of hopeIn a survival situation, you must exist in a constant state
if you are to make it out alive.stroud’s Tip
Making Rope
Making your own rope from natural materials may sound complex, but it’s
easier than you think. And having rope will greatly improve your chance
of survival because it can be used in so many different ways.
Rope helps build traps. It fixes clothing, ties off wounds, holds
shelters together, and binds your stuff together when the time to travel
comes. My favorite ropemaking materials are milkweed stem, evening
primrose bark, spruce roots, and cedar bark. Rope from trees is typically
made from the shredded inner bark. As with finding plants to use for
tinder, your efforts here will helped immensely if you understand char
acteristics rather than memorize names. Quite simply, you are looking
for anything fibrous.
The problem with rope making is that it’s not always easy to find the
right materials, especially because they are seasonally dependent. In other
words, some plants become most fibrous in late fall or early winter, when
they have dried to the point that they’re no longer green. For others, such
as tree bark, the best time is early spring.
If you are fortunate enough to have caught a large game animal,
sinew and rawhide work well as rope (particularly for binding and lashing
things together), although these are fairly involved undertakings. Sinew
is the product of the tendons (strands lying flat against the leg bones). To
make sinew, first dry the tendons, then rub them on a rough surface (or
smash them with a club or rock) so they separate into fibers. These fibers
can then be used as rope; they work better when moistened.
Rawhide is thin strips cut from the animal’s hide and can be used
even if the fur is still on.
(^324) | Survive!