Strong Rope from Blackberry Vines (Brambles)

30 feet of strong utility rope made from trailing blackberry vines. To say that these vines are common in the Pacific Northwest would be an understatement and anyone that has spent any time off-trail in the temperate rainforest has probably tripped over them. They make fantastic lashings and binding material year-round as their rubbery texture means that the material grips itself and binds tightly.

They get somewhat brittle in the winter, but from spring to late fall you can also braid or twist it for strong cordage and I have had lots of success using this stuff for bow drill cordage.

Here is a video using the same material for bow drill cordage.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPfmLCFtoDI

Today, I wanted to try making some strong utility rope so I gathered up a bunch of it and braided it together with three vines per strand and ended up with 30 feet of some really strong stuff. It couldn’t quite support my weight (175 lbs) but it came close and held up well to some abuse testing with help from my assistant.

These vines often grow in pairs, with two vines sharing the same root system. If you want to be as efficient as possible, you can pull both together just by applying pressure, but I prefer to harvest just one of the two vines to give the plant a chance to survive. You can detach one of them with a quick twist, or by stepping on the vine where you want it to break. Don’t collect all of the vines from the same place and you have a very low impact cordage option that is very versatile and easy to work with.

These are very easy to work with if you have gloves, but it isn’t difficult to knock the thorns off with a stick and a careful pinch grip. Even with the extra time setting up shots with the camera, it only took about two hours to make thirty feet of this stuff, so it is a great option for some strong rope in a reasonable amount of time.

The length of the vines is a mixed blessing, as they allow longer section without splicing, but they are also easier to tangle up so you end up spending a lot of time sorting out the ends. Because the vines are tapered, it is easy to splice them in at the perfect thickness to match the piece that you are laying it alongside, or replacing.

Materials Used: Trailing Blackberry (Rubus ursinus)

Music:

Chaël – Sparks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kyQWkxsnt8

Pyres – Broken Elegance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rq4QX7ZZvMY