Yucca is one of those wonderful plants that can provide you with a lot of daily needs. It's leaves are full of long fibers that can be cleaned fairly easily of plant matter. The flowers and fruits can be eaten, and soap can be obtained from the leaves as well. I thought I would show my way of processing the leaves into cordage. It's really easy but time consuming.
A flattish rock to pound with, a flat surface to scrape on, and a rock with a semi-sharp flat edge to scrape with.
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pound the leaves all over to break up the thick material that surrounds the fibers.
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Hold your rock at a little less than 90 degrees to the leaf. and draw it towards you. Work from the thick end toward the pointy end. The fibers along the outer edge of the leaves are a little shorter and they will pull backwards and make a mess if you go from tip-to-thick. I did this one backwards to show you the fibers being pulled against the grain. notice how some fibers are in the chaff. this is avoided almost entirely by going in the opposite direction
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now you can see the fibers on this side. don't scrape too hard or you'll tear the fibers. Flip the leaf over and scrape the other side in the same manner to expose the fibers.
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A pot of warm water will wash out any loose chaff that may have become tangled or stuck in with the fibers while you were working. stick them in the water and slosh them around. I accidentally discovered that this particular species LATHERS in the water. All of them contain saponins but this particular species seems to lather MORE than any of the others I've tried, like beargrass and adams needle, or even mound-lily.
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Once they are cleaned out, I like to dry them a little. I hang them on a clipboard to dry and in a few days I take them down, roll them in my hands to crumble any chaff that's left, then remoisten them before twining.
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For those of you who prefer more modern tools, you can replace the scraper with a dull knife or any other flat edged tool. you can replace the hammerstone with any other object flat enough to pound with. I prefer primitive tools, but the principles still apply with whatever tools you choose.
In a pinch you can eliminate the flat scraping surface and use your leg, but you will get wet and it will stain your clothing green.
I'll show pics of twisting into cordage when I have time to fool around with them later.
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