Plant String Build Along

[swamp monkey]

I see questions about plant strings on PA’s website from time to time and I thought I might give back a little by posting my process for making plant cordage and my experience.  It may prompt others to share their experiences and have one solid thread full of good information in the “How to” section. 
In my area of US we have access to dogbane, stinging nettle and milkweeds.  I use common and marsh milkweed due to their fiber length but far prefer marsh milkweed over common due to ease of obtaining fiber and strength.  Any botanical text can give you ID specifics on these plants and others in your area such as yucca which makes good cordage for strings. 

[swamp monkey]

Collection: 
Dogbane lives in a variety of habitats and once you learn to identify it you will find it all over the place.  It is best collected November to March. 

Stinging nettle is a floodplain resident.  It should be collected after the first frost and before much rain falls on it. This does two things.  First, it lets the plant go to seed and second, it wilts some of the stinging trichomes that cause our skin to itch so terribly.   You can touch the stalks and leaves with the palm of your hand with no ill effects.  However, if those same plant parts touch the back of your hand or your arm you will itch for 20 minutes.   Trichomes convey an acid that irritates the skin.  Palm skin is too thick for the trichome to penetrate and cause stinging.  Any doubts? Then wear gloves.   In Missouri that time frame gives me about 2-3 months to collect the stalks before they begin to decline due to rotting.  Be sure to remove the leaves before bundling.

Milkweeds should be collected in autumn.  Make sure they are dry. 

Use a pocket knife for all of these plants or some hand trimmers to cut your stalks.  Bring a short hank of rope to bind your “bundle of switches” when you are ready to move on. 
Store in a dry location for a few weeks to ensure they are completely dry.

Ethics:  All three plants are perennial and have the active growing part of the plant near the base of the plant.  Thus, last year’s stalks will simply rot in place.  So you can collect 100% of the stalks after the growing season, without damaging the plant.  However, I find that some insects do bore into old dogbane stalks.  This encourages me to leave a third  of the stalks where they stand in any location to ensure whatever it is doing the boring, can complete its life cycle.  We are not the only ones who can use these plants!

[swamp monkey]

Making cordage: 
The process for dogbane and milkweed are identical.  I will use dogbane for the demo.  Then I will describe differences for nettle.  Stand by for news as I take some pictures of work this weekend.

I will use a wooden mallet, a "stalk splitting knife", and plenty of time. 

[raghorns]

Sounds great...I'll be watching

[swamp monkey]

Crushing the stalk: I use my wooden mallet (don’t covet my mallet fellas, envy looks bad on ya) to gently crush the stalk.  Easy does it on this.  Getting carried away will break fibers.  You just want this crushed open not pulverized. 

[swamp monkey]

Dividing the stalk in half:  once the stalk is properly crushed, next I place my “stalk separating knife” in an opening.  This amounts to a dull blade of hardwood.  I use dogwood because it gets smoother with wear but that is a personal preference.  Any old thin slice of wood will do.  Why use this?  I have made hundreds of feet of cordage like this and got tired of using my fingers to separate stalks only to get a section of plant pith jammed in my finger.  Pith is the portion of the stalk that provides rigidity to the stalk and is worthless for string making.  I used my pocket knife some but it cut fibers occasionally.  This wooden knife blade does not cut a thing.  It is just a simple wedge. 

[swamp monkey]

Separating the pith from the fiber: The pith needs to be totally removed.  This can be tedious at first but you will find your stride.   First I snap the stalk gently so the pith breaks but the fibers stay intact.  I place the stalk between my thumb and forefinger or between my index and middle finger, on one side of the pith break.  I continue to gently pull the fiber so it drags over my finger.  The fiber goes down with my pull and the pith spits straight up and out like it is coming from a PEZ dispenser.  Get the next piece and do it all over again.  Keep stray fibers that are not in the bundle or are in odd lengths.  Those will come in handy later. 

[swamp monkey]

Separating fibers continued: The idea is to keep the longest fibers you can.  Fiber can be stored in a box or container of your choice so long as it is dry and it will keep indefinitely.  I loop mine for easy storage and bind it in the middle with a scrap of twine sometimes and hang that hank of fiber on the back porch. 

This is the process that works for dogbane and milkweed.  This is a time consuming process but there is nothing hard about it.  If you are fixed indoors due to in-climate weather consider laying a tarp down and watching a movie while you process fiber.   I do this on the porch in spring and enjoy a nice day outside. The time passes quickly either way. 

Pith can be discarded.   The picture below was from an all-day cordage processing bender I went on.   It can be real satisfying to see a bone pile like that!  Fiber bundles or boxes of fiber take up less space to store and there is less mess as you move them around.

[swamp monkey]

Nettle fibers:  I did not find any nettle stalks so I can't provide pix of my process but the variations are simple.  I do not crush nettle stalks with a mallet.  The pith is not so brittle.  So instead I use a pocket knife and slice the stalk lengthwise in half.  Then I snap and pull the pith much like I do with the dogbane and milkweed stalks. 

I tried the retting process and was not happy with my results.  But admittedly I may not have done something right. 

[swamp monkey]

Prepping the fibers:


One last task is needed to get your fiber ready.  Rolling.  This removes bark and preps the fibers for what is to come.  The prep is not so much for the fiber as it is for your process.  Fiber halves are placed in your palm and vigorously rubbed between both palms.  Think of rubbing your palms together for warmth.  If you can do that you can prep the fibers.  Same process.  Just move the fibers up and down your palm so the whole bundle gets rolled.  The only twist is always have the right hand end farther forward than the left hand.  This not only removes bark but preps the fibers in the correct direction of the twist you will apply when making cordage.  Bark needs to be removed to improve strength of the cord.  Don’t worry about getting ALL of it off.  Just get most.  The remainder will come off as you reverse twist your cordage. 

[swamp monkey]

Reverse twist:
The TBB Vol. II goes into the “how” and “why” of cordage making so I will say more with pictures here. 

At this point all plant fibers are processed the exact same way. 

I will need to take some more pics.  It may be a few days before I get the whole process documented and posted.  Please be patient.

[ErictheViking]

Thanks for posting this, the string making chapter by Baker really intrigued me. I like to see different methods of making cordage.

[Pappy]

Thanks Swamp,I needed the picture of dogbane,I have done the cordage but it was always gave to me after cut,To lazy to look it up. 
   Pappy

[randman]

Nice build-along. I am following with great interest.

[swamp monkey]

Reverse Twist:

Again plenty exists on how to do this so I will document with pix.  Holler if you have questions. 

lay out rolled fibers.

To make a loop begin six inches in and begin reverse twisting.

after about an inch of cordage is made, loop the cordage section into a loop.  take the short ends and match up with a long end.  Then continue reverse twisting. 

Bark will be falling off as you work this and some fibers will be sticking out.  Don't worry about appearance just yet.  Shaggy will get a haircut with fire!