Welcome to Another Travel Hacks Friday. As part of a new series, every Friday, we will be introducing new travel hacks for outdoor and urban adventures. We will scour the web for the best and most practical hacks, as well as dig into our reserves and share our own awesome moments of ingenuity!
Paracord is such an amazing and useful piece of gear, that in order to do it justice, I’m going to split this hack into 3 parts.
This is Part 2 of the Paracord series. If you want to learn more about why paracord is so awesome, and you haven’t yet read part 1: How to Make a Paracord Belt
Last week I showed you guys how to craft a belt using nothing more than paracord and a buckle. This week I’m going to show you all how to make a paracord bracelet to go along with that nifty new belt of yours (you did make the belt right?). Remember, it’s all about accessorizing. If you’re going to do something, do it with style!
There are a lot of instructions that utilize two separate pieces of paracord for the bracelet, but from a usability standpoint, this isn’t the best method. Two separate lines create a weak spot in the paracord and also diminishes the overall useable length.
You can size it for your wrist, but keep in mind the smaller the wrist the less overall paracord length you’ll have at your disposal. For most, 10 feet of paracord will be standard. However, this isn’t set in stone, as there are ways of increasing length while keeping the overall diameter the same. I’ll get to that in a second. It’s better to create the bracelet based on how much cord you want to bring with you as opposed to wrist size. Of course this is within reason. If you plan on bringing 30 ft plus, it makes more sense to consider the paracord belt instead.
Also, generally I do prefer the belt, only because the bracelet just doesn’t have enough length for it to be useful in demanding situations. But this doesn’t mean it doesn’t serve a purpose, as you’ll see in my list of uses for paracord.
There are two methods when making your paracord bracelet.
How to make a Paracord bracelet method 1:
Materials/Equipment
- At least 10ft of paracord 550
- Buckle or clip
- Lighter
For our example we used about 10 feet of cord and made our paracord bracelet for an 8” wrist circumference.
1.Cut a piece of paracord about 10 feet in length and seal off the ends with a lighter
2.Fold the paracord exactly in half, creating a loop on one end
3.Open the buckle and take any of the two sections and run the looped end of the paracord through the buckle,
4.Thread the loose strands through the loop and tighten
5.Wrap the paracord, buckle end, around your wrist to get the size. Preferably, keep it a little loose, because as you create the bracelet, the paracord will tighten
6.Mark the length of the circumference from step 5. This mark will be where you begin tying the bracelet
7.Take the other half of the buckle from step 3, making sure it is positioned properly to lock with the other buckle half, and thread both open strand ends through the buckle until it reaches the mark in step 6. Make sure the length of both ends are still the same.
8.Thread the open strand ends through the first buckle in step 3 again. We sized ours for an 8” wrist circumference, so for a smaller wrist size, you can thread it a 3rd or even 4th time alternating between buckle ends. However, the more you thread, the bigger the buckle you’ll need. For larger wrists, you can skip this step entirely. Also, if you want to use a longer piece of paracord, and still keep the same circumference, just keep threading it over and over. Again, you’ll need a larger buckle the more times you thread the paracord.
9.Separate the two open strands of the paracord, with one side to the right (Strand 1), and the other to the left (Strand 2).
10.Now start weaving the ends together. Take strand 1 and bring it under the center loop and cross it over strand 2
11.Take strand 2, and bring it over strand 1 and over the center loop and then through the loop created by strand 1
12.Now pull the ends of both strands to tighten, making sure the knot is below the buckle. It will be a bit off on the first knot, but don’t worry, as you thread it will begin to fall into place
13.Take strand 1 again, which will now be on the left side, and bring it under the center loop and cross it over strand 2 on the right
14.Take strand 2, which will now be on the right side, and bring it over strand 1 and over the center loop and then through the loop created by strand 1
15.Pull both ends of each strand to tighten
16.Rinse and repeat from step 10
17.Weaving will be complete once you’ve either run out of paracord or have reached the other buckle
18.Pull and tighten
20.There are two options to complete the cord 1) stick the excess cord under one of the knots, and seal off with a lighter, 2) tie the excess cord using a simple overhand knot
Voila, you now have a perfect set. If you find you have too much excess paracord, or not enough, go back to step 8 and fiddle with the number of times you thread through the buckles or increase the amount of paracord. It’s always better to have more than not enough.
How to make a paracord bracelet method 2:
Materials/Equipment
- At least 10ft of paracord 550
- Buckle or clip
- Lighter
This method works for greater lengths of paracord. Follow the exact same instructions used to make the paracord belt, but with a smaller buckle suitable for your wrist. But once you begin exceeding lengths of 30 feet or more, it’s probably better just to make the paracord belt.
You can find the instructions here: How to make a Paracord Belt
The most difficult part of the paracord bracelet is getting the perfect size for your wrist. Unfortunately there isn’t a universal rule that can apply to all paracord lengths, sizes and fits that I can think of, but just follow the instructions and do a couple of test runs, and you’ll get it.
Next week we will cover the many uses of paracord!
Carey
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