Net Making --- easier than it looks.

Several years ago I wanted to make basic fishing nets, so I went online and found a good place to order everything I need with reasonable shipping rates. One of my better ideas, too. Since then, I have made all kinds of nets from cargo nets out of sisal to fishing nets with the waxed nylon thread from the company I deal with. http://www.jannsnetcraft.com Regular nylon thread from Home Depot doesn't work too well. It unknots itself within a day or two. Natural sisal, jute, or cotton cordage works great.

One thing I like about nets over bulky containers is that they fold up into a small bundle, yet can be spread out to be very effective in carrying everything from yourself in the form of a hammock to being wrapped around something to help carry it and hold it. Turtle traps are easier to carry into the wild when they are in the form of a net. In the movie Predator, Arnold tried to catch that big rascal of a space alien with one.

I've made dip nets from the thinly shredded pieces of green yucca to the dried out cordage of one. A basic width of one inch is a good width to catch any fish or frog worth keeping for food. Currently, I'm making a throw net for minnows and shad to use for bait when I fish for catfish. Mine's about six foot in diameter and strong. Can be substituted to carry anything else I want it to carry, too.

If you want to learn a really good bushcraft (after learning how to make cordage), learn how to make a basic rectangle net fifteen feet long and three feet tall. From there you can make turtletraps, dip nets, minnow or small game throw nets, to hammocks to laze around in with a fully belly. Just a suggestion.

Very cool. I never put much thought into net making, though I'm always looking for more multi-purpose items. Thanks.

Thanks for the details into Net making. Though I never required to make a Net but I learned the tricks from your details.

Nets can also make nice frame work for shelters. They really are very simple to make, i could teach someone how to in 5 min

Shame you can't upload a video showing how you make them. I'd really be interested in seeing how they're made. I'm much more a visual learner.

Thanks for the information. I never thought about making a net on your own. But actually since joining this forum I have learned a lot of neat little tricks.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mamab

Shame you can't upload a video showing how you make them. I'd really be interested in seeing how they're made. I'm much more a visual learner.

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Over at YouTube, you can put in fish net or something like it into their search engine and there is a video of someone making a net with huge string. Shows you how to basically use a shuttle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unc2m4s_6Z8 This is the link that might work. Sometimes these YouTube links don't work.

When I get the cable for my cellphone to connect to my computer, I'll video tape how to start and create the basic steps for a basic rectangle net.

http://www.jannsnetcraft.com/net-making sells a complete kit in net making with an easy to understand book. Has shuttles, gauges, and other items to make any kind of net you would want to make (nets, traps, and hammocks.) I order from them all the time when I need net making items. So far, they have been very reliable.

You gave me and idea. Thanks. I'm thinking about making a six foot hammock /minnow net. Mainly for a hammock but more netting and wider at the ends. Multi purpose. A five gallon bucket liner net would be nice too.

I'd upload a video but i don't have the stuff to do it right now. that Youtube thing might work.

I looked at that youtube one and there is a less complicated way to go about it. I don't even know what those things he was using were.

He was using a shuttle from which he pulls off the cord to make that huge net he was making and he was using another shuttle as his gauge. I often use my shuttles as gauges, too. The gauge keeps the net loop even in size. When you get really good at it, you can use your index finger as a gauge.

You push the shuttle holding the string through the loop (from the front for beginners) and come back full around the bottom of the loop from the outside and then you close the loop to tighten the string at the base on the inside of the loop. The string inside the loop acts like a brake of sorts to stop the string from slipping off the end of the loop after it is tightened. I often double knot mine when using a light thread to make cast nets so there is no way the loop will slip up or off. You do that hundreds of times and you have a net. Do it thousands of times and you can go shrimping in the Gulf of Mexico with your net.

I found a good link that has an illustration on making a basic net. This website has lots of good survival / primitive ideas with images to help get the idea across.

http://www.primitiveways.com/pomo_netting.html <---net making illustration link

I have made shuttles from one inch wide river cane with notches cut on each end to hold the string. The next time I find a turtle shell, I want to make one or two from it. It will have a bit of a curve to it, but that's okay.

I appreciate the survival skill being taught...you just never know if and when you are going to need to make cord, rope or net...but pantyhose is like duct tape, flint, leatherman and paracord...don't leave home without it!

A few pairs of pantyhose are essential survival gear...the bigger the better...and I like natural as it tends to camouflage better for the uses below.

They are super lightweight and compress well into any nook or cranny...they can also be spread across two sticks as netting to catch frogs, snakes, turtles, mudbugs or even small minnows near shore...can strain mucky water, or be used to squeeze water from moss...will carry almost anything...tie almost anything...act as bandages, tourniquets or splints...are good bug netting for your face or arms...will keep you warm under your fleece or pants...and if you are really good, even snare a bird or rodent!

But pantyhose won't last forever...whereas tough sisal or jute rope takes a beating and only gets better as it wears in...thanks again for the YouTube link!

Panty hose is great for wrapping around chicken livers and holding them on a fishhook. You can make a dandy weapon from one, too. Just drop an egg-sized rock into the toe and swing away. You can pull a black one over your head and use it as breathable camo.

The only thing with the rock is to make sure that it doesn't have any really sharp edges that could slice through the stocking.

I've never heard of people using panty hose for survival but it makes a lot of sense. I have heard that they can prevent getting stung by jellyfish if your wearing them and wading through water that has jellyfish. anyway thats cool stuff. An maybe i'll make a video eventually on how to make a net a different way without tools sometime soonish.

I've pretty much have come to the conclusion that survival isn't so much using primitive things to build a fire, get game animals in the steam pit, or filter water using sand and charcoal, but using whatever is on hand with efficiency.

When primitive societies have been discovered, by that I mean, non-metal using societies living way off deep in some jungle somewhere, the first thing wanted by these primitive folk from their discoverers was the axe or machete followed by the belt knives and then on from there what they needed to make their hard life a little easier, i.e., matches, nylon cordage, and fishing hooks, etc. The primitive folk used what they had, but sought easier methods for the same end results. I think that is a natural bent to mankind's thinking. Use what you got, but find an easier way.

If there were nuclear strikes (like on the TV show Jericho)or a great national disaster effecting the whole nation the way Katrina did the Gulf Coast, I am fortunate enough to have enough survival skills and gear to survive, but would seek things to make my life a little easier. I could fashion a primitive bow and a dozen river cane arrows with bone tips, make cordage from yucca and dogbane, etc, build a water distiller, but if I found a rifle with ammo, I would take it to use.

What do you think about it? If America were to suddenly become like America on the TV show Jericho, would you stay with the primitive gear or have a blend of both modern and primitive equipment to survive till order is restored? Me, I would have a blend. I would keep my flint, steel, and charred organic matter to start fires, but wouldn't toss any BIC lighters I found either. I would make a primitive bow with as many arrows as I could make, if I got caught out without my rifle, but would make a great effort to get a modern firearm in my possession even if it was black powder (which I know how to use, too.)

yes it's good to blend whatever you can, if you have gas stove by all means, or if you have a lighter or a match, awesome! If you find a bottle that someone threw out in the woods, take advantage. you are right, it's a great idea to blend. I will say though that it is somewhat empowering to know how to survive without any gear, sometimes people are put in that position and knowing the skills needed to survive is priceless in those times. If one can think well and survive easy with nothing he will be way above his pears with even a small amount of gear.

It is empowering to go 100 percent natural, thinkfree3. I am blending my skills to lean towards 100 percent natural in the event I find myself with nothing more than the clothes on my back and nothing else. Fire and water are my first two main concerns. A good shelter, if the event is to last a while, will be last, but that depends on the weather (if an ice storm, it's the 1st priority.) Even a good leaf bed beats freezing to death if I find myself dropped off in the middle of the woods in the middle of winter.

http://www.stuartking.co.uk/articles...the_indian.jpg
bow lathe

The next time I find a tree that has been burned by lightning and is charred, I'm going to try and find which pieces of the charred wood I can get to burning like charred punk wood. I have discovered I can make fairly good sparks from two hard stones banged together after I break them in pieces to create sharp edges. I am going to make a bow drill after that to carve holes into friendly sap kind of trees (walnut, maple, hickory, and others not yet discovered) as a water source if I can't find a spring or if it doesn't rain. A bow drill is a handy tool to have in a survival pack. You will be able to drill holes, make fire, and make a wood lathe to shape arrows from large tree branches.

I am seriously thinking of making a small medicine bag to go around my neck that will have a piece of man-made flint and a creek flint piece (which creates large sparks) along with a couple of ounces of charred cloth securely wrapped in a piece of plastic. If I can find a piece of high carbon steel small enough go in the bag, I'll put a piece of that in there, too. A compressed bundle of shredded tinder wrapped in plastic (in the event it's dark and I can't find a suitable tinder to get a fire going) will also be in there. The flint piece would be large enough to make a small cutting edge.

I've been in enough cold, damp, and dark camps without a fire to know that my main want in the first 24 hours is fire balanced with a dry shelter. I can easily go 24 hours without water or food because I live in Mississippi and not out in the desert, but with fire making capability, I can make torches to move at night from 3 foot long and tightly bundled dry sticks. Pounded dead river cane (to break the segments so they don't explode when on fire) can be used, too, to make a torch. I can always build a wickiup or a huge (6 foot tall) leaf pile weighed down with dead tree branches for shelter. Tree saps make for quick energy drinks because of the high sugar content. Just know the right trees to tap first. Learn how to identify them in low light conditions, too.

I never go into the woods without a bic lighter and a jack knife. I've started fires without the lighter, and I've managed to use sharp rocks to cut things needing cutting just to see if I could, but I'd still rather have a bic lighter and a knife on me just in case.
BSM

awesome, never heard making a net as a hammock before. but what i just cant get is how to make good knots that will work well:(

i think that the word survival and primitive skills or bushcraft get intertwined to often, what most of us on this forum seem to be interested in is bushcraft, i think that most of us could survive a situation for 72 hours which is on average as long as it takes search and rescue to find us dead or alive, but yes even in a true survival scenario i would want the easiest method to conserve time and energy, if i had a lighter i would definitely use it to my advantage, the piece of mind that i carry with me into the bush is that i have my bushcraft skills so should my lighter fail i would not frett because i would have alternate ways of producing fire.


always be prepared

I agree. Most of us are interested in bushcraft. Thats the best because knowledge weighs nothing.

Yes but is Bush Craft ... ALL that this Form is all about I for one would hope not ... I love Bush Craft ...I Mean I LOVE IT .. But ??? There is more Wilderness and survival then just the primitive so ???What are we going to do to add.??? To the Form

I guess I agree with WE but where do you draw the line? Skills are skills. If you choose to live in suburbia and play in the woods that doesn't make you less qualified to live off the grid. Those that do live off grid simply have the experience to go with the knowledge (uh, not discounting that experience, by the way). Most of them lived in suburbia at one time or another and migrated to that life style.

So, to Smok's question, I don't see this as just a primitive forum. I don't see it as just an anything forum. I've picked up ideas and knowledge from you folks that allow me to better prepare my self and my home for a natural disaster, for example. Nothing primitive or wilderness about that. I hope I've shared some ideas as constructive along the short way.

In any case, I don't think it is as much about where you use your skills as it is about having the skills to use and being able to adapt them (and yourself) to the environment you find yourself in. Mother Nature isn't a bad lady. She isn't anything. She just is. It's all about taking the responsibility to learn and practice the skills necessary to deal with her on her terms. Ready Sarge? It's about being prepared.

Hello guys,
Regarding to this topic...
Few hours of free time, an Opinel Carbon no 9, a piece of cherry wood laying around... Let's make a net shuttle...
I newer tough that the back of the Opinel is so great in finishing (scraping) the wood, to smooth down edges...
Any opinions about the result?
PS (sorry my horrible English, please correct me if I wrote something wrong, or the sentence has a spooky structure)

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It is interesting to look at post for 2007....and in a lot of ways.....things haven't changed much.

If you are interested in cordage, and all thing made from cordage, including netting....might want to check out post by one of our members................asemery.....that has posted many threads over the years.

Some of his posts...
http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...archid=2097085

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Originally Posted by hunter63

It is interesting to look at post for 2007....and in a lot of ways.....things haven't changed much.

If you are interested in cordage, and all thing made from cordage, including netting....might want to check out post by one of our members................asemery.....that has posted many threads over the years.

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Thanks, I will check that!

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