Wildwood Survival website

SURVIVAL
Shelter
Water
Fire
Food
Clothing
Fishing
Hunting
Traps
Snares
Tools
Stone
Flintknapping
Tracker Knife
Cordage
Containers
Furniture
Lights
Hides
Pitch & Glue
Winter
Health
Lyme Disease
Vision
Native People
Emergency Prep
Navigation
Teaching
Young People
Practicing
Music
Humour
More
Wilderness Mind
Site Disclaimer
Booklist
Forums
Contributors
Sitemap
Guestbook
About this site
Use of material
Privacy Policy
HomeSurvivalCordage

Agave Cordage

Agave is a plant that grows in the American southwest - Arizona and surrounding area.

It has long tough fibers which make it an ideal cordage material.

Agave is also known as "Century Plant", because it grows for many years as a rosette of leaves, then one year it suddenly sends up a very tall flower stalk (10 feet tall or more) and then dies.

Here is a picture of one growing on the edge of the Grand Canyon in Arizona. Note the height of the flower stalk!


photo by Rob Bicevskis

In the interests of being precise, here is a photo of an Agave species called "Agave deserti". It is the plant from which the cordage shown below was made by Rob Bicevskis.


Photo by Kfir Mendel

And here is a truly astonishing Agave plant in Israel!

  

Raw Agave fibers. Note how thick and long they are.

  

Click on the small picture to view the movie

Windows Media format (WMV)
320x240, 1.9 MB

Here is a movie illustrating how to make cordage from these fibers. Of course, the technique applies to all cordage making.

(Cordage making demonstration by Rob Bicevskis)

  
A small section of the finished agave cordage, the same that was being made in the movie.
  
A coil of Agave cordage. 

This sample was made by Rob Bicevskis