Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Primitive Skills => Topic started by: IsaacW on September 03, 2013, 10:08:18 am
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I was recently told from a friend out east that he read that the Seneca considered raccoon gut a reasonably good string. Any ideas the best way to process and use the gut to make a string? I have done natural fiber and rawhide but never gut.
IW
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Ive never done it but I guess you grab one end and sling the s*** out of it. ;D
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Raccoon got some nasty parasites in their poo so be sure to not get any of that on you. I read about after cleaning a coon and it had me freaked out for a little while.
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I would imagine any animal's intestine would make a bow string. Bear gut was used quite often, by the Cherokee, and others. I would think you would have to split it, or turn it inside out, and scrape it clean, and rinse it, or soak it in salt water, and then then cut it to the width, you want, and then tie one end off, to something, and twist it, and tie the other end off, to something, and then let it dry, or put it on your bow, and let it dry., then wax it. That is purely a guess on my part, it is how I would do it, not knowing of any other way. If there is a better way, that is how I would do it then. ;) But wear rubber gloves, while processing. You might even consider, twisting three pieces, and braid them. Or.......four pieces and do a fold braid. Basically, tie the ends off at one end of the group, and then fold one from the right to the left, and one from the left to the right, and then fold the one facing you towards you, and the one closest to you away from you, and just repeat the process, if done correctly, it will be a square braid. But it takes a lot of material to make long string. You can leave it somewhat loose in the folds, and it will lengthen the string, and make a smaller diameter. ;) Again, never done anything with guts, except stuff them with sausage, and they were commercial casings already processed. Well hey, you can order those on line! 8) No nasty smelling coon, to bother with! Well there you go, problem solved. How about that! ;) Let us know how it works.
Wayne
Wayne
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gut is used to make tennis racket strings.
reason- the serosa(some sort of covering i think) of a cow's intestines is quite strong, and also very inelastic.
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Ran across this nice 2 part tutorial on making gut stings of elk gut. I suppose the process is the same, just with many more ply.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkZPuc0GlAY
I actually have hog casings at home but need them for sausage. I have coon hit our gardens hard that I need to get rid of but I ate killing and not using them. I am thinking of using the unprime hides to make some rawhide to lace snowshoes for my girls (little kid ones with fine lacing) and the gut would make nice bow strings. Meat is probably still alright, but catching and dispatching in the morning with little time before work doesn't go so well with good meat making. Not as much fat to remove from the meat this time of year compared to late fall though!!
Isaac
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A little update. I have caught 3 coon in 2 nights. Last night (night 3) was nothing. I am hoping that is the end of the coon in the garden for now. Anyway, I took out and cleaned all the intestines. It was not nearly as bad a job as I was expecting (just stay away from the stomach). The cleaned "gut" is now "curing" in a salt water solution. I will see if I have enough for a good string (not a lot of intestines in a raccoon surprisingly) and maybe try twisting the string within the week.
Isaac
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Cool cant wait to hear about it and see pics
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Thanks for documenting and sharing your experience. I was wondering about coon gut as well.
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I would hang a weight from it after twisting so that it stretches before it dries. I think this will help remove some stretch from it when done and may also help with the diameter a bit.
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Sick kids and an earlier than expected apple crop made me put the gut in the freezer until I have more time to twist them up. Man I wish I had 1 more day in the week or a few more hours at least... ::) Images will get posted when it is done!
This said, raccoon 5 and 6 fell victim last night as they came to take some of my historic flint corn. I guess I did not have all of them.
IW