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dogbane bowstring

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Dictionary:
How long does it take richard?

RidgeRunner:
Richard: I have never been able to get dogbane fibers that clean.

Going to play around with scraping the outer "red" bark off today.

Thanks
Good Post :)
David

richardzane:
thanks RidgeRunner,
yep, i'm finding that simple rounded wood cabinet scraper does the job pretty well!

Dictionary,
harvesting the material, scraping stalks ,stripping fiber is what takes the longest...i'd recommend about 24 stalks for a bowstring..you may use less.
the twisting of the fiber into good cord takes Me a couple hours.
I twist it as TIGHT as I can and if i'm not happy with it....sometimes i'll UN-twist the string back and do some correcting.... so i'm kinda slow.

Dictionary:
So its just reverse twist?

Twist one bit of fibers, wrap over the other and repeat until you have an entire length of bowstring?

richardzane:
sounds right.
eventually you'll be twisting cord from everything in sight.
when we eat out,  i'll take two straw paper covers twist and make cord...
eventually you can make cord while you're walking in the woods

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