Yucca Experiments...a Fiddleback machete project (pic heavy)

Mistwalker

Mistwalker

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Dec 22, 2007
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19,017
I was given some Yucca stalks today, about a dozen of them. So now I have some experimenting to do.
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I also started a new hearth board out of Poplar.


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The machete is a blur in this one but you can see how easy it is to control in the slivers I am getting thinning down the end.

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an experimental spindle and a different hearth

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Ok, so it's not pic heavy yet but there should be several more to add tomorrow :)
 
Thats cool. You want the spindle to be softer?
 
Yucca is some great stuff, all kinds of uses. The leaves make soap and excellent cordage too.
 
Try Yucca for the spindle and the hearth! Its so easy its almost cheating. The hearth will be very narrow, like an inch wide, but you can get a coal in 10-15 seconds EVERY time! Please try this, it works. It blew me away how easy it was the first time I did it.
 
Fiddleback said:
Thats cool. You want the spindle to be softer?
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I just want to experiment with Yucca in general now that I have the chance after all I have read about how well it works. But some people..and I think Rick is one... like a spindle to be softer than the hearth if not the same wood. So...I'm just studying it :)


Raining said:
Are you making a hand drill? Or a fire plow? Or...?
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Bow drill now, hand drill later.


tknife said:
Yucca is some great stuff, all kinds of uses. The leaves make soap and excellent cordage too.
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Yeah, I've read that too...just didn't read it till after I moved away from where it grows naturally :(


Md 25v said:
Try Yucca for the spindle and the hearth! Its so easy its almost cheating. The hearth will be very narrow, like an inch wide, but you can get a coal in 10-15 seconds EVERY time! Please try this, it works. It blew me away how easy it was the first time I did it.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll give it a shot :thumbup:

Editing photos from today's experiment now.
 
Mist, let me know if you need yucca leaves. They are the most common decorative plant at every fast food place, i.e. McDonalds etc.., so I cut them all the time for cordage. Along with dogbane, yucca is the only plant cordage around here strong enough to make bow strings out of.
 
Md 25v said:
Mist, let me know if you need yucca leaves. They are the most common decorative plant at every fast food place, i.e. McDonalds etc.., so I cut them all the time for cordage. Along with dogbane, yucca is the only plant cordage around here strong enough to make bow strings out of.
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Thanks man, I may give that a go too :thumbup:

How do you do it?
 
Separate the fibers from the leaves by smashing the leaf gently with a smooth rock until the pulp is squeezed out. Then roll the smashed leaf in your hands as if it was a hand drill. That will separate the fibers enough to rinse them with cold water to remove the excess starches left behind. Then dry the fiber slowly (I lay then in the sun for an hour) and they will shrink slightly. Once fully dried you can make (for a bowstring) three thin strands of cordage using the reverse wrap method. Once you have three strands of "twined" cordage you can make a very tight three-plait braid. This will be your bowstring. If you braid it very tight, a 3/16in string can take the draw of a 50lb bow for more than 40 shots without breaking. In order to keep the string from drying out you should grease the string with a natural material like lard.
I'm sorry if that was more answer than you were looking for. I just get pretty into the primitive skills.
 
Thanks, I'm just getting back into it. I'll have to see if maybe I can harvest some leaves here. I am finding more and more of them used as decorations and have permission to harvest the stalks of a couple dozen next year...I missed some this year.
 
While i was out on a hike yesterday I found an open area to try out the yucca. Since the new yucca spindle is so close to the same size as the Cedar spindle I have I decided to try it in the old socket in the hearth board. I also decided to take Tony's advice and thin the hearth board down some, especially considering how soft the yucca is. Man I just love how this machete handles.

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I got a coal after a couple of tries and readjusting my string. The yucca stalk is soft so the bow string compresses it and then the string gets too slack. Definitely ground away more of the spindle than the hearth. I really want to harvest some Basswood soon to try with this yucca.

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And the top of the spindle held up a lot better than I expected.

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More pics from the hike yesterday here...more wild edibles :)

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=773984

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To make up for how soft the yucca spindle is, try holding the string under your index finger. Don't apply any pressure with your finger at first but as the string loses tension start applying pressure so that you won't have to re-tie the string to adjust it.
 
Md 25v said:
To make up for how soft the yucca spindle is, try holding the string under your index finger. Don't apply any pressure with your finger at first but as the string loses tension start applying pressure so that you won't have to re-tie the string to adjust it.
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That's my usual technique because the 550 cord always stretches some.

No pics because it was spur of the moment and done on the sidewalk in front of a waffle house...but I learned how well the Yucca will work with a firesteel also. I scraped a nice pile of fuzz with the knife edge at a 90 degree angle and then sliced off several thin slivers. Two strikes with a friends LMF scout model and I had flames. I sent a stalk home with him for him to experiment with.
 
I'm in Maryland
My M.O.S. (job code) in the Army was 25v
Forum name is combination of those two:D
 
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