Yucca Fiber Processing

[@GrizzlyGroundswell]

Isn't it amazing the quality of fiber changes with each process we throw at the plant? It is amazing. I used a comb to process quick some leaves and put them up for 2 years until tonight I just made some cordage out of some of them. I was amazed that this process worked so well. The fibers were strong. I combed them holding on the thick bottom ends leaving that together and combing through the smaller end. Dried it for 2 years as I did not get back to it until last night. But it survived well and was a joy to work with. A good way to put up the harvest when you may not have ample time to process down to the very fine fibers. I liked your video and can tell your getting there fast! Can't wait to see you spin the yucca.

[@munchkin5674]

I found a small, but heavy in weight, pin frog at Michaels. It works very well to separate yucca fibers. I soaked some dry, yellowed wide, thicker leaf yucca for 5 days, changing the water daily. Then ran some of them through the pun frog. It works, but I can’t say that I like using the dry, yellowed leaves. But if thats all you have, you should, at least, know how to best process out their fibers. I personally prefer pounding thick leaf yucca leaves on both sides to loosen the pulp, then soaking them for a few hours. After that I scrape the pulp off with a spoon. I found a couple of old flatware serving spoons with odd shaped spoon bowls. That shape and edge work wonderful for scraping; a great find. I had an opportunity to get a few green palm leaf sections off a palm frond to process the fibers. The leaves are so thin that they don’t need pounding. I easily pull them through the pin frog to separate the fibers, but the fibers did have minute amounts of pulp making them greenish in color. If I have a chance to get more palm, I will try scraping them with the better spoons I found just to see if they can be scraped. Otherwise, I did enjoy working with palm and making cordage with its fibers. Further exploration would need to be done to determine if they can be spun. But I don’t know why they couldn’t be, if yucca can. Pin frog use…. I recommend that you wear a glove on the hand that holds the leaves against the pin frog as you pull them through the pins. Those pins can be as damaging to your skin as are the barbs on some yucca leaves. Lol My husband cut a hole in a thin board to place the pin frog in pins up, so that it can be clamped to a table. This helped tremendously along with the glove. It is now a nice tool for this process.

[@onegreenev]

The purpose of using the older dried leaves was to preserve the plant. If you go out in the wild you can find them growing but if you harvest the green leaves then others come behind you and do the same before the plant has a chance to recover the plant may die. So collect the latest dried leaves so they will still be viable for making things. Green is nice but dried is better. It's like using dried retted nettle or flax. I'd like to harvest enough to actually do something like making a small pouch or maybe a net or something. That may come later this summer. Retting yucca fibers takes much longer than with Flax. The fibers are coarse yet they are still quite strong. I could make some sandals with the cordage of yucca but I'd rather make some woven fabric.

[@munchkin5674]

@@onegreenev Like I said, if the yellowed dry leaves are what you have, then better to know how to how to process. It depends on what you are planning to use the fibers for, what you have access to and how much time you have or need to process them in. If you are not in a hurry, you can, of course, harvest older leaves as you find them, process the fibers in that longer process to store them until you get enough for your project. Options.

[@marridesign4108]

This is awesome 😁 It confirmed that I want to grow this. Thank you!

[@loves2spin2]

Thank you for sharing this!

[@munchkin5674]

I was wondering if you can use a small hair brush to pull the fibers through to help clean them up a bit?

[@valeriegaddis5973]

So not necessarily durable for great wheel spindle bearings?

[@edgoad7129]

Based on the title I was expecting more from this.

[@onegreenev]

Not sure what you are expecting but here is another one of my yucca videos that may be more what you are looking for in the processing of Yucca to cordage. I had another one but for some reason I don't see it on either of my channels. I'll look again because I was doing a little project for fun using the processed cordage fiber. The technique is a nalbinding technique and it was my first ever attempt and it was pretty dismal. But the technique is perfectly suited for hand twisted cordage to use to make items like nets and clothing. kzbin.info/www/bejne/gKu0hHuXfrerl80

[@wyattguilliams5325]

Can yucca be found in regions like Oregon?

[@onegreenev]

There are places in Oregon you can fine Yucca. There are many varieties so learn what is in your area and go harvest a little and try your hand at making cordage then making a simple net or thin cordage and go catch a fish or tie up a shelter. Then when you feel confident you can make enough to weave into cloth then make something from that. The sky is the limit. There are better forms of fiber for making clothing but it's fun learning the different things people have used over the ages.

[@mistyroller3470]

Have you considered boiling the leaves? Where i'm from, the native American women boil the yucca before processing. I'm not sure how long, though.

[@onegreenev]

No, had not considered boiling the fibers first. I can try that technique next time I harvest some leaves. I will update this post when I do.

[@onegreenev]

Thanks for the tip. :)

[@Cisco730]

@@onegreenev Did you try boiling the leaves? How did that work out?

[@Funny_senior_moments]

Hurry up!

[@onegreenev]

I won't be doing any further Yucca fibers from this particular Yucca Plant. I found the fibers did not hold up well even after spinning and it did not matter if I used dry leaves or fresh from the plant. The resultant fibers were just not that durable. Not worth the effort required to get the fibers.

[@sarahbarnts1061]

Talks too long before showing how to

[@onegreenev]

Can always scrub through what you don’t want to hear. I’ve done that before. Do you have a shorter direct to the point how to process yucca?

[@sarahbarnts1061]

Hey good idea on the scrubbing. Yeah check this one kzbin.info/www/bejne/jpXPf6OQhN1lepo

[@onegreenev]

Yes, that was a decent quick video. Go check my other channel which I now do all my fiber videos. I have some more yucca videos there to check out. kzbin.info/www/bejne/gKu0hHuXfrerl80