dogbane bowstring

[Dictionary]

How long does it take richard?

[RidgeRunner]

Richard: I have never been able to get dogbane fibers that clean.

Going to play around with scraping the outer "red" bark off today.

Thanks
Good Post
David

[richardzane]

thanks RidgeRunner,
yep, i'm finding that simple rounded wood cabinet scraper does the job pretty well!

Dictionary,
harvesting the material, scraping stalks ,stripping fiber is what takes the longest...i'd recommend about 24 stalks for a bowstring..you may use less.
the twisting of the fiber into good cord takes Me a couple hours.
I twist it as TIGHT as I can and if i'm not happy with it....sometimes i'll UN-twist the string back and do some correcting.... so i'm kinda slow.

[Dictionary]

So its just reverse twist?

Twist one bit of fibers, wrap over the other and repeat until you have an entire length of bowstring?

[richardzane]

sounds right.
eventually you'll be twisting cord from everything in sight.
when we eat out,  i'll take two straw paper covers twist and make cord...
eventually you can make cord while you're walking in the woods

[RidgeRunner]

Richard:

I still need to work on the scraping some more.  Worked on it a bit yesterday.

And here I was thinking that I was the only persion that ever twisted up a straw cover.

David

[Dictionary]

What part of Alabama you from Ridgerunner?


So about now is the time to cut dogbane then being winter and all. Now i need to learn to identify it.

[richardzane]

heres a good pic. of dogbane in early summer...look for those red stems
http://www.kgnaturephotography.com/photos-wetland-plants/herbs-dicots-AD/slides/Apocynum-cannabinum-~-Indian-hemp-dogbane-1.html

[Onebowonder]

Just for a test, I stripped out some pieces of Wal-Mart plastic sack and twisted them into string and then rope.  I realize they are not exactly "primative", but I have found such stuff lying about in nearly every supposedly wild place I've had the opportunity to visit the last couple of years!

OneBow

[RidgeRunner]

Richard:
I scraped two of my stalks early yesterday.  Need to work on that some more.
It would seem from the pix that you have posted that your Dogbane has far more fiber in it than mine......

David

[richardzane]

David,
hmmm.... wonder if there various types?  this stuff i found and started making string before i even knew what it was.
Because it had pods like milkweed(though very slim)  , i was just calling it "milkweed" ( i guess dogbane IS a kind of milkweed)

[YosemiteBen]

@ Richard - Dogbane was originally called milk weed because of the milky sap, it is Apocynum cannabinium and is a different species than Milk weed which are Asclepias species.  The sap from the Asclepias species works well in getting rid of warts and both plants make very good string as you know.

@ every one else - when scraping dogbane do so carefully so you don't cut your fibers -  If you need or want some let me know - I got some to trade.

Ben