure it'd be a lot stronger.

Thanks for the chance!

 

[kgd]

Here is my last entry. I guess I was feeling a bit of wimp since all my coradage trials seemed to have less than 20# strengths to them. Unfortunately, we do not have cedar here (native) and cedar roots would be something I would look for elsewhere. I thought back upon the time I went to the Hardswoodsman meet earlier this year and my pal Iz Turley did a cordage demo. He said that mulberry bark makes a great corage and despite having mulberry up the ying yang I never tried it. Plus, I was having to de-limbp some aggressive mulberrys growing in my yard today and had this big sucker shoot cut curtesy of my ESEE lite machete. (Note it is actually fun trimming trees when you have a machete in your hand!).

So I tried teasing some bark off this mulberry sucker shoot and using a standard braid for my 3rd cordage trial.

A nice way to cut the bark into thinner sections is to use your knife as a plane (another Iz Turley demo tip).

Here is the product, not overly pretty, but strong!

Ha ha, finally I was able to trip out my fishing scale. 52 lbs and still holding!

Beyond the scale I was not able to break this cordage by my own strength while holding the one side with my foot. I would say it should at least go to 75# and perhaps more. Very easy with the braid to also control the width of bark used. I think you could make 100# plus cordage from mulberry bark without too much trouble and if you were willing to sacrifice a larger limb. Only downside to the braid is your inability to splice like you can with the reverse twist. Oh, I suppose you can splice into a braid but it strikes me as creating a weak point at the splice site.

Uses - a tough cord like this is less versatile then the fiber based cords I produced from cottonwood bark and nettle. Still, I can see this stronger cordage used for things like hanging your food bag or in shelter building.

Once again, thanks for Rotte for generating this contest. It got my ass in gear three times on three different materials to make cordage. Nuff said!

 

[jcl-MD]

Here is my last entry. I guess I was feeling a bit of wimp since all my coradage trials seemed to have less than 20# strengths to them. Unfortunately, we do not have cedar here (native) and cedar roots would be something I would look for elsewhere. I thought back upon the time I went to the Hardswoodsman meet earlier this year and my pal Iz Turley did a cordage demo. He said that mulberry bark makes a great corage and despite having mulberry up the ying yang I never tried it. Plus, I was having to de-limbp some aggressive mulberrys growing in my yard today and had this big sucker shoot cut curtesy of my ESEE lite machete. (Note it is actually fun trimming trees when you have a machete in your hand!).

So I tried teasing some bark off this mulberry sucker shoot and using a standard braid for my 3rd cordage trial.

A nice way to cut the bark into thinner sections is to use your knife as a plane (another Iz Turley demo tip).

Here is the product, not overly pretty, but strong!

Ha ha, finally I was able to trip out my fishing scale. 52 lbs and still holding!

Beyond the scale I was not able to break this cordage by my own strength while holding the one side with my foot. I would say it should at least go to 75# and perhaps more. Very easy with the braid to also control the width of bark used. I think you could make 100# plus cordage from mulberry bark without too much trouble and if you were willing to sacrifice a larger limb. Only downside to the braid is your inability to splice like you can with the reverse twist. Oh, I suppose you can splice into a braid but it strikes me as creating a weak point at the splice site.

Uses - a tough cord like this is less versatile then the fiber based cords I produced from cottonwood bark and nettle. Still, I can see this stronger cordage used for things like hanging your food bag or in shelter building.

Once again, thanks for Rotte for generating this contest. It got my ass in gear three times on three different materials to make cordage. Nuff said!

Coolness Ken !!
I forgot all about this one!!

THANKS!!

 

[Captain28]

Well I was going to try for another entry, but apparently bees like to make hives in tall grasses. :grumpy: They also don't seem to like it when you, unwittingly, take a machete to their home.

Thanks again Rotte for the awesome contest. I had a lot of fun with it.