I really want to try this but I'm not too sure I understand just where the fibers are. I know they are either just under the bark before you get to the wood or just between the core wood and the outter wood. Sort of like a thin membrane of tough fibers. I think it is just under the bark. What I want to know is does the tree have to be freshly cut? How do you get the fiber out? Is it possible to get it off old logs after the bark comes off by itself? If you have never seen this stuff it is really neat. The early settlers to this part of the world used it fo everything from lashings on boats to things on the old homestead. Hey! I bet we could use it to practice Jay's knots with.

If any of you have done this I would appreciate a little expert input here.

Thanks! Susan

-- Susan in Minnesota (nanaboo@pulbunyan.net), January 31, 2002

Answers

Susan in Minnesnowda, I will check with my neighbor next time I see her. She's a Chippewa (Ojibwa) and she does really really cool baskets and makes hogans (honest--I have pictures), grows her own Sweet Grass, tells me how to eat a cattail (ALL of it) and Lord knows what else. She should know.

-- Susan in Northern Michigan (cobwoman@yahoo.com), February 01, 2002.

Tom Hanks makes rope in the movie cast away. Fun movie. What are you going to use it for?

-- ed (edfrhes@aol.com), February 01, 2002.

Rendezvous! This summer there are several rendezvous, voyager reinactment.I plan on participating and you need to be as authentic as possible. The time period is 1730 to about 1830. That is where I learned about it. At the time it was only explained to me. The voyagers had the fiber already removed from the wood so I couldn't see what part it came from. The person who told me about it had a very heavy french accent so it was hard to understand at times. Oui?

Susan

-- Susan in Minnesota (nanaboo@paulbunyan.net), February 01, 2002.