Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Primitive Skills => Topic started by: lebhuntfish on March 23, 2014, 02:00:40 am
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I've been wanting to make some corage from yucca fibers for a while, I think I understand the process. But I have never done it. I just acquired a large bag of yucca leaves from my brother-in-law's house from some plants he was wanting rid of. I know how to make bow strings from B50 but would ultimately like to make some from yucca. Any help or guidance would be great. I think I would be able to fumble through it. But some insight would be great. Thanks, Patrick.
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Patrick, have you checked out the "How To" section.
The process should be the same as for sinew, hemp, dog bane, other milkweeds and other cordage plants. I think the first part of the process is obtaining the filaments from the leaf. One way of doing this is called retting (sp). Basically it is a controlled rotting done by soaking in water until the fleshy parts of the leaves rot away leaving the filaments unscathed.
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Funny that you bring this up. I teach high school biology, and each year when we do botany I do a whole lesson on yucca. That was my lesson this last Friday. And then, as an encore, I did the same thing yesterday at a nature center in Arlington, TX.
I haven't used any special method for removing fibers, other than just scraping the surface with a knife blade to remove the epidermal layer, and then stripping out the fibers with my thumbnail. I am pretty certain there is a better way to do this, but it has sufficed for what I am doing. I just cord it like a two ply sinew bowstring. In a pinch this works pretty well, but I can only shoot about 20 arrows through the ones I've made, before the string breaks. I bet I haven't used a yucca string in about 20 years. When I was first making these, I was actually just practicing to make better sinew strings. Yucca strings can sure make your fingers raw if you don't wear finger tabs!
When you get one done, make sure to post your results. I am always interested in others experiences. By the way, you can also make nice baskets out of the stuff! Curtis
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I've done it pretty much the same way as tipi stuff, and my best one only lasted about 50 shots and that was on a 55# plains style bow.
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Thanks guys, I messed with it today when I got home. And was able to process out one leaf and make about 14" of reverse wrap cordage in about 20 min. I think i'm going to try making a 3 ply one. I think it would work better for a bow string.
How would I make the loops on the ends for a bow string? Would I just use an eye splice then serve it with some yucca fibers? How would you guys do it? I know some of you must use a natural fiber bow string.
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I did a video on how I make mine. I'd suggest coupling it with a turkish double loop.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePK2On2nk6A
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That's awesome primitivetim thank you terry much.