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nettle Fibre Strings

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mikekeswick:
I spent quite a long time experimenting with nettle strings last year. My problem was after retting I tried to get rid of the 'rubbish' by combing with a metal comb. As mentioned above all than did was snap the fibers. Even with very short fibers I still managed to make some strong strings. I've been waiting for them all year for them to be ready to harvest and now that i've seen the above info I can't wait! They don't sting if you just grab em....honest

toomanyknots:
"They don't sting if you just grab em....honest"

Ho ho ho, really!?! :) Those things sting me if I just hink about em. I've worn gloves and long sleaves AND just grab em AND go up the stalk like they say if you do it won't sting, and STILL get stung the crap out of me. You know they got certain species of nettle in other countrys that can kill you from gettin stung? Ya, about how to process, I tryed combing em too like flax and it did not work at all. I tryed stripping the fibers green and letting em dry, but that did not work at all either. So when they are done water retting will the pure fibers just separate with the other material? Do you have any experience/knowledge on field retting? That's what I wanna try...

alanesq:
Just a thought, but Google books search may have some useful info on this?
http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&rls=com.microsoft%3Aen-US&tbs=bks%3A1&q=retting+nettle&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

Phil Rees:
I had another look at the harvest today, they're still a little green so I'll leave them for about another two weeks .... in the mean time ...
I've spoken to acouple of people who've been involved in hand making linen from flax. They're reccommendation is that I treat the nettles as if they were flax. This means I have to make one or two bits of equipment.
First I have to make a "crusher".. imagine a old style paper cutting guillotine but with a blunt wooden blade. The dried retted stalks are crushed to break up the outer woody bark without damaging the internal fibres ...
Next I need to make a "scutcher or scutching knife" ... this is along flat wooden blade that's used to beat the stalks against a "scutching board" and remove the outer woody stem.
Finally I need to make a series of "hackles to comb out the fibres. The hackles are wooden blocks with nail teeth over which the fibres are drawn to comb out the fibres. I have to make a series of hackles with finer and finer teeth to give me a fine fibre that can be spun on a hand wheel.
 So it's off to the workshop for a day or two.

Jay:
This allsounds like fun but I'm a visual learner.  ??? Picks??youtube?? You guys are describing skills I need to learn.

Keep it coming.
Jay

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