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Thread: Nettle cordage tips?..painful story

  1. #1
    Hobo
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    Nettle cordage tips?..painful story

    going to harvest some nettles at the weekend and have a go at making some improvised cordage. watching Ray mears do it makes it look terribly easy i suspect it will be anything but first time round... the really annoying part was how he processes the nettle stem at the start with bare hands and remove the leaves grasping it firmly!.. so the other week im out walking the hound in the local forest and i come across some lovely tall purple stalked nettles and im thinking right im gonna grasp the top of it firmly and pull a few leaves off..... AOUCH WTF****!!! (que a few swear words) ! my hand was throbbingfor a good 24hrs!!!. maybe im just a big jesse or bit sensitive to them, but does anyone have any good tips!!! apart from the obvious like wearing gloves. i find gloves quite restrictive to work in and i would imagine it would be very awkward with gloves especially when it comes to making the laid cordage.. and rolling it with your hands...


    any tips appreciated folks!

    save me poor hands.


  2. #2
    Alone in the Wilderness
    Join Date
    Oct 2013
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    1
    I've made a fair bit of nettle cordage in my time and here's how I process mine:

    To save all the pain I personally use an old rigger glove on one hand for removing the nettle from the ground and "de-stinging" it, grab the nettle right at the base and pull it out, I find that you can grab the root with bare hand and not have to worry too much about being stung.

    Holding really tightly I grip the stem with my gloved hand and pull upwards, this rips off the leaves from below and as it's working "with" the direction of the stingers there's less chance that they're gonna get stuck in the glove or anything, I do this a few times to get rid of the leaves. From this point on it's all bare hands.

    To get rid of the stingers on the actual stem a friend told me a trick a few years back and it's worked well for me so far and that's to use fire. In practice I use a lighter, run the flame up and down each part of the stem and you should hear little crackling sounds, this, from what I can tell, burns the tips of the stingers and renders them useless (in my experience anyway)

    From here I then just process as normal, there may be one or two stingers left but they won't be much of an issue

    Hope this helped a bit, let me know if anything was unclear

    Happy cordage making!

  3. #3
    Hobo
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    Quote Originally Posted by JoBadger View Post
    I've made a fair bit of nettle cordage in my time and here's how I process mine:

    To save all the pain I personally use an old rigger glove on one hand for removing the nettle from the ground and "de-stinging" it, grab the nettle right at the base and pull it out, I find that you can grab the root with bare hand and not have to worry too much about being stung.

    Holding really tightly I grip the stem with my gloved hand and pull upwards, this rips off the leaves from below and as it's working "with" the direction of the stingers there's less chance that they're gonna get stuck in the glove or anything, I do this a few times to get rid of the leaves. From this point on it's all bare hands.

    To get rid of the stingers on the actual stem a friend told me a trick a few years back and it's worked well for me so far and that's to use fire. In practice I use a lighter, run the flame up and down each part of the stem and you should hear little crackling sounds, this, from what I can tell, burns the tips of the stingers and renders them useless (in my experience anyway)

    From here I then just process as normal, there may be one or two stingers left but they won't be much of an issue

    Hope this helped a bit, let me know if anything was unclear

    Happy cordage making!
    Thanks for the advice and taking the time to reply. Ill let ya know how i get on!

  4. #4
    Wanderer Capsos's Avatar
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    Mar 2014
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    Coat your hands in clay or mud.

  5. #5
    Tribal Elder Tigger004's Avatar
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    May 2012
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    Raunds, Northamptonshire, NN9 6TW
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    Like already said, wilt them over a fire and they will become sting free, you do this to eat them too.
    Campfires are best shared with friends.

  6. #6
    Native Sylvanbilly's Avatar
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    Sep 2012
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    Quote Originally Posted by JoBadger View Post
    I've made a fair bit of nettle cordage in my time and here's how I process mine:

    To save all the pain I personally use an old rigger glove on one hand for removing the nettle from the ground and "de-stinging" it, grab the nettle right at the base and pull it out, I find that you can grab the root with bare hand and not have to worry too much about being stung.

    Holding really tightly I grip the stem with my gloved hand and pull upwards, this rips off the leaves from below and as it's working "with" the direction of the stingers there's less chance that they're gonna get stuck in the glove or anything, I do this a few times to get rid of the leaves. From this point on it's all bare hands.

    To get rid of the stingers on the actual stem a friend told me a trick a few years back and it's worked well for me so far and that's to use fire. In practice I use a lighter, run the flame up and down each part of the stem and you should hear little crackling sounds, this, from what I can tell, burns the tips of the stingers and renders them useless (in my experience anyway)

    From here I then just process as normal, there may be one or two stingers left but they won't be much of an issue

    Hope this helped a bit, let me know if anything was unclear

    Happy cordage making!
    +1
    Same here,
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