Results 1 to 11 of 11

Thread: Where can I buy bags of plant fiber to make cordage/rope?

  1. #1

    Default Where can I buy bags of plant fiber to make cordage/rope?

    Hi there!

    I'm doing a wilderness program, and I was wondering if I could buy bags of a plant fiber such as dogbane in order to make cordage/rope? What would it be called?



    Thanks!


  2. #2
    Administrator Rick's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Central Indiana
    Posts
    58,832

    Default

    You buy stuff in a wilderness program? You don't forage for stuff in a wilderness program? Interesting.

  3. #3
    Senior Member kyratshooter's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Location
    KY bluegrass region-the center of the universe
    Posts
    10,360

    Default

    Processing the fiber is part of the survival training experience and knowing how to twist cordage is of little use if you do not know how to obtain the fiber.

    If you wish to skip the first step of making cordage you can buy fibers of all kinds from most spinning and weaving craft suppliers.

    Wool and flax work especially well since spinning wool is actually making cordage on an industrial scale as is the working of flax into fiber.

    https://woolery.com/spinning-fibers/...ie-fibers.html

    Keep in mind that different cultures use different fibers and many primitive societies twist plain grass into usable rope. Many other cultures skip the making of cordage and use vines in place of rope.

    Personally, I am all over the use of "bank line" for most uses. You can buy about a mile of it for $10 at Walmart and quit worrying about twisting grass or pounding bark.
    If you didn't bring jerky what did I just eat?

  4. #4
    Senior Member Graf's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    Fenton, Michigan
    Posts
    358

    Default

    Get yourself some cat tail leaves or hickory bark. Better yet let the class get there own it will be real life
    Semper Paratus

  5. #5
    Senior Member hunter63's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    SE/SW Wisconsin
    Posts
    26,866

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by TimBinJin View Post
    Hi there!

    I'm doing a wilderness program, and I was wondering if I could buy bags of a plant fiber such as dogbane in order to make cordage/rope? What would it be called?



    Thanks!
    You know that really sounds odd,...Right.
    Anyway....
    https://www.etsystudio.com/listing/4...ds-indian-hemp
    Geezer Squad....Charter Member #1
    Evoking the 50 year old rule...
    First 50 years...worried about the small stuff...second 50 years....Not so much
    Member Wahoo Killer knives club....#27

  6. #6
    Ed edr730's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Location
    somewhere in n michigan
    Posts
    610

    Default

    Any place that makes cedar poles or cedar slab wood will have plenty of bark around that you can pull off long strands of the inside bark for cordage. You'll want the tough inside bark that is close to the outside bark. Most cordage material, and especially inside bark will need to be rolled in your hands to soften it or you'll just have real rough looking cordage. I'd just grab what you can find and bend, twist and roll the stalk in your hands to see what fibers you end up with.
    I just learned how to make cordage a few years ago through the internet, I made some from different natural materials and some long snatch straps from level loop carpet fibers too. I've known how to take bark off a tree to tie things together since I was a boy so thats what I do or I use pine roots which you can split if you want the roots to be more flexible. As a boy, I removed or loosened the bark to make whistles, flutes and bull whips or just used it to tie branches together . This time of year, you can grab a piece of willow bark at the base and pull upward and you should get about 4 feet of usable bark for "cordage" or lashing. Later in the summer you can only strip off about an inch or two and you will think it's impossible but you can still cut all the limbs off the sapling, split it in half and then peel the bark. Hickory is what my grandfather used when he made such things for us and it has some strong inside bark. Anyhow, cordage is good to know and was fun to learn, but it takes time and there are easier things to use if you only need to lash things together or make mats, baskets or whatever.

  7. #7
    Super Moderator crashdive123's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    North Florida
    Posts
    44,846

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by TimBinJin View Post
    Hi there!

    I'm doing a wilderness program, and I was wondering if I could buy bags of a plant fiber such as dogbane in order to make cordage/rope? What would it be called?



    Thanks!
    I'm not sure if you are teaching or taking, but in either case it may put a damper on the entire program. If you are teaching, your students will not have the experience of procuring the materials to make cordage. If you are taking then you will not have the knowledge and experience of gathering the materials.

    I reserve my purchases for cordage that is already made - tarred bank line, paracord, amsteel, etc.
    Can't Means Won't

    My Youtube Channel

  8. #8
    Senior Member hunter63's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    SE/SW Wisconsin
    Posts
    26,866

    Default

    I say "Drive by".........
    Geezer Squad....Charter Member #1
    Evoking the 50 year old rule...
    First 50 years...worried about the small stuff...second 50 years....Not so much
    Member Wahoo Killer knives club....#27

  9. #9
    Not a Mod finallyME's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    Utah
    Posts
    4,227

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Rick View Post
    You buy stuff in a wilderness program? You don't forage for stuff in a wilderness program? Interesting.
    Rick, it sounds a lot like a merit badge clinic at a summer camp. You give 4 hours for the merit badge to be completed. You have a 14-16 year old teaching it. They have to teach the whole merit badge, and have everyone in the class pass off the requirements, and try and keep the students entertained (half of whom don't want to be there). The cordage section is probably 10 minutes tops, where you just show them how to twist the stuff, and then have them try it out... and then move on to the next topic. In the end, no one learned anything and everyone gets a badge.
    I've taken a vow of poverty. To annoy me, send money.
    http://www.youtube.com/user/FinallyMe78?feature=mhee

  10. #10
    Senior Member hunter63's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    SE/SW Wisconsin
    Posts
    26,866

    Default

    That kinda the way things are going to be PC....and keep parents off your 6

    Guests can not see images in the messages. Please register in the forum.
    Geezer Squad....Charter Member #1
    Evoking the 50 year old rule...
    First 50 years...worried about the small stuff...second 50 years....Not so much
    Member Wahoo Killer knives club....#27

  11. #11

    Default

    Any Tractor supply or feed store. Just unravel the Jute twine and re-make it yourself. You can teach yourself how to do it in 10 minutes, from youtube vids, but it's a slow, laborious, arthritis-inducing pita to make more than a few yds of even thin cordage. To make a lot of heavy rope will take you a week, 12 hours per day, with almost no breaks of more than a very few minutes.

Tags for this Thread

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •