Video

In this video I will show an alternative method to extracting fibers from stinging nettles, I call the "wet-stripping method". You simply harvest a stalk of stinging nettles (wear gloves if you are allergic to the stinging hairs) strip the leaves. The leaves are edible and are high in plant protein...the leaves be saved and eaten later. Place the stripped stalk on a hard surface and smash the stalk to flatten. The talk tends to split in 3 or 4 strips. This can be opened up flat, then held in one hand and and the woody part of the stalk can be broken of and the bark or skin can be easily pulled and stripped off. The woody parts can be discarded. Once the skin has been removed it can be hung to dry. It doesn't take long to dry. Usually a few hours to overnight. Once the skin is either wilted or dried the hollow hairs that transfer a cocktail of histamine, acetylcholine, serotonin, formic acid, tartaric acid, and oxalic acid, are neutralize and do not administer stings. Once the skin is thoroughly dried, it can be pounded, or spin back and forth between your palms to rub off the chaft from the long durable fibers. The skin once removed from the stalk can be used as-is as a lashing or twisted in to twine or rope.