Paracord bracelet in a side-by-side pattern

A few folks had asked me if I was familiar with this pattern that they had seen, used as a paracord belt. I was familiar with it from searches I'd done a couple of years ago when looking for ideas to use for what ended up as the guitar strap I'd made a while back. I can't find the picture/link I'd seen of it, but if someone has it, perhaps they'll chime in.

It's made using six strands and both outer cobra stitches(also referred to as Solomon bars/Portuguese sinnets/square knots) share the center strands. The stitches are made around a single strand on each side instead of the usual two that most may be familiar with. I used a 5/8" buckle(that's just what I had available) for the bracelet and looped the center of two black paracord strands onto one end and centered the green paracord strand between them. I wrapped the working ends around the other end after making the required length for a bracelet and melted them to finish it. Over 20 feet of paracord was used, but I didn't measure the exact starting lengths, so I guessed by the ends I trimmed off. With 550 paracord, I found it too wide for watchband use, but the smaller diameter 'Type I' paracord worked ok width wise with one of my watches, but I ended up taking that one apart...

One of my blog readers has taken this design and expanded upon it with some innovation. Yes, they're tied together for a MegaBracelet, nice job Wayne!
*Wayne's photo used with permission, and linked so you can see his other images.

Turk's Head Knot Grip

I used an old 2AA Maglite for this project. I started with a 12 foot length of black 2mm cord. The black dye didn't take to the cord very well, giving a stonewashed look to it, but the cord still works fine.

I made a 3 lead 4 bight Turk's Head knot, then wrapped the cord several times and made another Turk's Head. More wraps were done between each of the next couple of Turk's Head knots.

I ended up trimming about 8 inches of excess cord off the 12 feet I started with when I finished. It has a good grip feel to it, with my fingers fitting between the knots and would probably work well for a knife handle wrap, walking staff, etc...

Here's a simple one I did with 2mm cord on an old boot knife.

 

Turk's Head Knot on a pen

I thought I'd try a 6 Lead 5 Bight Turk's Head knot, with the 1mm cotton cord I have, on my Zebra 701 pen.

Spanish Ring Knot

I tried a couple of Spanish Ring Knots, using leather lace, on either side of a Turk's Head knot, on my Surefire flashlight. You can see a diagram for the knot in 'How to Make Whips' by Ron Edwards. The Amazon page shows the diagram when you click 'LOOK INSIDE' and check the 'Excerpt' section for the book. The knot is also in another book, that I have, and was easy to find when I knew what I was looking for.

There's a tutorial on the Knot Heads World Wide website, posted by Bud Brewer, with another pass around the knot, The Woven Ring Knot.

I use whatever's handy to try out a knot.

Knot Board

This is my first knot board. I spent a few hours making these small flat Turk's Head knots, including a Carrick Mat, and an Ocean Plait Mat. All were done with white 2mm cord. I then used rubber cement to attach them to paper and put that into a frame.

I don't think it looks too bad. Now I probably should make one with various useful working knots, like the reef knot, sheet bend, bowline, sheep shank, etc...

5 lead 9 bight Turk's Head Bracelet

I tried making another bracelet using white 2mm cord this time. I used a dust remover can to make the knot around. I think I used around 20 feet of cord making 5 passes.

Nantucket Sailor's Bracelet

After considerable consternation in the process, I finally made a Nantucket Sailor's Bracelet.

I used maroon paracord for two passes around the five lead 14 bight Turk's Head knot that forms the bracelet, using a compressed air can as a mandrel, and then went around again with some 1/16" Cool Glow Stuff cord that kind of sits in the groove between the paracord strands.

If I'd set it directly in between the paracord, it would also be visible on the inside of the bracelet, but since this was my first one, I didn't quite have the cords spaced that way. I think I used around 18 feet of cord in the finished bracelet.

Turk's Head knot on a flashlight

I used gutted neon orange paracord(inner strands removed) and 1/16" Cool Glow Stuff cord to make this six lead five bight(6L5B) Turk's Head knot. I made two passes with the paracord, then went in between those with the glow-in-the-dark cord. I made it around a scrap piece of 1/2" PVC pipe at first, then slid it over the body of one of my flashlights and tightened it up.

Six Lead Five Bight Turk's Head Knot

I made this six lead five bight Turk's Head knot with paracord, over a 3/4" ball bearing. I first made it around the body of an AA Maglite flashlight, and it looked ok, but I'd prefer a more elongated Turk's Head to go over the flashlight body and will try that at another time, eventually. I followed the directions from 'Creative Ropecraft' by Stuart Grainger. Here's an online link with a preview of the book and it just happens to have the directions for this knot if you scroll down on that page for them.










I tried another one with black and neon green paracord with a 1.125" ball bearing for the core.