Dadventures: Amazing Outdoor Adventures for Daring Dads and Fearless Kids. Alex Gregory
really feel a great sense of satisfaction.
What you need
A good supply of strong, natural fibres. Raffia is the best and easiest to use. It’s a very strong fibre that’s been prepared perfectly, ready for you to create your string. Garden centres, florists and craft shops often sell packets very cheaply for tying up plants and displaying flowers, and one packet is sufficient for you to make metres of thin string. Flax fibres are ideal, too.
It’s also possible to make string with stinging-nettle stems, very fine tree roots or the bark of certain species of tree, such as willow, cut into thin strips. All these will take a little extra processing to get into the thin strands required.
Strong fingers and patience.
What to do
1 Find a comfortable place to sit.
2 Gather a few long fibres together between your fingers and find the middle point of all the fibres.
3 Bend them in half to get to the starting point of your string.
4 Hold the bend of the fibres firmly between the fingers of one hand and in the fingers of your other hand twist the top fibres together.
5 As you twist, pull them around and underneath the bottom fibres, and hold in position.
6 Take the fibres that are now at the top and repeat the movement, twisting and pulling around the back. These first few moves are the most tricky. From here on the process is simple and you’ll find yourself developing an easy rhythm.
7 You’ll be alternating which group of fibres are at the top. Each time twist them tightly, then move them around the back and repeat.
8 It’s important to keep the strands tight and the twists close together. This will make your string much stronger and more useable. In no time at all you’ll see your skills working and a piece of string will form.
9 Nature does a pretty good job but, unfortunately, it doesn’t produce never-ending fibres, so you’ll soon get to the end of your fibres. When this happens it’s a really simple process to add in more fibres so you can continue to make a longer piece of string.
10 Take two more long fibres, bend them in half and at the bend push them into the point where your string is coming together.
11 As tightly as you can, continue the process, now twisting and turning these new fibres as well as the old.
12 It’s important to keep the new pieces tight in, with no gaps where they meet the original fibres.
13 Continue until you have made the length of string you want.
14 Once you have made as much as you want to, simply gather all the strands together and tie a knot in the end. Cut away the remaining strands of fibre past the knot to neaten it up.
Ropes for ships used to be made out of hemp like this in times past. It must have been painstaking work, but the twisting and turning back on itself produces an incredibly strong cord. The tighter the twists you make, the stronger the string will be.
I was first taught how to make string by a relative of mine. He and his wife turned up at our house one afternoon in a battered, old red postal van that had been converted inside to become their home. They were nomads from Australia on a journey around the world, selling products that they’d made themselves, notably tiny little crepe-paper kites. These kites really did work incredibly well too! We spent the afternoon together, and I was drawn in and fascinated by the skills of this guy.
He’d been adopted by an Aborigine mother and brought up in the bush, so from a very young age he’d been taught bushcraft – how to survive by living off the land and making things. Once he’d shown me how to construct one of these little kites, I’d learnt to play (badly) the didgeridoo and the pheasant he’d picked up on the way to us had been ‘processed’ (I’m fairly sure it was roadkill), we then started work on making string.
Digging out a supply of dried flax grass from a corner of the van, he proceeded to show me the way to hold the fibres, twist, push away, turn, pinch and repeat. Before my eyes, the most perfect piece of natural string I’ve ever seen grew between his tough, leathery, supple, skilled fingers. Very quickly he’d made a foot-long length of string, and as he twisted and turned he talked to me about all things outdoors and living out of the back of a van. As this amazing product was made he showed me how to make it thicker and thinner for different requirements. I was transfixed.
We’ve always used string made this way for bracelets and necklaces. Turning it into a bracelet is simplicity itself. Once you’ve made a knot in one end, simply wrap the string around your wrist and push the knot through the twist at the start of your piece of string. Because it’s been twisted tight, the knot will hold tight, forming a secure bracelet around your wrist. My daughter Daisy makes them for me now, and I love wearing her rough little bracelets, as they remind me of the effort she’s taken to fashion them, the skill she’s learnt from me in doing so and the time we’ve spent outside, quietly making them together.
Use a penknife
Using a knife is exceedingly simple, but for young children it certainly requires guidance. Strangely, on balance, I’d say the sharper the knife, the safer it is for the kinds of jobs for which we require a knife in the outdoors. But this comes at a cost – if the blade comes in contact with skin, then the cut will most likely be more significant. Care must be taken at all times. But if you follow the guidelines below, your child should be safe.
What you need
A sharp penknife
What to do
1 Hold your knife firmly in your writing hand, creating a strong, comfortable position.
2 Always push the blade in a direction away from your body. Your child will always be tempted to push it in other directions – towards their torso, hands or legs – but be very strict with them to start with. This is the single-most important rule regarding knife use and it must be drummed in from the outset.
3 Give them a simple task to start with, such as carving the top of a walking stick (see ‘Make a walking stick’, see here).
4 Encourage them to finish off their small project by sanding the wood they’ve whittled. Seeing the transformation of a piece of rough driftwood or scrap wood into a smooth, beautiful piece, where the grain of the wood shows up strong and clear, is a fascinating phenomenon and will show them a wonder of the natural world.
Challenge
We can’t all be on the go all the time. Woodcarving or whittling is a wonderful, relaxing activity you can do outdoors together with your child. If you both have a penknife you can head outside, find a quiet spot with a good view and sit carving a piece of wood together. Ideas for projects include carving a small boat, tiny animals, a walking stick, a wooden spoon or a face in a log. The ideas are endless and the activity is restful, peaceful, creative and fun.
My grandfather would always carry a knife around with him. It was a part of him, just as much as his trousers or any other item of his clothing. His knives weren’t anything special – just silver folding gardeners’ penknives – but he’d always have one attached to his belt by a lanyard. I’d watch him swiftly pull it from his pocket while out in the garden to cut a bit of orange binder twine, trim a tree branch, whittle a spike on a stick to push into the ground to support a tree, butter his bread or cut a piece of cheese.
I grew up wanting to have something that was so useful always on me, just like he did. Unfortunately he wasn’t so good at remembering he was carrying a knife in airports,