string from sinew

[Frits]

No it's unbalancing, i've seen more than 1 storage containing 1000 and more. Also it's a primitive material so if it would be allowed to be used in a way comparable to string i find primitive machines should be designed.

[Sicofonte]

1000 grams of sinew is nothing.

Did you read this?:

Even if someone had piles of sinew to make string out of, they would soon run out of it and have to hunt more.

Please, try to think:
How much hemp can you gather in a day? kilos.
How much sinew can you gather in a day? 50 grams if you are lucky, don't hope to get more than 250 grams per year.


And, please, no new machines, just no machines, a truly time-consuming manual process.

[Talapus]

And, please, no new machines, just no machines, a truly time-consuming manual process.

Manual processes can only output objects, and machines can only output resources. Since string is a resource, it would have to be on a machine.

Personally, I am not so keen on the idea of making string from sinew.

[Sicofonte]

In that case (only machines produce resources)... no, then neither I do.

I would say then that primitive version of some machines that uses string could been implemented, something like that suggested drying rack and... nothing else?

[Gran]

What are the uses of the new string?

[ceselb]

Drying rack only:

Code: Select all

Drying rack
Build conditions : islocation;maxonloc:4
Build requirements :raws:wood>400,sinew>240;days:6;tools:hammer

The original has 120g of string, taking 2.4 days to make from cotton. This puts string at slightly less than half the speed of string from cotton nad doubles the amount of material for good measure.

This would be very good to have in more primitive parts that have no local means of making string at all.

[SekoETC]

No, I demand string. Normal ordinary string that can be used to make rope. The difficulty of acquiring sinew is going to make people prefer hemp and cotton if they have them. Animals could be hunted to extinction and then there will be no more sinew. A twiner will still be required so it wouldn't be too simple.

[wichita]

I am agreeing with ceselb and Seko. Agar and I talked about this about a year ago quite a bit. It should be horribly inefficient and primitive, and hemp and cotton still need to be valuable, but it should allow some sort of early development.

Moving to Accepted.

[ichi]

Hooray. My characters live on an island with no hemp, no silk and no cotton (and no oil, no limestone, no phosphorus -- but that's a different issue). So string from sinew will be a big help. I keenly await the implementation of this.

[TheSkyReflection]

Don't forget that sting in less developed areas is also used for manufacturing cloths, tools and machinery, because of such wide usage it can not compete with other hemp and etc.

[wejdas]

Yes! Give us the sinew string. It always seemed weird to me, why one can't make a string out of sinew. North American natives used to make bow strings of buffalo and elk sinew. And those bows could shoot arrows up to 300 meters. Lot's of historical sources also mention balista or catapult rope made of sinew (or horse hair) by Romans or Greeks. (The technology is lost though. The ‘fullest’ evidence is Heron Belopoiika 81.10-11: ‘sinew rope which they plaited on a machine for twisting ropes’.) In the absence of sinew in emergencies they used human hair. Other sources mention ropes for tying weapons to the wielders waist or 'coils of sinew rope' for harpoons.

Historically sinew rope is real. It is valuable for its inherent elasticity and strength (oh yes, it had to be strong if they used it for catapults). It won't ruin the economy of cantr, as it is gathered from animals in small amounts. I don't see a problem even if it would compete with hemp ropes. After all it's economy and it comes to balance by itself. People have always invented new and/or better things and those would replace the old/weaker ones. So just do it without any hesitation.

[Sicofonte]

And!...

The best string that the romans found for their catapults was made of sinew, really expensive in comparision (no way to process it with machinery) but more elastic (strength) and lasting (durability and security).

But this is cantr, and blablabla

[wichita]

Primitive bows use sinew.

RD is currently discussing this, or at least they should be. *cracks the whip*

[SekoETC]

Well you want it to be less efficient than cotton and if that is taken into account, it might not be enough that the values for making string are smaller than those for cotton because it's not just raw cotton that's put into the stringer, you also have to gin it and spin it.

[SwimFan]

Seems unnatural to me. Sinew is sinew, string is string. Maybe we could just make a new machine, the "primitive drying rack", that would call for massive amounts of sinew, instead of making sinew into string?