Friday, September 9, 2011

Rope Making


Vines, grasses, rushes, barks, palms, and animal hairs can all be used to make rope or line. The stems of nettles make first-class ropes and those of honeysuckle can be twisted together to make tight lashings. The stronger the fiber, the stronger the rope. Some stiff fibers can be made flexible by steaming or warming. While pliable vines and other long plant stems can be used for short term purposes, they may become brittle as they dry out. A rope made from plant fibers that are twisted or plaited together will be more durable. The tendons from animal's legs also make good strings, but they tend to dry hard. Be creative! Keep your eyes open and do the best with what you can find.
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30 comments:

  1. DWeiSeptember 9, 2011 at 10:26 AM

    Aren't there specific techniques or methods to actually making the rope?

    Or is it as simple as twisting them around each other over and over?

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  2. doraSeptember 9, 2011 at 11:45 AM

    I wonder how strong the rope would be..i presume it would have to support your body weight?

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  3. AnonymousSeptember 9, 2011 at 11:52 AM

    I can make mine with my beard. :D

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  4. AnonymousSeptember 9, 2011 at 11:52 AM

    Never done this, but it seems like a cool trick.

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  5. my day in a sentenceSeptember 9, 2011 at 12:39 PM

    Looks hard. :D

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  6. MilkySeptember 9, 2011 at 12:55 PM

    Looks quite hard to do D;

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  7. OutcastSeptember 9, 2011 at 1:25 PM

    Interesting post buddy, as others have said this looks hard to do, very hard. Let's hope it's something I never need to try! Cool blog in general so I'm following you now for more stuff like this.

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  8. AstarothSeptember 9, 2011 at 1:27 PM

    Well, I've actually done this with vines but I'm not sure about other materials.

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  9. animestanSeptember 9, 2011 at 2:57 PM

    Cool, but I can't image actually find enough animal tendons to do something like that.

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  10. Max PowerSeptember 9, 2011 at 5:40 PM

    when all hell breaks loose your blog is going to come quite in handy

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  11. Come At Me BroSeptember 9, 2011 at 7:28 PM

    This is great!

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  12. GMSoccerPicksSeptember 9, 2011 at 8:49 PM

    braided palm tree leaves are great.

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  13. AlababiSeptember 9, 2011 at 10:11 PM

    haha, I'm the master of this skill. In my country ( Vietnam) we use the coconut fiber to make these ropes, and they are really robust like hell.

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  14. ShawSeptember 10, 2011 at 10:08 AM

    I remember being impressed when Tom Hanks did this in Castaway.

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  15. ShashSeptember 10, 2011 at 11:16 AM

    Now that's a tough one. If you got tender fingers, don't even think about it.

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  16. NeonSeptember 10, 2011 at 8:41 PM

    Do you think I would trust plants to hold my weight hanging down a cliff? D:

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  17. DouglasSeptember 11, 2011 at 3:24 AM

    And if you really give up, you can use your home-made rope to hang yourself! Win-win situation!

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  18. Enigmatic VaporSeptember 11, 2011 at 10:01 AM

    Interesting post!+Followed

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  19. BobSeptember 11, 2011 at 11:03 AM

    Interesting. Post about the technique used to actually make the rope would be cool too.

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  20. nowaysjSeptember 11, 2011 at 7:39 PM

    Just as a human I would like to point out. Rope is good.

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  21. JDCSeptember 12, 2011 at 4:57 AM

    Actually tried making my own rope from time to time, always turned out horrible. Maybe Ill try it again with this haha.

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  22. DSSeptember 12, 2011 at 5:08 AM

    id be the king of the camping trip!

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  23. A Beer for the ShowerSeptember 12, 2011 at 6:21 AM

    Too cool. I was just thinking about this a couple days ago, actually, thinking back about having recently watched Castaway. Not that I plan on dangling myself neckways from a cliff anytime soon, mind you.

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  24. ScrewsAndFeathersSeptember 12, 2011 at 7:50 AM

    Making a rope! Now that could actualyl prove useful! :)

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  25. FoxzeroSeptember 12, 2011 at 6:00 PM

    mmm even with your explanation still is not something really easy to do o.o i practiced a bit yet cannot do it well but still il manage to perfect it soon! thx for the info =3

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  26. AdamSeptember 12, 2011 at 7:55 PM

    That seems hard. Hopefully I get stranded near a home depot.

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  27. StyronSeptember 13, 2011 at 4:02 PM

    Thanks! now I can rope my targets and won't lose any money on chloroform! Hell Yeah!
    Uhm... This is not what it looks like... [cough] *runs away*

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  28. AlababiSeptember 13, 2011 at 6:23 PM

    where have you been Rob? Keep up the good posts please.

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  29. AnonymousSeptember 16, 2011 at 12:56 AM

    It must be extremely hard to make a rope! GREAT POST. Like always

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  30. JustinSeptember 16, 2011 at 1:42 AM

    rope can be made out of anything that you can get long enough i'm sure! i remember watching a mythbusters where they just happened to make a rope out of toilet paper... wtf!? right?

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