How To Make Natural Cordage From Willow Bark

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I spent some time with the amazing team over at Wilderness Pioneers based in beautiful Oxford (UK) learning different techniques for making natural cordage
In this video instructor Mark shows step by step how to make natural cordage from Willow bark
Please feel free to connect with Wilderness Pioneers:
= Subscribe to their KZbin channel - / @wildernesspioneers2325
= Like their Facebook fanpage - / wildernesspioneers
= Check out their Website - www.wildernesspioneers.co.uk
To watch the other videos in this series of natural cordage tutorials:
- How to make natural cordage from Cedar bark - • How To Make Natural Co...
- How to make natural cordage from Cedar root - • How To Make Natural Co...
- How to make natural cordage from Bramble - • How To Make Natural Co...
Hope you enjoy the video and as always I sincerely appreciate you watching
Peace
Zed
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Zed outdoors, Zedoutdoors,Bushcraft, Bush craft, Woodcraft, Wood craft, Survival, Historical lore, Primitive skills, Archery, Fishing, Navigation, Knives, Axes, Fire, Water, Shelter, Search and Rescue, Wildcamp, Wild camp, Nature, Edc. Prepping, Peparedness, Preps, Homesteading, Homestead, Organic, Environment, Mountain, Hiking, Hike, Trail, Ray mears, Bear grylls, Shtf, Teotwawki, Crafts, Woodworking, Wood working, Knife making, Knives, Blacksmith, Black smith, Green, Leather, Leather craft, Camping, Fire, Natural

[@clambarn1218]

Great video from gathering to finished product.

[@Zedoutdoors]

You are very kind thank you ~Peace~

[@VortymLichbane]

Loving your natural cordage series, Zed. Thanks for sharing the knowledge :-)

[@Zedoutdoors]

You are very kind Ed thank you ~Peace~

[@StarMountainHikes]

Who would have thought that making natural cordage would be so fascinating. Good stuff.

[@Zedoutdoors]

Me and you both, really makes you appreciate the resources around you more esp when you are able to fashion useful items out of it ~Peace~

[@MelanieRiley-lt2rl]

loving the videos . keep up the fantastic work x

[@Zedoutdoors]

You are very kind thank you! ~Peace~

[@TheRedhawke]

Another excellent learning video Zed. Thank you both.

[@Zedoutdoors]

Sincerely appreciate your kind words and for watching my friend thank you ~Peace~

[@WiltshireMan]

A very interesting series Zed. I look forward to seeing you put the chordage to use in your base camp. Sandy

[@Zedoutdoors]

Thank you Sandy, hope you're keeping well and the knife show went well for you and Lee ~Peace~

[@Ap13HELPjlb51]

Great video, Zed. Thanks so much for this instruction.

[@Zedoutdoors]

You are very kind thank you ~Peace~

[@NWIPrepper19113]

Great video. Thanks for sharing.

[@Zedoutdoors]

Thank you kindly my man ~Peace~

[@corvusduluth]

Another well done video, dense with instruction, presented in a manner easily understandable. Thank you Zed, and thanks to Mr. Mark.

[@Zedoutdoors]

Sincerely appreciate your kind words and for watching ~Peace~

[@MegaDapperman]

Great series. It will be interesting to see you put it into practice on your base camp build.

[@Zedoutdoors]

Thank you kindly, indeed having spent time with these guys learning natural cordage making i'm a lot more clearer now of the work involved for using it to build my basecamp ~Peace~

[@Joe_Sant]

Great video Zed. Mark seems a really nice fella. Great team at Wilderness Pioneers.

[@Zedoutdoors]

Marks a super cool guy with oodles of talent, better looking then me too ~Peace~

[@paganoutdoors3193]

awesome tutorial zed, they are cracking bunch of lads, definitely projects soon..

[@Zedoutdoors]

Aren't they just, appreciate your kind words and for watching Craig ~Peace~

[@foxxmulder7524]

It would be useful to know what the different types of willow tree look like, and where to find them.

[@Zedoutdoors]

Yes that would be a different video ~Peace~

[@jmgalaxytab2325]

Willow can always be found close to water, and the weeping willow is easy to recognise, also willow is a natural source of aspirine 😊

[@1darrenjunor]

enjoyed the video gonna be trying this out cheers guys

[@Zedoutdoors]

Thank you kindly ~Peace~

[@stephenrichardsonmicro-adv4343]

Looking forward to seeing your cordage at your new base camp!

[@Zedoutdoors]

Thank you dude, got a lot of work on my hands! ~Peace~

[@miguelperez8373]

Thank you for showing your vidios a greeting from spain

[@Zedoutdoors]

Gracias my friend ~Peace~

[@TJackSurvival]

More great knowledge with outstanding videography.

[@Zedoutdoors]

Thank you kindly brother, Manse the guy in the video is the one I mentioned to you who heads out to the US for the primitive skills stuff ~Peace~

[@TJackSurvival]

Zed Outdoors outstanding! I hope to meet up with both of you!

[@SouthernRebelRanger]

Zed after you get all this cordage made you'll have enough rope to equip a windjammer! Another great video, keep them coming!

[@Zedoutdoors]

Ha! very true :) As always appreciate your kind words brother ~Peace~

[@twilightgardenspresentatio6384]

Southern Woodsman yes, build a windjammer!

[@Waldhandwerk]

Very good guys, best way.

[@Zedoutdoors]

Thank you kindly Sepp, have you made much natural cordage yourself? ~Peace~

[@Waldhandwerk]

Zed Outdoors Quite some yes. Willow and linden bast works very well. Have a nice evening!

[@myemail5990]

I take it you have all ready started making cord for your base camp as it takes a while to get a nice amount done. Looking forward to see what your cord will be used for at your base camp. enjoying these cordage short films.

[@Zedoutdoors]

You are very right, only after learning these techniques have I realised how much time this really takes. I'll be doing a certain amount at camp and will have no choice but to finish off at home in my spare time ~Peace~

[@NorwegianWoods]

Nice video Zed. I have read about cordage from willow bark. Cool to see how it is done. I am looking forward to see how you will implement this in your bushcraft base camp project :) Keep the good stuff coming - Martin

[@Zedoutdoors]

Thank you kindly Martin, cordage is something I have been wanting to learn for a long time so am happy to have finally learnt it. Hope you are keeping well my friend ~Peace~

[@WayneTheSeine]

Who needs salt and pepper with all that gravy? Amazing stuff. Your willow seems much different than ours here in the southern US but I understand the same can be done with our species as well. What a great channel....showcasing other peoples bushcraft skills. I am very new to this and it should keep me enthralled for some time. When the weather gets better I will have to give this a try. Thanks you for sharing such wonderful skills and helping to preserve humanities ingenious methods of staying alive in a world it seems we are not equipped to deal with other than by our wits.

[@Zedoutdoors]

Sincerely appreciate you watching and for your kind words my friend ~Peace~

[@garrettjohnston5153]

Good video thanks sir

[@Zedoutdoors]

You are very kind Garrett thank you ~Peace~

[@robertkirk4387]

I have made this before using the "our man Mears" method (don't we just love the guy) and it's a faff, however it is quite satisfying knowing that you have actually done it, I did not get to use it so I have no idea how long it would have lasted but I wish I had used it for a Knife lanyard or similar, Since losing my left thumb some years ago (fighting lions, tigers and bears don't you know??) tasks like this are quite impossible now as unintentional clumsiness is still very painful. So! another stunner Zed (as always) keep em coming and see you on the next one, Regards, your mate Bob.

[@Zedoutdoors]

Too right who doesn't like Uncle Ray and his informative videos. As always Mr Kirk appreciate your kind words and for watching ~Peace~

[@dutchcourage7312]

Hiya m8, turns out i use my list on youtube more than my favorites list, so it turned out i had already missed new episodes while i was hoping to get into your channel ... so I decided to just subscribe and make sure i keep up. Tnx for sharing this ... would also like to have you know that 'we' (us dutchies) use the Knotwillow (i think we may just cut the main trunk of the willow at an easy height ones it's established) From this 'knot' the willow will start to produce the 'sun shoots'. Then you cut those shoots off at the end the year, tie them together and dump them in a stream, the bark will then rot off during the winter, and the sugars will leech out. You take the shoots out in the spring, clean them all of in the stream (best is to keep them under water, but you can let them dry for easier storage, and you can use these shoots to weave baskets (best i think is to re-soak them so they are wet and easy to twist). The tree will produce new shoots during the year, and you cut them off at the end of the year and repeat the process. (you can even let them grow for a 2nd year to make pretty straight spears or broom sticks. harvest them earlier for really fine weaves, and the willow also make great arrows). Only think i am not sure of is if we use an actual knotted species or if the knot just comes from cutting the trunk and then cutting the shoots off every year, but as such this tree grew on the edge of every field next to the 'irrigation ditch/aka stream', and weaving was a summer activity after the sowing in spring, to keep income coming into the farm while the crops were growing...

[@Zedoutdoors]

I really appreciate you sharing that, Willow is such an incredible material to work with and so versatile too. Take care my friend and thank you once again ~Peace~

[@robertbritton5656]

Great video yes it was a little long but to be honest I preferred that and found it really informative great Vid Zed

[@Zedoutdoors]

Yeh i'm trying hard to shorten these videos so apologise for that, always hard editing as i'm afraid to miss important stuff out. Appreciate your kind words and for watching dude ~Peace~

[@Londonneur]

Zed Outdoors loving your very informative and content rich videos Zed. if I may offer a tip regarding getting the length down...? An ancient rule of thumb for filmmakers is "show don't tell". Cut anything that covers what is already shown. for example. You don't need the question, only the answer. keep em coming !

[@travismills610]

Awesome video. Could you tell me what you had said about the best time of year to peel the bark? I was having a little trouble understanding.

[@Zedoutdoors]

Thank you for your kind words, the best of time of year is usually around Spring when the sap starts to rise ~Peace~

[@rehoboth_farm]

Mark looks like one of those natives you were talking about in that cedar bark video.

[@Zedoutdoors]

Native to Oxford yes :) ~Peace~

[@rehoboth_farm]

@@Zedoutdoors LOL! Everybody's gotta be somewhere.

[@jmgalaxytab2325]

Does boiling the fibers in ashes and coal strengthen all sorts of fibers, or does this work "only" for willow? Great video and thnx for sharing!

[@Zedoutdoors]

Boiling the willow bark in ashe/lye solution helps break down the fibres and thank you for your kind words reg the video! ~Peace~

[@dianagardiner7581]

Can I do the ash bit in a slow cooker? I really hope so because I don't want to use my stew pot that I make food in. I use my slow cooker for dyeing in. Last year I made cordage with daffodil, dandelion and nettle - used it to tie up tomatoes etc. Thanks for the information.

[@Zedoutdoors]

Thank you for the kind words Diana and worth sourcing a cheap /. second hand pot that you don't mind roughing up ~Peace~

[@dutchcourage7312]

Rewatching this and it seems as though i didn't leave a comment ? ... i put a like in, but no comment /shrug ... so geesh Zed, you were so young back then ;)

[@Zedoutdoors]

As always I sincerely appreciate the kind words and the support from your goodself ...i've gotten more grey hairs since then ;) ~Peace~

[@dutchcourage7312]

@@Zedoutdoors same here m8, same here...

[@sumwan7787]

I was totally expecting to see Mance at the beginning haha. When are we going to see more of your new basecamp? I really want to see what you've done with the place :)

[@Zedoutdoors]

Manse had some time out on this one :) am heading to the basecamp the next few weekends so will be filming lots, had an ankle injury two months ago thats taking time to heal so is hampering my trips a lot recently. Appreciate you watching Chris ~Peace~

[@marwinleidekker1905]

Nice vid. Got me thinking, the peace of willow of which you harvested the bark would just about be long enough to make a suvrvival bow of. would you be able to use this cordage to act as a bowstring for that?

[@Zedoutdoors]

I'm not very knowledgable about bows so couldn't say but a good point to think about ~Peace~

[@Ovatione]

Another awesome video! How strong is that lye solution to work, i cant make so many fires here to get so many ashes. I can get lye at my work or the store. If it is too concentrated the lye will dissolve everything. Not very bushcrafty but i want to get on with it. The stick does not work to get the bark off, it will get too blunt too quickly and the knots in the wood makes it even harder. The back of the knife method works better in my opinion. Onelove

[@Zedoutdoors]

Indeed many techniques to remove bark, this is just the one these guys use, bare in mind though that they make a LOT of primitive tools and materials so the bark stripping stick works well for them otherwise he would not have shown it. None of these guys have had issues with Lye solution being too strong so I guess it's something you'll have to play around with. Take it easy dude ~Peace~

[@Texasbushboy]

Really educational Zed. Love this video. Do you happen to know what blade he was using to get the knot out? It has a slight curved tip.

[@Zedoutdoors]

Unfortunately I don't rememeber the name of the blade as this was filmed some time ago, so sorry! I've linked to Manse Instagram so maybe worth asking him on there ~Peace~

[@Texasbushboy]

Thanks buddy. Hope your doing well!!!

[@WalkWild]

We just made a video with lye solution also, making amadou 👍🏼 thanks for this Zed

[@Zedoutdoors]

Oh nice will definitely have to check that out, have yet to work properly with Amadou as it's such a versatile material ~Peace~

[@craigmooring2091]

I'm wondering if there's a reason he didn't use the reverse wrap method used in the earlier videos with other fibers. Is it because of some inherent difference in the willow bark fibers, or was it his personal preference or some other reason?

[@Zedoutdoors]

From what I know it was simply his preference, you are right as both techniques work just as fine ~Peace~

[@alexdewitt9814]

another great one zed! couple of questions: 1) What species of willow is that? goat willow? it's one I'm not familiar with as there isn't a lot of willow here in south Bucks and I always look for the willow with the long narrow leaves whereas that one had oval leaves. 2) Is boiling in lye equivalent to retting in water in terms of strength and durability? retting obviously takes a lot longer so I've shied away from it:) thanks

[@Zedoutdoors]

I'm not sure what species of Willow this was but it's definitely not Goat that much I do know, reg the Lye solution yes it's the equivalent of Retting to a degree. Boiling in Lye helps break down the protein in the Willow bark thus making it stronger and more malleable. Sincerely appreciate your kind words and for watching Alex thank you ~Peace~

[@genevahagelstein7933]

Could this bark be used for basket making in 3/4" or 1" pieces

[@Zedoutdoors]

Hi Geneva, indeed yes this same material can and be used for basket making ~Peace~

[@frederickmerle6412]

Why are all bushcraft videos in the UK made near International Airports? 😂 great video!

[@Zedoutdoors]

We have lots of airports! ;) ~Peace~

[@uberhabib]

Is ashe solution used for cordagemaking safe to touch, unlike lye solution used for soap? Is it not as potent?

[@Zedoutdoors]

Generally no from what I know ~Peace~

[@communitykino]

Could you make string for a bow and arrow from willow cordage?

[@Zedoutdoors]

Indeed you can and Manse (the instructor in the video) has made many ~Peace~

[@harrybouch7907]

Can you use the same process with ash bark?

[@Zedoutdoors]

Not with Ash bark but you can use the Ash fibres themselves for basket making, etc ...often referred to as Ash Splint work ~Peace~

[@harrybouch7907]

Zed Outdoors thanks man, I’ll check that out. Great channel by the way!

[@Makapida]

Wondering if I could use my spinning wheel to speed up the process...

[@Zedoutdoors]

It's definitely worth a try! ~Peace~

[@slhughes1267]

This stuff will eat your wheel alive. Most wheels today are meant for wool types. All plant material is highly abrasive. Something as tame as processed flax will chew through a steel orifice and flyer parts. You can imagine what this coarse stuff would do to it.

[@alexanderlively2729]

What kind of knife do they use?

[@Zedoutdoors]

Hi Alex in this video Mark was mainly using a Bilhook he made himself ~Peace~

[@maxrobertson4120]

Is this possible without adding ashes?

[@Zedoutdoors]

No adding ash is essential as it helps create an alkaline solution ~Peace~

[@onegreenev]

Use the boiled willow water for dying wool rather than tossing it out. How thin can you make the cordage?

[@Zedoutdoors]

We have no wool to dye hence throwing it out and easy to make more, you can make cordage about 2mm thick ~Peace~

[@trackerjacker0013]

I’m actually more interested in the blade being used.

[@Zedoutdoors]

Isn't it a beaut ~Peace~

[@trackerjacker0013]

@@Zedoutdoors that she is. Billhook?

[@zendoken5177]

Does the willow have better bark then other leaf-trees or just because its easy to peel off?

[@Zedoutdoors]

It's easier to peel off but other barks can be used too such as Elm, Lime, etc ~Peace~

[@rxkern]

I'm liking it too, however it seems a bit long and have to admit to watching the entire video while fast forwarding. I'm a subscriber and enjoy the content, just a bit long imo. Thanks again for taking the time to do all this!

[@Zedoutdoors]

Recording tutorials its tough as when I try speeding this up folk complain that i'm skipping parts / not showing the process properly. One of them things where i'm dammed if I do and dammed if I don't. Apologise for the length of these videos as still trying to refine my filming / editing process ~Peace~

[@lamb7]

reid kern I

[@KPSDISCIPLESHIP]

hay partner you care if I get some stickers from ya

[@Zedoutdoors]

Hey dude how goes it, you referring to velcro style patches? ~Peace~

[@johnstewart8849]

We need 40 feet by noon...

[@Zedoutdoors]

Ha! no pressure then ;) ~Peace~

[@marcellawynja2372]

don't waste the scrappings from willow can use as medicine. Natives never waste.

[@Zedoutdoors]

Very true, lots to be learnt from the natives ~Peace~

[@ulfcarlfinnes2820]

It was not a good idea to make liquorice in an aluminum pot, it ate some yummy traces on the inside of the pot

[@Zedoutdoors]

Thats interesting to know ~Peace~

[@evillabrador1]

Crikey a KZbin bushcraft video with someone demonstrating a craft. That won't catch on.

[@Zedoutdoors]

I hope it does ;) ~Peace~