Natural cordage from various materials (photos)

pict

pict

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Jan 7, 2003
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Lately I’ve been concentrating on my primitive cordage making skills and experimenting with various materials. It is interesting that each different material makes a cordage useful for different tasks. They also have their own handling properties.

Eucalyptus Bark Rope
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Eucalyptus is very easy to make into light rope or smaller cordage for traps and snares. It is not as strong as the Imbira but it is much easier to work with both in harvesting and twisting it up. This piece is about 30 feet long and could be used for shelter building.

Imbira Cord
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Imbira is harder to work with but results in a very strong cordage that has been used for making bowstrings. It is hard to keep Imbria cordage consistent. This piece is about 30 feet long and would make the basis for a trotline or work well for a pack or shelter frame. The smaller coil below is raw Imbira bark.

Yucca string
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A yucca leaf will yield a great deal of fiber if you take your time. Dude, over on Hoodlums recommends just twisting the leaf in the middle and pulling out what you need. I didn’t know that back when I harvested this yucca and carefully scraped the material out from the fibers after crushing the leaf.

Yucca thorn sewing kit
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If you gently work back from the thorn on the end and keep it attached to the fibers you can produce a sewing kit of cord and needle combined. Ray Mears demonstrates this resource in his extreme survival episode in Arizona. I separeated the fibers into two bundles and twisted them up into cord. The larger one would work well for repairing a pack or other piece of equipment, the smaller one would work for a boot or clothing. The small fiber size of yucca allows you to make very fine cord. The larger cord would work well as fishing line. The smaller cord bundles would work for sewing up clothes.

Buriti Palm Leaf String
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I ran across Buriti Palm leaf “straw” for sale at the central market. While talking witht he owner of the stall I ended up doing a little impromptu lesson on how to make it into cordage. I ended up with a piece about 10 feet long. Buriti Palm cordage is very strong, but it is also very soft, smooth to the touch, and flexible. This is why it is used for making into hammocks or for sewing up clothing, it’s just comfortable. It is also very easy to work with and keep even.

Three Ply cord made from some unidentified yucca type fiber

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Here’s the real deal. This gigantic roll of three ply cord was hand made by the Krikati tribe in northern Brazil by rolling on the thigh. This cord is exceptionally strong, very even, and very, very long. This roll of 3-ply cord silently challenges me.

Not all natural cordage is created equal. The more you make the easier it gets and the more possibilities you will have for both materials and possible uses. Mac
 
Some excellent information and good illustrations! Thanks!

Codger :thumbup:
 
Many years ago I worked a lot of stakeouts all night long. Used to make cordage to keep awake. Once I took a stack of paper towels and carefully shredded them and made a ball of 3 ply cordage over 120 feet long. Those were long nights, but I did get my technique down well.
 
Ugh, I hate your guts. Those look great. I'd love to be able to roll my own cordage... I've gotta find some time for the hills soon.

PS- How do you like that KaBar folder? I've been loosely thinking about a locking folder for EDC, and I like the looks (and price) of those. Did the AUS8 sharpen and hold the edge well?
 
Any info on HOW you made that? Its a useful skill.

Btw, AUS-8 ime is a good all around steel, and will get extremely sharp, and stay that way. no problems with rust either.
 
Excellent thread, pict. Your cordage is looking great. I've made a lot of cordage by using the reverse twist finger rolling method. I suck at thigh rolling. Guess I need more practice.

What are you rolling the fibre on? Your (shaven) leg (hair on your leg makes the fibre slide rather than roll)? Jeans? Buckskin?

BTW, pict, one of the coolest things I learned about on this forum was the Arapuca bird trap posted by you. I've read a lot of bushcraft books and it was the only place I'd seen it. Last week I bought a book called 'How to Trap & Snare' by William Carnegie - a reprint from the original which was published at the turn of the century (the last one, not this one). In it he describes a trap (with a diagram) of something he calls a 'Wicker Cage Deadfall'. It's essentially the Arapuca. The only difference is that instead of 2 sticks coming from the corners to the angled, supported stick, he uses a rounded 'V'-shaped stick with the rounded 'V' part against the angled, support stick.

Thought you might be interested.

Doc
 
I roll the cordage in my hand as I rot at thigh rolling at this point. If you have ever watched someone experience at thigh rolling it looks super easy, right up until you try it yourself. My bare leg is quite hairy and if you get it tangled up it'll rip a bald patch! I can do it against a tight pair of jeans but women tend to slap me when I try it.

I need to get my daughter to take a series of photos as it is a two handed operation. Basically I start with my right hand palm down and roll the first ply clockwise between index finger and thumb, trap that ply with my ring and pinky fingers, turn my hand over and roll the second ply clockwise with index finger and thumb, and then twist the cord counter clockwise with my left index finger and thumb. It sounds complicated but once you get a rythem going it just rolls along. Mac
 
Pict - great photos. I've been playing around with cordage the past few weeks. Have made some great stuff out of Canadian Thistle fibers and Willow. I have also used Cattail leaves, but although it looks good, is quite weak. I managed to strip off some outer sheath from Fireweed, it was partially retted naturally by the snow, and it seems to make a very strong cord as well. Everything has been 2-ply reverse twist, except for some 3 ply braided willow cord - some of that stuff is really strong.

I would love to have access to the many natural fibers in Brazil - count yourself a lucky man!

Making cordage is something I do to "unwind" (funny enough) and have found that a combination of finger-twist, thigh roll works best for me, depending on the length of the fibers....of course, I am far from an expert and only offer that advice as an anecdote of my experience so far.

Cheers,
D
 
Spooky,

I really like the Ka-bar folder. It is a great blade shape for bushcraft type stuff and stays plenty sharp. I EDC one of them alot.

Doc,

Thanks for your coments on the arapuca. I didn't invent it, in fact it is a very common trap here, most rural kids know how to whip one out. The first time I saw one made I was impressed that the guy made it without any tools. All you need is some string, and if you can make the string...

I have seen diagrams like in the SAS survival guide that have the cage but use a figure four for the trigger. There are other, more elaborate traps used here that nobody seems to want to document. I've never seen them in books. Maybe there's a market there for me and my Canon 520. Mac
 
pict said:
Doc,

Thanks for your coments on the arapuca. I didn't invent it, in fact it is a very common trap here, most rural kids know how to whip one out. The first time I saw one made I was impressed that the guy made it without any tools. All you need is some string, and if you can make the string...

I have seen diagrams like in the SAS survival guide that have the cage but use a figure four for the trigger. There are other, more elaborate traps used here that nobody seems to want to document. I've never seen them in books. Maybe there's a market there for me and my Canon 520. Mac
Click to expand...

Pict, here is a picture of the trap with the accompanying text:
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Hope you can make it out. It concludes on the next page: "……….of the board-covering and bringing the bowed portion of the bender to the front of it."

Doc
 
Doc,

That is the first time I've seen a version of that trap in print. That trigger would work with the arapuca just fine. Really it just substitutes a bent, flexible wand for the two trigger struts. I'll have to play around with that set-up to see which is easier. It just depends on what you have available within reach when you build the trap.

The first time I saw one built the guy who made it didn't travel more than five meters from where he started during the whole proess. Everything was right there already and he made it with no tools. I thought, "Now that's one to keep in the brain pan." I kept thinking any second now he's going to ask to borrow my knife, but he used a rock to grind the notch in the trigger.

This isn't thread drift as the arapuca is dependant upon having about one meter of string available, and it doesn't have to be all that strong either. A length of nettle cordage, strips of bark, yucca, palm fiber, anything would work.

Lots of traps and snares use a bit of string or cordage and being able to roll your own will increase the number of traps you can set.

I'm working on a length of Buriti palm cord to use as a fishing line with a palm thorn gorge as the hook. I don't know when I'll have time to try them out but I can see a trip to the lake in the near future. Mac
 
Well, my hat is certainly of to you gents than can twist out those amounts of cordage in short time. Just as a refresher I took I walk today and after reading this thread, decided I would practice hand twisting since I hadn't in, well, I don't remember when :p. Long story short(much like my pitiful length of cord) I ended up using some palm leaf sections varying from about 8-12 inches in length. Twisted it all in the hand and ended up with about 3 and a half feet for an hour and a half's work, nigh 2 hours. :thumbdn:
Great skill to have under your hat, and I'm glad I could fake it in a real hard situation. I have never underestimated the value of cordage, but today just reaffirmed my reasons for carrying it, and if anything made me appreciate paracord that much more. :D


Gautier
 
Gautier,

That's pretty much my take on primitive skills in general. They are fun to learn and really teach you about the things available in your area but are not a substitute for planning and preparation for a wilderness survival emergency.

I recently had to fall back on the paracord attached to my BK-7. I took the kids car camping and discovered one of the fiberglass tent poles was shattered. I bound it with the inner strands and then wrapped that with duct tape from the BK-7 as well and it held up fine.

Some natural materials work faster than others and for some applications they don't need to be twisted up into cord to do the job. I know in my area that Imbira bark straps (big ones and lots of it) have been used to pull cars out of ditches without any modification. For shelter building it can be used by simply making 1 cm strips, several vines we have here work well just pulling them down out of the trees. Knowing that sort of thing about your area can save that reserve of paracord for the things that really need it.

The basic skills of cordage making, keeping the twist consistent and adding in new material to keep it going, apply to whatever raw material you're working with. What I'm finding interesting is how different the various cords are in their applications. I would never use Eucalyptus for a bowstring, but Imbria and Buriti would be perfect. Imbira would be a pain as a fishing line (too rough on the hands) but Buriti would be great. Yucca would work best for sewing up clothes or gear, or for fishing line, it would also make great rope but it would take alot of fiber prep.

Yesterday at the Central Market I picked up two rolls of shredded Buriti Palm leaf and rolled up about 35 feet of cord while watching Man vs Wild last night. Buriti is great stuff for learning this skill, super strong, rolls easily, and makes fantastic cordage real fast. It's a shame that the Buriti Palm is only native to the northern part of our state and points north. Mac
 
Great thread Pict. I was lucky enought to have Dude teach me how to make Cord out of Yucca last month in LA and I have been going strong since then.

How to you harvest the Eucalyptus for cordage? It grows like a weed down here in San Diego and I would love to use it.

Thanks

Mike
 
Mike,

I had a pile of eucalyptus poles delivered for a construction project and they arrived bark-on. They were already dry, seasoned wood. I just propped them up against a wall and stripped them with a Mora. The inner bark peels away very easy.

Here in Brazil Eucalyptus is used for making charcoal. It isn't native but it has been around long enough that you can find it growing feral. It is an easier bark to work with. I soak it in water and it releases a good amount of tanin. It will tan your hands pretty good. I haven't boiled any in wood ashes like Ray Mears suggests in his Bushcraft series yet but it is on my list of things to do. It isn't as strong as some of the other materials I've worked with but it is strong enough for shelter building. I had so much of it I figured I'd test it and it works well. Mac
 
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