Making Cordage from Nettles

[Grinstopher]

greetings from Germany. Nettle was used to make cloth since along time ago, but between 1918 and 1950, the Germans tried to use nettle on a commercial scale. Fairly large production sites developed westwards of Berlin in the area of the "Havelländisches Luch". They also cultivated the "fibra" variety of the common nettle with a fiber content of up to 15% as opposed to 5%. Due to difficulties in processing the plants on larger scales, the nettle industry never really reached a competitive stage. There have been some efforts in the 1990s, but nothing really came of it.

[sandrinakeffufal]

Wow I've been making cordage for years but this technique is so much quicker and easier - and easier to explain to others! Thank you so much for sharing :)

[archanth]

The best demonstration I've seen yet.

[LibellulaGlass]

Great explanation, thanks. Kids should have part of their education in the woods, put it in the National Curriculum!

[suoppsdn]

Thanks for sharing. Good to know this kind of stuff. A little different than other videos of the same information and I suppose better in away than the others I've seen. I might go out and try to make a bow, string and arrows just to see if I can make them

[Olhamo]

beautiful! so enjoyable, and so well-produced. loved it.

[seamusofoalain]

Great tip, i rate it, as i learned something, here is my 1st twines experience, but i will give this a go, and a mancunians humble thanks,
So thats a thanks from us manc's =)

[robinhood]

Interesting, thank you, all are great videos

[Claudiomarsantos]

Very very googe !!! The most clear cordage tha I saw . Thanks a lot !!!

[chanelname]

I yet haven't seen a video on youtube where they show how to finish the cordage!!! I assume simple knot at the end wouldn;t help!? Am I wrong?

[GodHasBeenGracious]

Cool, thanks! I guess since you went to the trouble of collecting them, you could go ahead and have cooked nettle leaves to eat when you were done :) 

[marca]

Interesting 💚🇬🇧🌱 what can't nettles do?

[SmokeNUFC]

about how long do you dry the fibers for before twisting it in to cord

[malachite]

I don't if I have the wrong plant or what but this one doesn't have fibers just the bark and some foam on the inside. Did all the work to harvest and remove the needles for nothing.

[primitivecraig]

Why do they make it when it's wet because it goes weird when it dries

[Ashhow]

Thanks for that, the technique I've been using was no way near as efficient!

[roncarpenter]

I grow nettles in a container, but mine don't look exactly like yours. Mine have fairly skinny leaves while yours are fatter. Is there a difference in the European and North American variety? Thanks for the helpful information.

[GrahamWalters]

My Grandad used to grasp nettles and strip them like that, then laugh when I tried to do it and stung myself !

[gildef]

It's so weird for me to watch this tutorial because I came up with the same technique when I was a kid. The only difference is that I used a braid pattern instead of the twisting one.

[zoehancock]

I liked everything about this, but in particular I liked the use of the word "woodcraft" at the end. In this country we have woods and woodcraft is what we can practice.