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Making Cordage From Yucca Fibers

Posted by Unknown Thursday, May 26, 2011 0 comments

Using this technique works the same for any thickness whether your making thin fishing line to full scale rope.

Take two bundles of Yucca fibers.

Take two ends of the bundles and place them together one on top of the other.

Hold the two crossed bundles in the left hand.

With the right hand, twist the top bundle away from your body.

With the right hand, grab the non-twisted bundle with your fingers.

With the right hand again, twist the two bundles rotating right hand towards your body.

Hold the bottom bundle between your fingers with the left hand to keep the two bundles separate.

Repeat these steps over and over until you have the length of cordage your looking for.

Finished.

How To Separate Yucca Fibers

Posted by Unknown 0 comments

The Yucca plant is one of the strongest fibers you can find in the wild. It's important that being too rough on the leaf will be costly. To get the most out of this plant, it's best to be gentle. The goal is to prepare strong strands for cordage.

First, you will need a Yucca leaf.

Next, you will need a club or stick.

Lightly hit the leaf from base to tip until it's bruised.

Rub the leaf to loosen the fibers.

Use the edge of the baton to scrape off the pulp.

At this point, you should start to see the fibers separate.

Gently pull the fibers apart by hand.

These strands can go a long way to be strong useful cordage. The finish to this process should look like the wiry strands below.

Laotian Bird Trap

Posted by Unknown Tuesday, May 24, 2011 1 comment

What You Need

1 large V stake
3 small toothpick stakes
Bait Stick
1 string with slipknots on each end with a toggle in the middle

Making Glue From Three Ingredients

The Bits of the Laotian Bird Trap

One hollow reed with bait. The two bigger sticks are placed in the ground to form an upside down V. Pine pitch glue and Yucca cordage are used to connect the bigger sticks to attain the upside down V. The three pegs make a triangle with the hollow reed in the middle. The string holds a small wooden toggle tied in the middle to provide leverage for the hollow reed to spring the trap.

All The Pieces Wrapped

Bait Stick

Note that the bait stick is made from a hollow reed. The penny is laid out to show scale. That hole on the left is designed for the hollow reed to be staked into the ground. Another reason to have the reed hollow is that the middle can be carved out and fitted with bait (seeds in this case). This one is glued together with pine pitch glue. The idea is to get the bird to peck at the bait and that first peck is what springs the trap.

The Trap is Set

In the picture below shows a small triangular setup with the bait stick in the middle of the triangle. Three pegs provide the three points. One peg goes through the hollow bait stick and is staked into the ground. Notice how the hoop of cordage is lax in the picture? That is because of the small wooden peg in the middle of the string provides a tight grip on one side of the string and this allows the other side to be loose.

The Rest of the Trap

This trap is spring loaded. Note how small the triangle is. The other end of the string is tight with tension while the triangle bit is loose. An important tip is that the string must be slightly angled in towards the sapling and not running straight up and down or angled outward. This added tension makes the trap more effective in making the snare work properly.

All That Is Required

Is a slight tap on the bait stick and the trap is sprung. It is very important to see that the noose line lays across the bait stick and not across the toggle. Otherwise the toggle will stop the noose from tightening.

It Should Be Noted...

This one is designed for birds but can be used for other small game. In a survival situation, this trap can be time consuming to make. This is designed to be used in such a way you will carry it with you and it is not recommended that you make these when you get lost. Make them before you trek into the woods. They weigh next to nothing and have a pre-baited bait stick.

Identifying Yucca Plant

Posted by Unknown Thursday, January 20, 2011 0 comments

The plant can be found in the USA from the south in Florida up to the north in Michigan and from the east in the Rockies all the way to the Atlantic ocean.

This plant is one of the most useful plants you can find.

This plant has sword like leaves with a sharp tip at the end. Twisting white stringy hairs on the side of the leaves come through to a flowering stalk that grows in the middle of the Yucca plant at certain times of the year. The flowers have drooping yellowish white petals.

The specific type of yucca plant shown here is called the "yucca filamentosa". The filamentosa part means there are little stringy hairs on the side of the leaf.

Petals can be eaten raw but it is recommended that they are cooked. The young flowering stalk can be cooked as an asparagus and eaten too. The leaves can be made into a very strong cordage when the fibers are separated from the fleshy part of the leaf. The flowering stalk is an excellent wood to be used to make a friction fire because the yucca wood has one of the lowest temperatures for catching a flame. This beats most types of wood. The root can be shaved and used as a soap to wash yourself, clothing, hair, raw hides, and so on.

Tip - If you can't find a Yucca filamentosa, you can find something that looks like it. My experience is that you can use that plant to make cordage from it as well.