Bushcraft, survival and wilderness skills courses

It was Dave Watson of Woodland Survival Crafts who showed me this great method for extracting bramble fibres. I like using bramble in bushcraft as you can use it straight from harvesting, no drying needed; and its readily available almost everywhere I go; although it’s quite seasonal as you need to find the newest growth you can still find 1-2m lengths which are perfect for the job. I find the fibres to be a little more course than nettle and not quite as strong but for the majority of camp uses bramble is up to most tasks.

Those of you who know me may well know I live with a half cat half Godzilla type creature that some may mistake for a simple cat. And how I handle her and nettles to avoid any sharp pains is pretty much identical.

Like cat fur nettle stings grow in one direction up the stem and out along the leaves stroke cat or nettle in the right direction and no harm will come however stroke them against the direction of growth and you’re asking for trouble.

Knowing this makes handling nettles a lot easier and once your holding a nettle there is so much to be done with it. The fresh new leaves once blanched make for an excellent spinach substitute. The older leaves make for a pleasant hot drink and the stem will give you some of the finest fibres for string making.

It is easy to forget what a difference a little string can make but once your out in the wilds one of the key elements of bushcraft is the making of cord. from short lengths for bangles and decoration to enough to make nets and baskets there are a million uses for string. Making it can become a little addictive and you will find yourself experimenting with anything vaguely fibrous no matter where you are. I have found myself on the London underground with the bark of an exotic tree getting many perplexed looks which turned to looks of bemusement when I handed a friend who was with me a bracelet to take home. Fibres can be taken from a wide range of plants nettle and bramble being my favourites. However for the purposes of this I've opted for raffia as it’s something that I have in great abundance for running workshops with local schools and groups. The key to tidy string is in keeping everything even and in two strand twisted string there isn't much to concentrate on so with a little practice it’s fairly easy to come up with something strong and presentable.