Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Ippus on September 04, 2015, 11:09:51 pm
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So... I was reading through the string chapter in TBB, and I got me thinking about trying to make some cordage.
I have a Siberian Husky who blows her undercoat roughly twice a year. I say roughly, because it's spread over about two months and at least that many marathon brushing/shedding sessions each spring and fall. But that's given me two sizeable garbage bags full of Husky fluff... I saved it with the vague idea that maybe I could find somebody to spin it or felt it for me and maybe make a hat or have my wife knit a sweater vest. ;)
Wikipedia says dog hair was the main fiber spun on the Northern American continent before the Spaniards introduced sheep. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiengora
So, I decided to try spinning a little myself, just by hand, and an hour or so and a couple misfires later, I had a pretty solid piece of reverse-twist dog hair cordage in front of me. It's about 18" long and maybe 3/16" thick. It weighs less than one gram, maybe .5 - can't even get my kitchen scale to register it.
(https://scontent-sea1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/t31.0-8/11168894_10153101828085382_2397914888685443360_o.jpg)
I read that horse hair string breaks pretty easily, but has anybody ever tried making a bow string out of dog hair?
If I can get the drop-spindle figured out, I could probably put together enough thread for a 14-ply flemish twist in no time, lol.
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Now that is cool. You'll have to do some strength tests and tell us the breaking point!
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I need to figure out the spindle and get a more consistent sample first, I think. :)
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That's awesome. How does it feel when you tug on it?
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Check this out, it may help speed things up a bit! http://sustainability.stackexchange.com/questions/1182/how-can-i-build-a-spinning-wheel
Patrick
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Feels pretty tight when I tug on the reverse-twisted stuff, but I haven't got the thickness/twist consistent on the single thread, yet.
Thanks for the link!
Also, I finally got around to weighing my stockpile, and I have about 1400g, a little over 3 lb of the stuff. As much as I'm getting per gram, I could probably make a couple miles of the single-ply thread...
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Yeah, so, funny story. I got a few more yards of single-ply twisted up yesterday, after I knocked together a drop-spindle, and started to get that figured out.
(https://scontent-sea1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/11896129_10153105234940382_5057532629429359739_n.jpg?oh=527c1e336319a48389cf517c89947ebd&oe=56AB0F83)
But...
A few years ago, I had an allergy scratch test that turned up a mild-to-moderate allergy to pet dander. Not enough to stop me living in a house with three house cats and a dog. But I'm thinking that hand-twisting the fibers must be releasing a lot more of the dander or something, because my eyes have not stopped watering since I started this project. Apparently my immune system does draw the line somewhere.
Add that to the cold I'm already fighting this weekend, and that is officially the end of the project.
I don't have the right equipment to card/comb it properly anyway. Maybe I can find somebody who'll make it into yarn for me. It'd probably still be okay to wear, I think it's just the spinning process that's really getting to me.
I suspect the fibers are too short to make much of a bowstring anyway.