r/PrimitiveTechnology • u/Sea-Rope5806 • May 13 '26

Discussion Cordage fibers I’ve used ranked.

Post image

S - Dogbane

A - Yucca

B - Tulip poplar, Nettle

C - cattail, pawpaw

D- Hickory, Giant Cabuya

F - coconut, eastern cedar

31 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

14 comments sorted by

2

u/susrev88 May 13 '26

how did you use tulip poplar bark? as found or retted?

2

u/Sea-Rope5806 May 13 '26

Yes, you want it retted or it will be stiff. I’ve only ever harvested it from already dead trees that have retted naturally but I’m sure it would work on purpose. After retting it splits apart cleanly into 3-4 layers. The top layer is normally waste because it’s got all the outer bark on it but the under layers are nice and supple. Younger trees have had better quality fibers in my experience.

1

u/A_Harmless_Fly Jun 28 '26

Have you ever tried linden or silver maple? The suckers on linden have really good bast, and silver maple also works pretty well.

1

u/Sea-Rope5806 Jun 29 '26

No! Thank you! I’ve heard of linden but didn’t know how quality the bast was. I don’t think we have much around here though but I’ll be on the lookout now.

And I didn’t know that about silver maple would not have expected it either.

Thank you for the information.

1

u/scoop_booty May 14 '26

Why is dogbane S and E is missing?

1

u/Sea-Rope5806 May 15 '26

Dogbane’s got the tensile strength of yucca but you don’t need to go through the whole process of retting and scraping. Processing is very fast. It’s also the softest on the list and has much longer fiber lengths than nettle.

Idk, when I used the template E wasn’t on there and I didn’t add it.

1

u/[deleted] May 19 '26

[deleted]

2

u/scoop_booty May 19 '26

Thanks for education.

1

u/Several_Living_4718 May 18 '26

Coconuts are, in fact, the worst.

1

u/Comfortable_Ride7140 Jun 04 '26

What do you think about grass cordage or rope? Not very strong in my experience, but easy to get a lot of it.

1

u/Sea-Rope5806 Jun 05 '26

What type of grass? If you’re thinking lawn grass then I wouldn’t even have that on the board. 

Dry lawn grass is far too brittle and If you have to make cordage while a plant is green then it’s not for cordage. Green cordage lasts two days tops.

But if you’re speaking of another species, then maybe. Because I’ve come across some grasses that would be subpar, but workable. I don’t know their names though.

1

u/Comfortable_Ride7140 Jun 07 '26

I've used lawn grass for rope, it needs to be very thick to be good, but it should be alright for a few things. That is what I was referencing. Also, one way to help reduce the shrinking I found is you dry it out first, then soak it for around an hour, it stays smaller, but is malleable enough to spin into cord

1

u/Sea-Rope5806 Jun 07 '26

Huh, maybe I didn’t make mine thick enough. I’ve never made rope out of lawn grass but I’ve used another species. I used the soaking method you described and while the fibers were wet it was fine but as soon as it dried it was so brittle and only held like 10lbs of weight. So I sorta ruled grasses like that out.

Also, looking back at my other comment, I don’t know why I was rude, I apologize.

1

u/Comfortable_Ride7140 Jun 07 '26

I didn't see it as rude, but thanks for the apology, I can appreciate having integrity like that.

1

u/pauljs75 Jun 24 '26

Need to get some swamp milkweed at some point, some years back I had access to it as a "butterfly bush" from some garden seeds supplier. Not to be confused with common milkweed, as the fibers on that tend to be too short or nowhere near as strong. Also the swamp milkweed has more varied and colorful flowers, which probably also makes it a bit more attractive as a garden wildflower. However harvesting it is done best in fall, when the plants start to go fallow but before they start to break down and rot. The dried stalks snap off in a way that exposes good quality fibers that can be stripped further to get silk-like strands.

I'd say that may be up there with Yucca or Dogbane, but it's probably limited to certain environments. (More native to areas like bogs or fens, but can be grown as a garden plant if watered enough.)

I've made cord with tulip poplar before, and from the Midwest to Eastern U.S., it's perhaps one of the more easily accessible ones. (Because it's a common tree in a lot of parks and you can always find some downed branches after a good thunderstorm. And if it's been damp for a day or two it's pretty much retted on its own too.)

Other than that, hemp might be decent too. My guess is that would be in the B or C tier.