Calling all paracord enthusiasts (and my first knife lanyard/fob)

EDC Gear for Flashlight Carriers
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Some of y’all have seen my post about selling flashlights for a fundraiser. This is for band students at my son’s high-school.

Well…I want to get the students/band booster parents a little more involved than just buying the flashlights and re-selling them…some ‘skin-in-the-game’, as it were. So…I was thinking that we could make some simple paracord lanyards with our schools colors, maroon and white.

I have watched a few youtube videos on how to make them, but I’m a little confused. I don’t want it to be so overly technical that it is difficult for the kids to make. I would rather be able to show them quicky how to make them, then mass produce them. The KISS principle applies here.

Some of the two-color knot designs I liked were the ‘cobra’ and the ‘round crown sinnet’.

So…my questions are:

1) Where is the best place to buy paracord in maroon and white?
2) What knots/designs would be appropriate for a mini-flashlight, fob-type lanyard?
3) What size paracord…550? How much?
4) Some people take the inner strands out…what are the advantages/disadvantages?
5) What are the best videos/instructions that kids (Jr. High and High School) can understand?
6) Any other comments that might make this process easier so I don’t end up making them all…lol.

krono

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1) Supply Captain

2) Square or round sennit

3) 550 about 2 1/2' of each color per fob

4) Leave the strands in

5)Tyingitalltogether on YouTube

6) When you melt paracord to seal the ends , it gets very hot . And stays that way for a while . Laughing

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Try ebay they have plenty of colors for your selection.

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jacktheclipper is probably pointing you in the right direction already, but just to augment that: “good” paracord is going to have 7 yarns inside it which are each made up of 3 threads. This is important for the survivalist aspect, as the complete cord, the sheath, the yarns, and the threads all have separate use cases. (eg for sewing or fishing you want to be able to be able to unwind a single small thread) IIRC Best Glide has also been mentioned as a reliable supplier of “the good stuff,” although they only carry 7 colors.

EDIT: to clarify, “commercial” 550 may have only 2 threads instead of 3 for each yarn. And “crap” paracord may just have stuffing in there.

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I like the knot on this.

I wonder if I could find a lion instead of skull…that would really be cool! EDIT: What do you call them…charms?

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Think these would be pretty cool to make for lanyards https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4QP5Lxtc1Q

Fruits and stuff

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I’ll pass on the first as I am in the U.K. and my favourite stores wouldn’t apply but for those in the U.K. they are WildElk Atwood 550 at Heinnie Haynes The Bushcraft Store I’ve bought from all three and they are all good and genuine 550 Paracord.

2) I like the snake knot, with or without bead. 5)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZ0_d3Wiao0 The two colours are made by joining colours of equal length and passing through the ring or hole that the lanyard is going to be attached to, it’s easy to hide the join in the first knot.

3) 550 Paracord. How much depends on the knot, the cord and how tight you tie the knots. Don’t forget it’s a lot easier to trim the excess than to add extra

4)Some knots tie better with gutted cord, Square, Circle and DNA sinnet all tie and look better with gutted cord.

5) see 2) or Stormdrane on youtube

Singeing the ends is a must, the cord is nylon so it remains very hot for a while. I use one of the 1300 degree C “Jet” style lighters and find them ideal at getting an accurate spot of heat where it is needed and a lot quicker than a Zippo or Bic lighter

Edit………Forgot to add EDCGear.co.uk to the U.K. suppliers of good cordage.

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Most of us call them skulls. :slight_smile:

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In the two preceding examples , I did remove the inner strands .

It makes a thinner , more flexible fob .

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My first paracord project is complete!

I was waiting for my X6 sample to come in (it didn’t), but my paracord did…so I figured…what the heck and busted out a quick fob. I believe it is a Cobra knot, using Atwood 550 paracord (maroon and white). It was easy…check it out:



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Cool

This might help .

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Very nice work Kron. The basic cobra braid you did is simple enough that students will pick it up quickly. A two color 4 strand round / square braid is pretty simple too. My source for paracord is paracord galaxy. They stock 100s of colors and patterns. Also you were looking for lionhead bead/charms. Aliexpress sells them for $0.13 each in quantity.

I do not represent either ParacordGalaxy or Aliexpress.

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Thanks Gurthang. I’ll check out paracord galaxy.

I also saw the beads at ali and will probably get some later. For now, Ebay had some and so I placed a small test order.

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Nice going kronological, watch out it can become addictive - I can only tie about 5 knots but have got 35 colours in 100ft hanks plus bags of skulls (cheap ones) and stainless steel nuts, shackles, and anodized aluminium beads.
I’m always looking for things to tie a lanyard on and have been known to wander around the house with a cordless drill, just in case.

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Kronological: let us know if you find any lion heads, I’d love to get some as well!

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If you could come up with a design then someone with a 3D printer could be your best bet.

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I have to remember to come back to this thread when my latest project is completed. I have a very expensive light that I don't want to drop, and a large paracord lanyard would look really nice hanging off the end and around my wrist!