String

Regenerative & Transitional Technology Misc.
#11

If someone managed to make string from Himalayan Blackberry (the crazy big-thorned monster found all over western Cascadia) I would be very amazed and impressed.

Native Trailing Blackberry

http://christopher-olson.com/images/Coal%20Creek/11%20-%20Trailing%20Blackberry.JPG
http://www.ernieanderica.info/blue_blackberry_stem.JPG/blue_blackberry_stem-full;init:.JPG

Himalayan Blackberry

http://share3.esd105.wednet.edu/rsandelin/NWnature/Photos/Blackberry.jpg
http://www.weedmapper.org/rudi2picture.htm

#12

I’ve only helped make string with nettle…I was amazed at how strong and soft it is! Especially since I’ve sort of come to really dislike nettle, since my skin reacts really bad to it’s sting, and it always sort of jumps out at me somehow when I’m walking on trails…Making string with it maybe gave me a different relationship with the plant. I’d love to try the same thing with blackberry. String is so incredible because there’s so much you can do with it! I’ve been wanting to try to crochet some nettle string into a basket or something.

#13

I’ve mostly been working with yucca leaves for string. It’s not too bad, somewhat brittle and on the coarse side, but I have plenty of it available. My biggest problem is that my splices aren’t consistently strong. Not sure what I’m doing wrong.

#14

Actually the blackberry around here looks more like Himalayan than the other one…

It can be worked to string but takes some work… I cant compare it to anything else since I havnt tried other types of bushes.

You dont use the thick pieces, just the new green ones, they’re about a meter long and a few mm thick

#15

I’m going to have to try that, I didn’t think the new green growth of H. B was that strong.

But, even if that was not what you were talking about, I totally owe to you the great idea of using Trailing Blackberry for string. That should work fantastically well. Trailing Blackberry is very strong and very flexible, as I have discovered a few times when getting tangled in it. Several of them braided together would probably be really strong. The tiny thorns might be an asset in some situations (like when you need a lot of friction or hold), otherwise they could be removed. (Take a look at the photos of the Trailing Blackberry and how well it could adapt itself to making string.)

#16

i tried using himalayan black berry today and it really didn’t work very well. it wasn’t very flexible at all. maybe the pieces i used weren’t young and green enough but i didn’t have any luck. i also tried separating the fibers (using bigger pieces) to make into cordage and that didn’t work very well either. i’m going to use some trailing black berry tomorrow so we’ll see if that’s any easier to work with.

#17

I went out and tried some Trailing Blackberry today. TB is strong and pretty flexible, but when it gets actually bent, as in folded over, it becomes breakable in that spot – if I yanked it hard, it would not break unless it had been folded over, then it would break at that spot.

Then I tried braiding three pieces together and that resisted folding over and was strong, seemed like it would be usable as “rope” for some purposes.

Stinging Nettle used to be used for string and fiber purposes. It used to be used for making fishnets, in fact. It takes some processing (can’t just use the stems as is) and I don’t know just what the process is. I don’t have Stinging Nettle growing where I live, either, so can’t experiment. Hope Selkie can tell us more about this.

#18

I tried the himalayan bb today to no avail.I used the new growth and it just did not hold up.I did find some of the old dried up stems broke up into what seemed like good material for a tinder bundle.Ill try that out soon.

#19

If you or a neighbor grows Japanese honeysuckle, ai found that to make a decent cord all by itself, or the bark can be twined together. Also, if you happen to live in a warm area and have banana trees available, the leaves and “bark” of this make a better than average quality rope. Also hops and pretty much any milkweed and flax species, plus the commonly grown American Century Plant (Agave americana). (too list-ish for you? or would a list of all the good fiber plants be a good addition to this thread?)

#20

yes a list would be good and appreciated

#21

Chase that would be a freakin awsome idea

#22

Well so far we’ve got:
Trailing blackberry (insert binomial here)
Feral hemp (Cannabis sativa) [note: the word “cannabis” is the ancestor word of “canvas”]
Yucca (Yucca sp.)
Stinging nettle (Urtica sp.)
Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica)
Banana (Musa sp.)
Hops (Humulus lupulus, -japonicus)
Agave or Century plant (Agave sp.)
Milkweed (Asclepias sp.)
Flax (Linum sp.) [note: “line”, meaning cordage, originally refered to the flax plant]
Basket rush (Juncus textilis)

Feel free to add preparation info, new plants, any interesting things about each plant and how good a fiber or cordage source you think it is. Did ai mention new plants?

#23

this is good, once we have some more info in here this would be a great addition to the wiki

#24

western red cedar inner bark

#25

Want me to add preparation details? :wink:

#26

Well, my “braided rope” of Trailing Blackberry has become a bit brittle over the past couple of weeks as it has dried out, and I think it will continue to get more brittle as it ages. There probably are ways to process it so it lasts longer, but for now, I will just say that Trailing Blackberry, without any processing, can make a quick instant emergency string for short-term use, but don’t depend on it for long-term jobs.

#27

Cabbage Tree (Cordyline australis) known as TÄ« rākau or TÄ« kōuka in Maori language… “Ti tree” anyone ?

I’ve made alot of cordage out of this recently, its effin’ strong stuff.
Fibers are a good 30cm (centimeters. oh yea metrics for the win lol)

#28

I used to make cordage out of himalayaan blackberry stalks. Sometimes I would peel green fibers off of living stalks but it was easier to pull off sections of ‘field-retted’ fiber from dead stalks. The reason I stopped using them was the short fiber length. The entire cord was usually a constant splice. It worked alright but was just too labour intensive

#29

For a more “transition tech” way to get string: you can unravel your old sweaters or sweaters from a thrift store. Acrylic and other artificial fibers are pretty strong. I learned to unravel sweaters using this tutorial. It’s pretty comprehensive:

http://dawnprickett.blogspot.com/2008/01/recycling-sweaters-for-yarn.html

#30

cool info on reclaiming yarn starfish–thx for posting it.

reminds me of a book i read once–The Endless Steppe–in which a Polish girl and her capitalist family get shipped off in a cattle car to a Siberian labor camp during WWII. Kinda rewildy, they learn some excellent scrounging as well as ways to keep warm. She ends up unraveling sweaters and reknitting them on commission to feed herself and her family.