How To Make Your Own Quick Deploy Paracord Bracelet
Paracord bracelets are becoming more mainstream, I remember the days when you wanted one. It had to be homemade. Jump to the present day and there are 101 different patterns of paracord bracelets for sale and hundreds of videos and tutorials with instructions on how to make them at home. But most of them are not a quick deploy paracord bracelet, the majority of them take quite a while to deploy, and eventually, when done, the paracord is all kinked up.
Make Your Own Paracord Bracelet
Other than the obvious satisfaction of making something with your own hands. Most of the paracord bracelets sold are made with low-quality paracord. They are not quick to deploy, and some of them use multiple strands of paracord to create one paracord bracelet. This means that when untied, you will be left with 3 or 4 shorter strands of paracord, which is not optimal.
Making your own paracord bracelet, puts you in control of what kind of design you want, how many feet of paracord you use, and whether the paracord is one piece or multiple shorter strands.
Benefits Of A Quick Deploy Paracord Bracelet.
If you feel that you need to untie your paracord bracelet, chances are that you need it urgently. I am pretty sure that sitting down for 5 to 10 minutes slowly untying the paracord would be very frustrating.
Who Wears Paracord Bracelets?
People are wearing paracord bracelets as a fashion accessories.
Ex-military wear them because they know that having cordage on you is so danged handy. Survivalists and preppers wear them because, well they want to be prepared. With dozens of companies and hundreds of people making and selling them online and in brick-and-mortar shops. The market is flooded with paracord bracelets.
Paracord Bracelets Military Origins
But its origins are much more utilitarian, the military realized the benefits of cordage ages ago, and the versatility of paracord. Veterans used to make paracord bracelets to pass the time and some even turned their hobby into a thriving business.
Preppers, Survivalists, And Bushcrafters
Survivalists often look to the military for inspiration, and soon caught the paracord bug. And it rapidly spread through the prepper and bushcraft community. With so many people interested in paracord and its versatility, many started to make surprisingly creative paracord projects.
Paracord Creations
As more and more YouTube videos popped up teaching people how to tie paracord bracelets, it turned into a creative hobby for many, and all sorts of paracord tutorials started popping up all over the net. From little lanyards to belts, dog leashes, bottle holders, and even paracord whips.
Beware Of Store Bought Paracord Bracelets
Not all paracord is created equal, there is a large difference between Mil-spec and commercial or craft paracord. Be aware that most paracord bracelets on the market are crafted from an inferior quality, commercial or crafting paracord. The difference in quality between them is so obvious, that often you can tell the difference just by feel. Add to that paracord is not a controlled item, every Tom, Dick, and Harry that manufactures paracord, claims their product is of Mil-Spec MIL-C-5040h quality.
Cobra Paracord Bracelet
This is possibly the most popular paracord bracelet design, and it does look pretty, but it has a distinct disadvantage. It is a pain in the … to untie. But luckily there are quite a few quick-release designs out there as well.
The Best Quick Deploy Paracord Bracelet
After searching the internet for a while, I found a design that I liked and thought was perfect. Except for one little detail. I am not a fan of using plastic buckles. The other common option was a loop on one end and a monkey fist on the other. I wasn’t a fan of that either as it pretty much made it a one-size bracelet.
So this is what I ended up with. A quick-to-deploy paracord bracelet that uses a prusik knot instead of a paracord clasp or loop and knot system.
How To Make Your Own Quick Deploy Paracord Bracelet
Find the middle point of your paracord, I used 18 feet of paracord (I wanted a little extra to make a couple of monkey fists at the end. And make a prusik knot over two strands of the paracord with the middle section.
Measure off how long you want your paracord bracelet to be and mark it. I made mine 8 inches.
Create a bight with the left and right-hand cord. Pull both the working ends to the prusik knot.
Make a half hitch on the right-hand side. And pull the knot as close to the prusik knot as possible. Make a half hitch on the left-hand side, and tighten.
Then make a half hitch from the bottom right. Now make a half hitch from the bottom left. Repeat until you have reached the desired length.
Slip the right side working end through the right bottom loop. And the left side working end through the left bottom loop
Slip the prussic knot off whatever you tied it to (in my case a pen) and slip the right working end through the prussic knot from right to left.
Slip the left working end through the prussic knot from left to right. Tie stopper knots on the working ends.
Ta Da, a quick deploy paracord bracelet without any clasps.
Crafting paracord
In a softer paracord, the inner strands are not as tightly packed, making it easier to tie and make neat knots. Crafting paracord is made of polyester, nylon, or poly-nylon. And the quality control is terrible. The only plus to crafting paracords is that they have hundreds of colors and they are easy to work with for craft projects. But they are NOT recommended for survival.
Commercial paracord is closer to Mil-Spec paracord, and quite a few high-quality paracord manufacturers make good paracord so close to mil-spec that they are hard to distinguish them apart. The problem is that without the Mil-Spec rating, there is no way to tell if a commercial paracord is of the high-quality variety or a cheap knockoff.
MIL-C-5040h Mil-Spec paracord adheres to stringent quality control requirements by the US military (although the MIL-C-5040h standard is now inactive according to Wikipedia Paracord). If you want to know what the Specifications for Mil-Spec are Click MIL-C-5040h
How To Tell If Paracord Is Good?
The surest way is to buy Mil-Spec Paracord. If the paracord really is Mil-Spec, you can be assured it is one of the best.
Another option is to buy from reputable manufacturers that produce high-quality paracord.
A couple of examples would be:
Atwood
Titan Survivor Cord
Tough Grid
What To Look For In A Paracord
100% nylon.
7 strands in the kernmantle.
Each of the 7 strands, should be made of a 3-strand line.
The 3 strands should be tightly braided.
The 7 strands should fit snuggly in the kernmantle.
Conclusion:
Making your own paracord is a fun project to do while sitting at home, you will know exactly the quality of the paracord since it is one you bought yourself, you can make your quick deploy paracord bracelet from cheap generic paracord, or specialty paracord such as Survivor Cord. You will know the quickest way to tie and untie the bracelet. And you will know the exact length of the paracord on your wrist. Also, you will have the satisfaction of having made it yourself. Knowledge and Skills, the path to survival.
