# Self Sufficiency/Living off the Land or Off the Grid > Making Stuff >  Rope making

## Dark786

:Smile:  (No rope no problem.)  Hey i just made a rope out of cattials the other day. I was wondering does any one have any good ideas for fiberious plants that i could use to weave rope.  The ones i have so far are cattials,jute,dogwood,and yucca. all ideas apperciated.

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## owl_girl

Thats awesome. I use small roots to tie branches together when Im making a shelter.

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## Nomad

I have used a grass that grows around here, dont know what it's called but it works good once i prep it. I wouldn't want to make a long rope though, takes too much time and i wouldn't have the patience.

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## Sarge47

> (No rope no problem.)  Hey i just made a rope out of cattials the other day. I was wondering does any one have any good ideas for fiberious plants that i could use to weave rope.  The ones i have so far are cattials,jute,dogwood,and yucca. all ideas apperciated.


Hemp seems to work very well :Stick Out Tongue:

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## wareagle69

i have tons of small willow shoots out behind my place smaller than my pinkie finger and about 5-10ft tall strip the bark and boil in charcoal and water for about and hour then braid three stands together and good to go.

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## Nomad

Yes, hemp works well but it always makes me feel funny!

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## spiritman

> Hemp seems to work very well


lol that must've took a lot of self control :Wink:

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## survivalhike

Hemp is a very strong and durable material that in many ways is far supirior to cotton as both a fabric and a rope material.  It has a higher strength to weight ratio, and is more cost effective to produce.  Plus, if you run out of your stash on a long trip you can always smoke your rope!  LOL

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## Dark786

LOL nice, ill try some of these i have used small shoots befor but not willow ill give that one ago tomorrow i got one growing out back.  i found a cool pattern for weaving jute into knife sheaths.  i heard some were insestons work for rope i never tried it though i stick to sinew when it comes to rope and animals intestons i save for sausegae.

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## RobertRogers

milkweed and stinging nettle too

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## Dark786

stining nettle really that could be interesting

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## survivalhike

What do you use for the bleeding after weaving a rope out of stinging nettle?

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## Dark786

I don't no like i said that could get interesting. dried finely crushed peppermint leaves will stop and clot bleeding, works well on razor cuts.

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## SemperParatus

The inner bark of dogbane (hemp family) twisted and layed into line makes great bowstrings. Its also strong and flexible enough for a small string to be used in making necklaces.

A more crude but faster line can be twisted from the bark off limbs of winged elm. They can easily be pulled off in very long lengths without damaging the tree if you use discretion.

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## flandersander

Just to add on to wareagle69's willow rope, you need to peel the underbark away from the brown or green overbark. there are several reasons why. one the outer bark adds rigidness to the rope when you want flexibility. i find there is no reason to have the overbark.

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## Bladesypher

Well.. I use stinging nettle. Its a great material for fishing lines (with hawthorn) and lashing things together, as well as just general string. Here's how to do it:

It's advised you use gloves.. although I do it without them.. it takes more patience but meh.. I dont get stung much  :Stick Out Tongue:  .

After picking the nettles take off all the leaves from the stalk so your left with the stalk itself. The fibres are on the outside. Red nettle stalk is tougher and grows in open-land. Flatten the stalk on a hard flat surface. Next open it up, leaving you with two layers: The pythe and the outer-fibre. Bend it (gently) so the pythe snaps up and a small portion of the fibre is left separated from it. Then place your index finger on one side and thumb on the other of the fibre then pull away, separating the fibre from the pythe. Now take a strand o the fibre and bend it in half, pinching the end with your fingers. Then lay it on your thigh in a crouched position and roll it into a string. If you want a long lasting string then you must dry the strands of fibre, the problem with this is it reduces to a hair's thickness, so you need many many fibres to make a long-term string or rope, you also need patience.

This method provides a very strong string/rope which can help in many situations.

 Hope I helped ^^

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## owl_girl

I made some rope yesterday out of stringy bark and it was really strong, I couldnt break it. I made some thinner ones too that were very strong also

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## Beo

That's awesome Owl-Girl, very nice work. How long is a lenght of it.

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## trax

Awesome work, owl_girl

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## Rick

Nice job!!

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## owl_girl

its only about a foot though the thiner one was longer, i could have made it 2 feet long but it was just a test to see how strong the bark was so i didnt bother

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## owl_girl

thanks guys  :Smile:

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## Beo

Nice, and good to see you back :Wink:

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## nell67

Nice job Owl-Girl!

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## omiboo22

> Hemp is a very strong and durable material that in many ways is far supirior to cotton as both a fabric and a rope material.  It has a higher strength to weight ratio, and is more cost effective to produce.  Plus, if you run out of your stash on a long trip you can always smoke your rope!  LOL


ha ha ha.  
i guess you are trying to be funny....but you cant smoke hemp.  it's comments like that that keeps hemp illegal and under-utilized.

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## crashdive123

Not quite sure how you figure that.  Maybe I’ll be able to figure it out if you head on over to the Introduction section and tell us a bit about yourself.

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## Ole WV Coot

> What do you use for the bleeding after weaving a rope out of stinging nettle?


That's where the hemp rope you made earlier comes in. :Wink:

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## Gray Wolf

> it's comments like that that keeps hemp illegal and under-utilized.


Not quite sure what you mean? I own hemp rope, shirts (short and long sleeve), shorts, long pants, key chains etc. I maybe wrong, but I think the only restriction is that the products be made out of the male plant. My hemp clothes I have get so much better with age and washings. They're are hemp festivals yearly that sell everything made of hemp.

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## Pict

(Start Chuck Berry music)  _Come on Baby...Let's do the Twist..._


Cordage making is sort of a nervous habit of mine. I find it very relaxing.  I'm always picking out lttle bits of stuff and twisting.  It embrasses my daughter to no end when I stop downtown to pull some plant apart and then make cord in the waiting room or something.

The materials I use are all South American but the twist for two ply cordage is the same.

_...It goes like this..._

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Buriti Palm.  The larger/thicker coil is actually a doubled up 4 strand rope I use for my overhead tarp long line when hammock camping.  The inner coil is set up as a large animal snare but I've never used it for that. The others are tarp corner ties or general purpose cord.

The Skookum Bush Tool is added for size reference/coolness factor.

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Detail of the loop on the animal snare.  This loop is woven back into the rope and then whipped with smaller cord to resist abrasion and hold the woven loop in tight.

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Eucalyptus Bark, outer coil.  Imbira Bark, inner coil.  The Imbira is much stronger cord used for things like bowstrings and traps.  The Eucalyptus is weaker but works for shelters or lashings.

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Sisal/Yucca - The fine line makes excellent fishing line or general purpose string.  The other is a sewing kit made from a Yucca thorn.  I then divided the tail and twisted it up into cord with its own needle.  Mac

(now just try to get "The Twist" out of your head for the rest of the day)

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## Rick

(humming tune) Nice work, Mac. I would imagine that hand made cordage is pretty common down there. Would that be true?

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## Gray Wolf

Mac, that Rod Garcia bush knife is one helluva tool! They're getting very expensive these days. Which steel did you choose for yours?

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## Pict

Rick,

Yes, you can buy it but it's relatively expensive, about $1 a meter.  I can buy the raw fibers for dirt cheap.  I have a big bag of the Buriti and Sisal to practice with.  I use that stuff for teaching cordage making.  I was given a roll of high quality handmade 3-ply coradge made by the Krikati indians up north.  That is about 100 meters long, the stuff is an inspiration.

Grey Wolf,

The SBT is awesome.  Mine is in A2.  One sharp knife.  Mac

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## Ryleyboy

Take a knife and slice the bark off a willow tree and use that to tie your shelter works well. And you can make it whatever distance you want.

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## your_comforting_company

odd thing, I stumbled upon mimosa (silktree) bark while looking for a spring stick for a snare. I was gonna peel a little bark off the end and when i started pulling it peeled off like skinning a snake and I was left with a piece of bark 5 feet long and about 3 inches wide. I divvied that up, scraped the papery layer and the green layer (much like yucca has) and just started twisting. pretty durable so far, but not tried any massive weight on it yet. anyone else tried it out? these things grow thick in the edges of fields down here. where there's 1 theres 20 right beside it. It is considered an invasive species so I dont mind trying more.

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## Airbus340

Pict,
Would you be so kind as to show a photo step by step pictorial on how you make that exactly, that is truly great craftsmanship. also well done owl girl.I recently went camping and used pine roots took three pieces of lodge pine about 6ft long, wrapped the root x2 , pushed it under the second wrap, wrapped it 1 last time, then pulled it tight through the centre of the 3 poles. I set it up as a fire tripod and attached a pot to the end hanging down in the center. When I was done for the night, covered it up with dirt using 2.4.8 rule, through a tarp around the tripod, created a tepee and the ground I covered with pine boughs and a layer of sphagnum moss and then clover, then a ground sheet and pad. It was a very comfortable throw together I must say. it rained abit but I stayed warm and dry. Thanks to the previous fire pit  :Smile: 

Rob L

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## crashdive123

> odd thing, I stumbled upon mimosa (silktree) bark while looking for a spring stick for a snare. I was gonna peel a little bark off the end and when i started pulling it peeled off like skinning a snake and I was left with a piece of bark 5 feet long and about 3 inches wide. I divvied that up, scraped the papery layer and the green layer (much like yucca has) and just started twisting. pretty durable so far, but not tried any massive weight on it yet. anyone else tried it out? these things grow thick in the edges of fields down here. where there's 1 theres 20 right beside it. It is considered an invasive species so I dont mind trying more.


How about twisting your way on over to the Introduction section and tell us a bit about yourself.  Thanks.  http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...splay.php?f=14

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## snakeman

tulip poplar bark is pretty strong but kind of hard to twist because it is flat. how do you use dogwood for cordage?

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