Parachute Cord Bracelet

This was our exciting project for the day: A woven parachute cord bracelet.

A few weeks ago, my husband asked me to look up the knot that makes a particular type of survival belt. It is an easy way of having a sturdy cord with you for times when you may need it. It is often made of parachute cord (also called para cord) which comes in a variety of types. The most commonly used for this application is Type 3 or 550 (it has a 550 lb breaking strength). If you are planning on using it for a life-saving application, be sure to test its strength first, or use something like Spectra cord (often used by climbers and backpackers, it has an 800lb breaking strength) which has greater abrasion resistance.

We decided to start with a bracelet, as a shorter and simpler project to get used to the process. In all, it probably took 20 - 30 minutes to make the first one for my husband. The second one took about 15 minutes or so to make. We used some parachute cord we had lying around from a previous project.

Rather than trying to create my own tutorial, I will point out some of the sources that I used to figure out how to make one.




This one on the lanyard knot, used to make the knot or button that is part of the closure, is excellent:
http://www.homemade-gifts-made-easy.com/lanyard-knot.html

I am pretty happy with how they turned out, and am planning on making some more out of a variety of colors. Then I'm trying the belt, but using the slightly more complicated "Slatt's Rescue Belt Knot" as seen here: http://www.tacticalintelligence.net/blog/slatts-rescue-belt-part-2.htm

and here:

http://www.orionn49.com/slatts_rescue_belt_knot1.htm