Has anyone made a nettle-fibre sling before?

If so, how was it handling wise? weight wise? Thoughts?

I am saying this because I am interested in acquiring some nettle yarn, and I'd like to have some opinions on it before making a purchase.

I've seen people make cord from nettle fibres - presumably once it's been used it'll be no different to any other natural cordage.

Ich hBe schon Schnüre aus Brennnessel hergestellt. Mir persönlich ist es für eine Schleuder zu weich. Aber es funktioniert sonst gut.

I want to try it some day, there are lots of nettles around. last time I tried retting to make fibers, the smell was terrible.

in traditional bowyers bible vol2 in bowstring materials the nettles are in the top5,  between high quality linen and normal quality linen.

try it  ;)
and give us feedback.

My usual sling is made with nettle-fiber. I like.
To do rope, many sites explain and it's easy.
With a string, I lift a 11 liters watering can. Nettle-fiber is solid.
With ten nettles, I can do one sling of 60 cm per strap. The pouch is in leather. And I can to throw slingstones of 150 g.
I maintain the sling with oil of flax.
I'll do some photos.

I have heard that fibres from Himalayan and European nettles can be stronger than linen, so I'd imagine that you could make some thin sling cords that can withstand a lot of punishment.

Sisal is probably tougher... but it is so rough that I dislike using it in a sling.

Edit: Unfortunately, I don't think I will be able to find nettles where I live. In my portion of Western Australia... Finding a nettle growing somewhere would mean that you don't have sand for soil!

after searching the web I found that retting nettles is not necessary to make good cordage! nice


TheJackinati wrote on May 23^rd, 2019 at 4:15am:

Sisal is probably tougher... but it is so rough that I dislike using it in a sling.

hemp, linen, nettles, ramie have the most strength per string mass.
sisal, jute, yucca and others have more mass for the same breaking strength.On the other hand these materials might have more abrasion resistance (important for slings).

until now linen has served me well , I'll try nettles out of curiosity.

Yes Sarosh. retting nettles is not necessary.
In spring, the fibres are wet and it's easy to take them. But summer withers the nettles and it's more difficult. So, retting  is possible just a small time.
I have a problem with my camera to take a photo. The sling is not spectacular but it's mine and I like it.
For safety, I twist the fibres one time to have a string ; and I twist this string another time to do a rope. The rope is stronger. And if there is a small flaw on the string, this second twist offset the problem.

I want to say more.
The properties of nettles are important for technology.
But the pleasure to sling with a homemade nettles sling is the same when you eat vegetables of your garden. There is no price.
A full pleasure.

@ TOMBELAINE

I know the feeling. Have made several yucca slings and have enough fiber stored away to make several more. Like food in a root cellar  :)

TOMBELAINE wrote on May 24^th, 2019 at 6:19am:

I want to say more. The properties of nettles are important for technology. But the pleasure to sling with a homemade nettles sling is the same when you eat vegetables of your garden. There is no price. A full pleasure.

Yes!

i want to make sure these are nettles. They sting like hell but they have these big fluffy balls, maybe they are a different species?

i tried some they are too humid and weak right now , i think i'll wait until late summer

PS: why are the pictures rotated? :-?

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Don't think you have nettles. Nettle leaves are situated opposite on the stem.  The flowers are tiny and petalless in loose stringy clusters. Think you have something in the Loassa family.  :-/

Stinging nettle (Urtica dioica)

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ok I think I found it.
It's probably Urtica pilulifera.

Yeah, looks like it.

Hi Walter,
It's the first time I see this nettle. I have learned something. In France, it grows in the South, and I live in north.

My camera is good today, so a photo of my sling. Nothing very spectacular but it is made with nettles.

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@ TOMBELAINE

how long are the fibres you get from a nettle plant?
I tried and it seems they get cut at the nodes of the plant

Hello Sarosh,
To have 80 cm of fibres, I cut a nettle of more 1 meter.
To take off the fibres, it's necessary
1) to crush the node,
2) to crack the stem.
A photo is better than my English.

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At right, this is the fibres. I wait 1 month to the fibres are dry.
I twist 2 meters of string, and I re-twist this string to have about 0.70/0.80 meter of rope with a diameter of 4 mm.

:) It is easy.

I've watched instructions on how to properly get the fibers out of this plant and will definitely give this a try the coming months. Nettles are very prominent here.

I still want to be able to make a sling if I had no synthetic cordage available and this super common and useful plant seems to be the best for it, regarding where I live.

I got to collecting some nettles today and extracted a little fibre.
I used the little fibre for quickly tying some feathers to an arrow in progress . That worked like a charm.
I am a little busy at the moment but I think in the coming weeks I will be able to collect a lot more of this wonderful useful stuff.

First I will use it for more fletchings, then I will make a sling out of it, and eventually a bow string.

Making cordage from natural material is probably one of the best bushcraft skills one can have.

My experience with nettle was that it’s very strong but all the fibers break at the nodes. Maybe you guys are using a different species. Milkweed produces fantastic fibers that were super fine and great for spinning.

Hello,
Morphy, it's necessary to crush the nodes before take off the fibers. If you don't do that, the fibers break when you take off them.
But maybe, there are different species ? I don't know.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQHvqWCN5Eo

Ray Mears has a good video on nettle fibres.

TOMBELAINE wrote on May 31^st, 2020 at 3:17am:

Hello, Morphy, it's necessary to crush the nodes before take off the fibers. If you don't do that, the fibers break when you take off them. But maybe, there are different species ? I don't know.

Thanks for the advice. I could’ve sworn I crushed the nodes (carefully) but no luck. Unfortunately I don’t know of any nettles around here because I would really like to give it another shot. Seems like great fiber.

My fibres dont break at the nodes. Dont crush the stem too hard, just tap slightly so it crushes but the pit stays somewhat intact. You can then simply pull the pit out and you will be left with the fibres.

First beginning of a nettle twine.
it is already very strong.
Goodbye store bought cord

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Hello Jauke,
Easy or difficult ?
For encourage if members want to try.
:-/

Perhaps this would be of interest:

http://www.omnia.ie/index.php?navigation_function=2&navigation_item=%2F91619%2FSMVK_EM_objekt_1017111&repid=1

I once made something similar and seems like it would be a good design, also I have seen a few of these on the internet

TOMBELAINE wrote on Jun 9^th, 2020 at 12:24pm:

Hello Jauke, Easy or difficult ? For encourage if members want to try. :-/

So far it is turning out much better than I expected. Easy, it just takes patience to remove as much of the green stuff.
I think the nettles here are of good stock.
In about 2 weeks time I will post my sling  ;)

I've been eyeing up some nettles in the local area. They're still a little short so I'm waiting another week or so before I go get them to really maximise the length of the strands. Excited to get started on it :D

Kick wrote on Jun 9^th, 2020 at 4:27pm:

I've been eyeing up some nettles in the local area. They're still a little short so I'm waiting another week or so before I go get them to really maximise the length of the strands. Excited to get started on it :D

Actually I don't mind the short fibres. After cleaning it up most of my fibres are maybe 25 cm max.
I roll them on my pants. Then I roll them into the twine, than I roll the twine around itself doing the twisty thing, than I twist the twisty thing around itself. Very strong.

I also stopped crushing the stems, I just debark them with my finger nails. The nettles here are strong and thick. I do ocassionally get stung. And I run over the greeny bits with a butter knife on a smooth rubber mat, this seems to reduce the fibres breaking when cleaning them with the butter knife.I try to make the fibres as white as possible but there is some greenery left. Will see how it turns out.

Thanks for the tips!

Kick wrote on Jun 9^th, 2020 at 4:45pm:

Thanks for the tips!

Also, I cut the nettle as low as possible to the root. Where the root is, the pit is almost made of wood. There the outer bark with the fibres lets loose easily. You can make the start.
First I run over it with some gloves to remove the leaves and stings.
Then I use my nails to debark, starting at the thickest bottom section. Get as much as possible, than slowly pull it all together downards till u get to the first node. At the node, pull slowly but with a lot of torgue so it doesn't break at the nodes, but as you continue pulling the outer skin downwards, it will get less and less because some of the outer skin gets stuck at the nodes. It's not so big a deal though. You might peel those off after and add it to the bunch or try to take them as you go.

The unprocessed outer bark with the fibers on the inside seem to give a higher yield after 24hours of drying. I can also just peel the fibers off and clean them with my finger nails now instead of scraping them with a butter knife and they are less likely to break.

The tiny batches of unusuable fiber is also very nice to chew on, it's like a vegetable chewing gum that removes plague

Well 2m of twine a day is unrealistic unless you really were dedicated, yesterday I did 1m and today I did about 80cm.
So it's going to take me about 20 days give or take before I have enough for a decent sling.

In the mean time I like to use the leftofers to make nettle tea, tastes pretty decent  :)

AncientCraftwork wrote on Jun 10^th, 2020 at 2:52pm:

Well 2m of twine a day is unrealistic unless you really were dedicated, yesterday I did 1m and today I did about 80cm. So it's going to take me about 20 days give or take before I have enough for a decent sling. In the mean time I like to use the leftofers to make nettle tea, tastes pretty decent  :)

How are you making the twine? I find the method Primitive Technology uses in his sling video to be quite quick and efficient. 3-ply is my favourite to make by hand though, as it feels like real cord.
I love nettle tea, drink it quite regularly actually.

Archaic Arms wrote on Jun 10^th, 2020 at 9:43pm:

AncientCraftwork wrote on Jun 10th, 2020 at 2:52pm: Well 2m of twine a day is unrealistic unless you really were dedicated, yesterday I did 1m and today I did about 80cm. So it's going to take me about 20 days give or take before I have enough for a decent sling. In the mean time I like to use the leftofers to make nettle tea, tastes pretty decent  :) How are you making the twine? I find the method Primitive Technology uses in his sling video to be quite quick and efficient. 3-ply is my favourite to make by hand though, as it feels like real cord. I love nettle tea, drink it quite regularly actually.

The sling Primitive Technology made is not good and no what I aspire mine to be. It's made too quickly with too rough fibres. Those knots near at the ends of pouch will not give a clean release. But a good try.

I do a two ply twine and this twine I will twist around itself into a thicker two ply and maybe another time. I will weave the pouch with a twine from the first step ( the thinnest )

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AncientCraftwork wrote on Jun 11^th, 2020 at 2:53am:

The sling Primitive Technology made is not good and no what I aspire mine to be. It's made too quickly with too rough fibres. Those knots near at the ends of pouch will not give a clean release. But a good try. I do a two ply twine and this twine I will twist around itself into a thicker two ply and maybe another time. I will weave the pouch with a twine from the first step ( the thinnest )

Haha yes I agree the sling was hastily made and not very good, but what I mean't was merely the method he uses for twisting the cords. (I've seen some rather bad twine-making  techniques that contrast this)

Here are the beginnings of a nettle sling, with a diameter of around 5-6mm. As you can see, there is still some greenery in this cord.
This is plenty strong, but I decided to take more patience and now let the stems dry out in the sun, before I will continue.

I am very pleased by how it is going to far, this cord is very supple and has a nice feel to it and it doesn't stretch much. However, it is not as refined yet as I can make it. I am 100% confident a very decent sling can be made from it, at least to the standards of store bought jute, maybe that of store bought hemp, probably better if you really get high purities.

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Hello Jauke
Very nice job but check that the water loss loosens your spinning.

I made a sling out of the nettles I had so far

Here's some new thoughts on using nettles

-  Dry the stems in a bundle in the sun for a few weeks before using them
-  Once dried split them in halve with your nail or knife, now you can easily crack out the pit from the fibre
- The fibres are now plenty strong, you don't need to process them any further except twist them into rope

This is the quickest method. If you have good nettles (bigger the better imo) and they have dried for a few weeks, you can then process the fibre easily and if you spend 5/6 hours or so you can easily get 10 meters of decent thickness twine that can be twisted into a sling in a matter of a few hours.

Processing wet nettles and their fibre takes a lot more time and is not something I am gonna do again, better to let them dry.

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It slings nice...throws as well as my other split pouches of machine fibre. The cords are quite thin but they are confident. They feel more  wear resistant than hempen cords of this size. I am gonna continue making more and better nettle slings in the future.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjIlknbfUug&feature=youtu.be

@ Jauke

Thanks for taking the time to share this.
I have been growing dogbane for several years now and getting some fiber, but not enough to be worth the time and effort. Going to give nettle a try.

I would like to see a braided balearic sling from nettles one day, but it would take a lot more time and effort

I like the 2 ply, so easy to make. For a proper length sling just get 10 meters of twine ( I used less, my sling is short)
fold it in halve, twine it into a rope, then cut the rope in halve and just splice it together to form a split pouch. Whip and maybe sew the splices at the pouch with a thin piece of nettle twine. Now you have a working split pouch. Stitch some leather on it and it's almost a faux Balearic split pouch. They won't be as refined as a Balearic but my guess is 5-10 times less time to make and they work almost as good. Plus if it breakes you can quickly de-ply it and make a new sling with new fibers in less than a day. This way you can have a nice natural sling that is easy to fix.

The hardest part is getting enough fibre. You have to process a few hundred nettles and its boring.  The fun part starts when you have enough to make a sling, then you can make any type of sling with it as long you have enough, I think this material is right up there with hemp if processed properly

That’s a neat looking sling my man. Well done. Anyone who’s processed fiber knows that probably took awhile. I would love to process a natural fiber sling completely primitively and then find a wild hive of bees to get the beeswax out of it for proper cord protection. And, if I could have one more wish, I would want to do it without getting stung to all hell.

I think some pine resin could be of use as well

Making a nettle rope is quite long. By cons, with 6 or 7 nettles, I make 1 meter of rope. Ideal for holding a leather pouch.

Morphy said :
I would want to do it without getting stung to all hell.
It's easy, and soon,I will make a short video

TOMBELAINE wrote on Jul 13^th, 2020 at 8:25am:

Morphy said : I would want to do it without getting stung to all hell. It's easy, and soon,I will make a short video

Run them through a flame or strip them with your hand. Still unless you have gloves you’re likely to get stung a bit.

My worst experience with nettles was some large variety up in the mountains. I got one sting from these things and it ached horribly for hours. Not a huge deal but definitely something I wouldn’t want to repeat.

Looking forward to the video! :)

Not a tutorial. Just an illustration to show.
I think that it's important to show for members who don't dare. They can try with only one nettle.
My videos are not perfect ; sorry.

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One month later, the fibers are dried.
The videos are not good but it's difficult with my small camera.
You can brush the fibers but that is not necessary.
I twist one time, and another more for safety.

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Bug with two videos : too large ?  :-[
But you can see a few very good website.
Voili-voilou like we say in France :
http://slinging.org/forum/yabbfiles/Attachments/DSCN4139.JPG
I hope that many of you try the challenge. If I succeed, all people can succeed

Fandabi Dozi on YouTube (great channel by the way mostly focusing on the Scottish Highlander of the 17th century; their kit, skills and weapons) just uploaded this video on a primitive fishing kit where he makes cord from nettles. Nothing new from the other posts but still good to see some more applications for nettle cordage:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0wbeWqyOP8

In this video, the essential is there to make rope with nettles..

Make a rope and you can make a sling!
In fact most of us ''making slings'' are rather ''assembling slings'' from premade rope/cord
The hardest part of true sling making in my opinion is gathering the fibre.
The assembling them into a sling part is the easy and fun part

AncientCraftwork wrote on Jul 28^th, 2020 at 6:56am:

Make a rope and you can make a sling! In fact most of us ''making slings'' are rather ''assembling slings'' from premade rope/cord The hardest part of true sling making in my opinion is gathering the fibre. The assembling them into a sling part is the easy and fun part

Gathering and processing the fiber into cordage. Absolutely unless you are making a fancy sling in which case it can be the other way around.

AncientCraftwork wrote on Jul 28^th, 2020 at 6:56am:

Make a rope and you can make a sling! In fact most of us ''making slings'' are rather ''assembling slings'' from premade rope/cord The hardest part of true sling making in my opinion is gathering the fibre. The assembling them into a sling part is the easy and fun part

I prefer to assemble my fancy slings from bags of potato chips :whistle:

I collected up around 25 nettles this morning, stripped them, broke them and separated out the fibres in about 2 hours. Went a lot quicker than I expected. I know the really slow part is still to come but getting the unprocessed fibre didn't take long at all. It's drying now but I'm thinking of getting some more tomorrow, maybe 30 or so more. Better to have too much fibre than not enough :D Any suggestions for uses of other parts of the plant? I now younger shoots can be eaten but can the leaves be used? I'm not a big fan of green tea but I've heard of nettle tea :D

Kick wrote on Jul 30^th, 2020 at 2:40pm:

I collected up around 25 nettles this morning, stripped them, broke them and separated out the fibres in about 2 hours. Went a lot quicker than I expected. I know the really slow part is still to come but getting the unprocessed fibre didn't take long at all. It's drying now but I'm thinking of getting some more tomorrow, maybe 30 or so more. Better to have too much fibre than not enough :D Any suggestions for uses of other parts of the plant? I now younger shoots can be eaten but can the leaves be used? I'm not a big fan of green tea but I've heard of nettle tea :D

Eat them raw. They are delicious. At least to me, that was always something I would pick on my way out fishing. Eat some nettle leaves, pull up some cattails to chew on and I was ready for my main course of small mouth bass.

Well, I've tried my hands out making a nettle sling. I've had to buy the cordage... unlike the awesome people over here who have way better soils.

Gotta say. Nettle is some amazing stuff to work with. Tough as all hell, but not abrasive on the hands like a certain fibre... Sisal, I'm looking at you here!

It can be abrasive I've found if you don't scrape the fibres and just use the fresh stuff you pull off the stem. Once it dries it can get quite pointy. I want to try scraping them to see if I can get something a bit smoother, but yeah it's great stuff.

I've managed to get together two nettle slings now. One is twined with just the simple pouch design, the other is braided split pouch. They both work great but I think I can do better on the braiding. It partly comes down to the material and it just won't be perfect when it's a natural, home processed material. Still, I really like it and it will actually be going off to the US as part of a trade. More to come!

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it is very similiar to hemp

I don't have any experience with hemp but I feel this is probably rougher. I didn't do almost any processing on it so it's pretty thick fibres.

Kick wrote on Aug 18^th, 2020 at 1:46pm:

I don't have any experience with hemp but I feel this is probably rougher. I didn't do almost any processing on it so it's pretty thick fibres.

The blisters on my index finger might disagree with you xD

Well with nettle you can get splinters so maybe it's rough in a different way :D I got a real bad one in my finger that I didn't even realise was there until the pus burst out... Yeah that was fun...

Pretty cool  [smiley=cool.gif] kick :)

Welcome in the nettle club  :D
More seriously, I agree : it's a good fiber. With a nice and wild aspect.

Thats awesome looking

Kick, please post another picture when it dries. I am curious how it holds up.

They're both about as dry as the're going to get I think. At least they aren't going to shrink anymore. They might get a bit browner.

Kick wrote on Aug 19^th, 2020 at 2:25pm:

They're both about as dry as the're going to get I think. At least they aren't going to shrink anymore. They might get a bit browner.

Right, when they brown up and age a bit. I'd be interested to see how flexible they still are, and if they become brittle at all.

I've been considering waxing them with beeswax but that would require finding the beeswax...

Kick wrote on Aug 20^th, 2020 at 7:32am:

I've been considering waxing them with beeswax but that would require finding the beeswax

Search at cosmetics stores (herbs, essential oils etc)

I have beeswax it's just buried under a pile of stuff :D

hahaha ;D

Do you know this link ?
http://www.nettlesfortextiles.org.uk/wp/
This man is awesome.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1648679398499874/

This facebook group has been really useful and the same guy is a member.

TOMBELAINE wrote on Aug 21^st, 2020 at 8:25am:

Do you know this link ? http://www.nettlesfortextiles.org.uk/wp/ This man is awesome.

I'm going to rearrange your words to complete my thought.

Man, this is awesome. :)

Thanks for sharing this. Great stuff. It's so interesting how there are so many plants that have continuous, usable fibers for textiles.

I've been collecting, processing, scraping and carding nettles and I finally got to the point I can spin it. Didn't turn out too bad :D It varies a LOT in thickness and quality but overall, I'm pretty happy with what I have so far. Since I took the photo I now have three layers wound onto the stick. Not sure how long it is but it's pretty long :D I'm thinking maybe a woven sling design or I might use this for a hat and wait until I have better quality fibre to make a REALLY nice sling. I've found the whole process fascinating and really fun. I've picked up a lot of new skills and, I have to say, it's so satisfying to start with a bunch of nettle stems and get to this point with actual useable thread that's surprisingly soft but pretty darn strong. Watch this space...

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...That's awesome. I want to do something similar with New Zealand Flax.

It's been a really fun process and it would be great to see what you come up with.

Kick, your work is very good and makes you want.

Thanks! I'm a complete beginner so I hope I can show that anyone can do this :D

Very nicely, and neatly done! Certainly a more refined material.
Couldn't you again braid the sling with loose fibre? or are you using this for something else?

Looks good!

Archaic Arms wrote on Sep 5^th, 2020 at 7:09pm:

Very nicely, and neatly done! Certainly a more refined material. Couldn't you again braid the sling with loose fibre? or are you using this for something else?

I am thinking of doing some more just with loose fibres but for now I'm trying to build up as much of this yarn as I can while I still have nettles to use :D I still have a lot of loose unscraped fibres and 47 nettles I haven't split yet and it seems spinning gives you a lot of material from not so much nettle so I should have a lot spare for braiding.