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Bigleaf maple bark and others for fiber

 
gardener
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Location: Zone 4b/5a
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I’ve been hearing about the Yurok and other nations on the West Coast making bark skirts out of maple, some specifying bigleaf maple. I have been wondering how strong the bark is, because the maples here tend towards being less strong compared to other trees, although I’d imagine striped or possibly mountain maples could be good. I haven’t worked with enough red maple to know as much because they’re less common. It makes me wonder whether the local maples (like Norway) could also be givers of fiber that is good to wear.

The norway maple bark tears relatively easily, and sugar maple has very little fibrousness to speak of.

Any west coast people who know much about this?
 
pollinator
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Location: Milwaukie Oregon, USA zone 8b
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When I was a little kid we learnt at school that northwest coast Native nations historically used cedar bark to make clothing, but I hadn't heard about the maple until now reading your post.
 
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