Chippewa Basswood Fiber and Twine: Bark Strips Soaked at the Lake Edge, Inner Bark Peeled and Coiled (Densmore, 1928)

"Twine was one of the most important articles in the economic life of the Chippewa."

Cut the bark from a basswood tree in long strips. (Slippery elm bark was also used.)

Put the strips in the water at the edge of a lake, among the rushes, for a few days.

Separate the soft inner bark from the outer bark. Split the fiber into strips less than an inch (25 mm) wide, narrow for string as soft and fine as cotton, wider for a heavy load. Store it in large coils, somewhat moist, in a dark, cool place.

Boil the fiber if you want it extra tough. Use it flat for tying, or twist it into twine whenever you like. She does not say how; ours: roll two strands on the thigh so each twists one way, then let them wind round each other.

From Frances Densmore, *Uses of Plants by the Chippewa Indians*, **44th Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology** (1928), pp. 378-379 (checked on the archive.org scan usesofplantsbych00dens). The twine wove bulrush floor mats, passed over and under the rushes on a frame. Soaking time beyond "a few days", the knife, boiling time and the twisting method are not given; ours.