The exception to this rule is when lives are at stake. In that case, I would scrape away all I needed and even resort to pulling live branches off the trees if they contained a lot of leaves.

Sometimes, using live or “green” material is a must, such as when weaving between poles or creating narrow openings or doorways. In those cases, I always take care to use materials that are in overabundance, such as ash shoots, blackberry stalks, etc. Even so, I take care to source such materials over large areas so as to spread the impact of my gathering.

Cord—Cord is not needed for most of the shelters discussed in this book; however, being able to produce cord can be very useful in the creation of shelter and some of the shelters discussed will definitely benefit from the use of cord to reinforce joints. Having access to cord will also exponentially increase the range of shelters you can design yourself using the principles here.

MAKING CORD

The easiest cord can be produced by simply teasing up the long roots of the spruce tree, which can be found close to the surface. These roots are often many yards in length, and for a quick tie-job, do not require any further preparation. You can refine these roots further by coiling them up and roasting them briefly in the fire before running them through a stick split half way to scrape off the (hot) bark.

This cord (which incidentally makes for a great weaving material too) has enormous tensile strength. Its main weakness lies in that it doesn’t like to be knotted. You can (partially) overcome this by tying a loose knot, and while holding the root at one side of the knot, gently pushing the knot itself away from you, tightening it in the process.

In an emergency, you can easily create cord by stripping long green saplings of their bark, refining further by removing the outer bark from the inner, stringy bark. Particularly suitable tree species include willow, elm and oak. Alternatively, blackberry, stinging nettle, dogbane and many other plant species produce excellent fibers too. These inner-bark fibers can be used just as they are, or twisted into fine, durable cord using the reverse twist method described below. In situations where I was truly stuck for time, I have occasionally pulled down ivy and other vines which, while not the strongest of materials, have helped me out in many a tight spot.

Obtaining Fibers from Blackberry, Nettle or Similar Plants

1.Gather stalks. You’ll want to gather one or more straight stalks as long as you can find them with a diameter of no more than 1/4-inch.

2.Split the stalks. Using a knife, carefully split the stalks in half, exposing the pithy center. Ensure you are moving the knife away from your body when splitting the stalk.

3.Peel off the bark. If you are lucky, you will be able to peel off the bark along the entire length of the stalk in one movement. But if the bark is strongly attached to the stalk, snap the pithy center together with its woody sheath outward every inch or so to peel it off the outer bark.

4.Separate the inner bark. As you would scrape a ribbon with scissors to curl it when wrapping a present, scrape the outer bark off so you’re left with the strong, stringy, nearly see-through green/brown fibers of the inner bark.

Reverse Twist Method

You can use these same fibers for producing high-quality cord through a method called the “reverse twist.” By twisting fibers together, you will increase their combined tensile strength when compared to the same bundle of fibers, untwisted.

1.Select enough fiber. Grab a bunch of fibers, forming about half the thickness you’d like your cord to be. Pick a spot not quite halfway in this strand, and hold the strand between both thumbs and index fingers, with about an inch separating your left and right hold on the fibers.

2.Initiate the twist. Start twisting the strand of fibers by rolling your thumb away from you over your index finger. Do not keep too much tension on the strand between your left and right hand and keep twisting until the fibers roll over themselves to form a small loop.

3.Twist one strand. Once you have this loop, you will need to change your hand position, so you are holding the loop between the left thumb and index finger with one of the strands above the other. With your right hand, grab the top bundle of fibers and pull them taut, make the same twisting motion by moving your thumb away from you over your index finger. Stop twisting when the fibers are about ready to start rolling over themselves again to form another loop.

4.Switch the twist to the second strand. Now, while holding the twisted fibers taut, grab the free-hanging strand with your right pinky and ring-finger. You should now be forming a triangle with the apex in your left hand. While keeping both strands taught, roll your wrist toward you so that the twisted strand ends up at the bottom, and the untwisted strand at the top.

Repeat this process until you have the length you need. You will know when you don’t quite get it right if the cord tends to unravel itself when not under tension.

Making the cord longer than the strands of fibers is easily accomplished by splicing in new strands of fibers about 2 inches before the old strand runs out. If you want to make really even and perfect cord, you can remove a few fibers from the old strand and the new, where they overlap, so the overall thickness remains the same. To create the strongest cord, rather than splicing in new bundles occasionally, you’d stagger the adding in of fibers continuously, a skill that gets better with practice and experience. Ideally, both the individual strands and the cord itself would have a constant thickness along their entire length.

The cord you produced will have exceptional tensile strength. Just be wary of tying moving parts, as the cord does not like the friction caused by rubbing and will quickly fray.

HAND TOOLS

Some tools that would be extremely useful in shelter-building are, unfortunately, a bit beyond the scope of this book (think ground stone or flaked stone axes). If you have a lot of chopping or cutting to do, it may be worth your while to experiment with bashing rocks together while out in the wilderness. If you want to be well-prepared, enroll in a knapping course and practice. It’s surprisingly quick to make efficient cutting tools from stone if you have the skill.

If you are lucky to come across the skull of a deer, you may be surprised by the efficiency of one-half of the lower jaw as a saw! Sometimes shells or fractured rocks can be used for a similar purpose.