Monday, June 18, 2012

'Surreal Solomon Bar' Paracord Watchband...

I followed JD's TyingItAllTogether(TIAT) recent video tutorial to learn the 'Surreal Solomon Bar' and made a paracord watchband with a side release buckle.

In JD's video, he demonstrates how to tie a two color paracord bracelet with a knot and loop closure for this pattern.  I just used a single olive drab paracord strand to make the watchband, since the pattern used a common two working ends with a two strand core, like many other bracelet and watchband variations are started.

I used about 10 feet of paracord in the watchband at an 8.5 inch finished length that would make a comfortable fit for a 7.5 inch wrist, as shown on my Citizen Promaster dive watch.  So figure in about one inch over your wrist measurement when tying your own, give or take a little to get it sized to your satisfaction... 

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice job David! Your work always looks nice and clean. The buckle gives it a professional look. :-) Looks neat. I like to try it too on my watch. :-)

Peace,
Manny.

smet337 said...

Stormdrane,Thank you for replying so quickly to me on my previous question but,I'am confused on how to tie a wall knot when you have the two ends going around the swivel snap hook and then back up,so now I have four pieces to use.I have tried taking my leads and doing just like I would with two and guess my old brain can not wrap around it? Hope that makes sense? Help!! Thank you so much Scot

Stormdrane said...

@smet337, Look at the snake knot lanyard instructable to see how I take the cords around the clip and then tie the knot around the two strands. You can do the same with the wall knot, lanyard knot, etc...

Anonymous said...

I've enjoyed many of your write ups and have utilized a few of them for my own projects. Thank you for all the information you've made available on your blog. I'm going to replace my recently broken watchband with this style, but I have two objectives that I was wondering if you could help me figure out. I'd like to leave the back of the watch exposed, and I'd like to reuse the adjustable buckle. I've also been studying your adjustable strap watch band for ideas on how to do this. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

-Ghost

Stormdrane said...

@Ghost, To leave the back of the watch clear, tie the watchband in two pieces, buckle and watchpin for one half, then the other half tied just from the watchpin. You'll need to use gutted paracord or just make sure the width of the band will fit through the buckle end when tying an adjustable style...

Some older examples of two piece paracord watchbands with side release buckles that I tied several years ago, although I didn't add the backside photos.

Anonymous said...

That's awesome. I have an old watch that is impossible to find a band for. I know what I'm doing this weekend.

On the subject of affixing cord to objects, I've been trying to get my head around making a paracord or mono glasses keeper.

The only picture I can find is

http://neaststyle.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/white-squall-poster.jpg

Any idea on how to do something like that?

Stormdrane said...

@Anonymous, I've done a few eyeglasses/sunglasses tethers, mostly simple types, but you could get elaborate with it when using small diameter cordage...

Anonymous said...

Thanks, man. I saw those before. I'm most intrigued by the twine-on-plastic fastening mechanism on the earpiece of the glasses in the picture.

Any idea what kind of knot/bend would be best? I'm also not beyond drilling a small hole in the earpiece. My glasses are on and off all the time at work.

Stormdrane said...

@Anonymous, Outside of looping several strands around the eyeglass arms or braided/knotted loop, held in place by tightness/friction, then braiding/knotting/sinnets for a fancy tether like the one Jeff Bridges wore in that movie, I've just used simple scaffold knots or other noose type slip knots around the arms when using a single strand lanyard/leash, if not using eyeglass holder findings(rubber o-ring with ferrel).

psjr57 said...

I am a bit confused. What rae the difference between a ladder rack weave and a trilobite. The finished product looks the same to me.

Stormdrane said...

@psjr57, They're the same knot tying process, just different names. Many knots/braids/sinnets can go by different names depending on who is doing the tying. ;)

Anonymous said...

I interested in knowing if you have done a smaller watch. I am a female and would like the watch and band smaller. Do you happen to have any instructions for something like this?

Thank you in advance.

Stormdrane said...

@Anonymous, I've not done this watchband on a smaller watch with thinner diameter cord, or know of any start to finish tutorials showing such, but it's certainly doable as long as the cord you choose fits between the watch pins and body of the watch.

The knotting process would be the same as shown in JD's video, you'd probably use a smaller side release buckle. Adding the buckle is done the same way other paracord bracelets are done with the same number of core strands to work around, and set up for wrist size before knotting.

Anonymous said...

How do you go about using 1 length of paracord for this rather than the 2 lengths as shown in the video?

Stormdrane said...

@N, I just took one long length of paracord, looped the center onto one side release buckle end, and around the other buckle end, adjusted for wrist size, then have two working ends and a two strand core to knot around just like in the video.

Many different paracord bracelet variations share this start, but not all will fit the same when finished, so you have to figure the exact sizing out from one design to another, based on the cord used(some paracord is thick/round others thinner/flatten out), how tight/loose you tie the pattern, buckle used, etc., lots of possible variables...

81Bulldog said...

Hey really liking your site. Can you tell me what the name of the paracord knot that looks just like the low profile tire, and its used in the utube video to show how to tie the center stitch paracord bracelet? Thanks!

Stormdrane said...

@81Bulldog, I just call that a 'woven' pattern, others call them a 'switchback', 'fishtail', and probably a name or two more.