Starting to research cordage and making cordage. Took a class a few years ago with a local hippy and learned the technique he uses with yucca. Ill post pics as soon as i can get the time to gather and create.
Spruce roots work good, dig down and follow the root as far as you want scrape the bark off split and there you go. Clove hitch works pretty good with it. I have a buddy that takes the yucca leaf and slaps it up against a tree to release the fibers. Works great, said that's how they did it when he was a kid in Cuba.
Ive used random vines unmodified before for shelter building. Worked great! Had to cut them off with a knife as i couldn't kick them loose.
Saw a few videos this am about using stinging nettle for cordage. One from ray mears. Also a couple using tuplip poplar and red cedar. Ill have to check out those plants.
Thats a very valid point!! Im stuck with cedar bark or grasses this time of year here. May just wander and try different materials.
Tree bark is the best option right now for where I live. A couple feet of dense snow has all ground vegetation covered.
Went for a walk behind my house this afternoon in search of a plant for cordage that I can source locally. I found a great plant, but am still trying to ID it. Anyway, harvested a few, and made some simple cordage as learned from James Gibson.
I've made cordage out of Blackberry stalks before. Kind of a pain in the balls to process it down to get to the stringy stuff but it was stronger than the nettle cord one other guy made and blackberry is everywhere.
try the little thin cedar root runners that are like 50 feet long........when wet they are insanely flexible
I've got a couple dried agave leaves I need to process. Hopefully I'll get to it this weekend and post up some pics.