Para What????

That is the question I have been asked a lot lately.  I thought people know what paracord was.  I guess all those years working at the Army/Navy store ingrained it into my head, but not everyone else I know.  So I shall let you know what it is before we move on any further. 

Paracord, or 550 cord, is short for Parachute Cord.  You know, those things people jump out of planes with attached to their backs.  It is part of the rigging, that consist of  7 inner strands with a tensile strength adding up to 550 lbs.  Hence the term 550 chord.  There is commercial grade paracord and military grade cord.  I will not go any further than that, as I am sure I am losing your interest.  If not, click on that link up there to read more about it.

OK.  I have always been kind of interested in paracord and it many, many, many uses.  Recently on a trip to Dick's Sporting Goods I saw 30 ft of cord for sale for $6.  Thinking that was an OK price I bought some for the first time in YEARS.  ($6 for 30 feet of commercial grade cord is a rip off). I had always had some laying around from The Store, and found is super useful in hiking, camping, making zipper pulls and what not.  But I was almost out!  Along side the bundle of cord were paracord survival bracelets.  You have probably seen them around.  They got big a year or two ago, but they were always expensive, so I never bought one.  I always wanted to make one, but never bothered to learn how.  That was about to change.

I picked up one orange bracelet and 30 ft of neon green cord. It was on!  I got home and Googled How To videos and Instructabls, and found a world of awesome things to make!  One of which was a bottle holder.  There are 100 ways (or more) to make everything.  As I didn't have enough cord or the proper clasps yet to make the versions of things I relly wanted to try, I gave some simpler versions a shot first.

I had to start someplace anyway.  Why not dip my toes in the shallow end first.  I found some white and O.D, cord I had laying around and made a few things to start off with.  Once I got going it was pretty dang easy.  After some stumbles, I got the hang of it and hopped on the interwebs to order some more supplies.  The first round came in yesterday.

I am not super happy with the quality of the paracord I got from Bored? Paracord!  But the colors I got are nice.  And they yielded me this:

Mint and grey cord fused together.

I also purchased some Fids from Jig Pro Shop.  they worked great.  I could not have made my Leatherman case without them (forgot to take a picture of my case).  The quality on the Fids was great!

I have some more cord on order from Paracord Planet.  Lets see how that works out.  The cord from Bored? Paracord! frayed very baddy as soon as I gutted it.  It was hard to fuse two colors together, as all the cord wanted to do was fray.  Next time I will gut and knot the ends if possible.

OK, enough about paracord!  If you are interested in making your own, or want anything made let me know! 

That is all, carry on.