Titanium Money Clip with a little knot work...

This is the VIPER Titanium Money Clip, in a natural titanium finish, from Superior Titanium. I particularly like this model because of it's larger size and the cutouts which allow a little decorative knot work.

I used black 1.4mm braided nylon cord to tie cobra stitches, also known as a Solomon bar/Portuguese sinnet, around the end cutouts. I like my first attempt, but I think I may try a couple more knot work ideas on it and will add those to this blog post if I like how they come out. Maybe something like a wallet lanyard to clip to a belt loop...

The VIPER can hold up to 60 folded bills or 8 credit cards/ID with 30 folded bills and with it's strong spring grip can just as easily hold onto a single bill. It's also available in Black Diamond and Titanium Nitride finishes.

Superior Titanium also carries a variety of other titanium money clip designs as well as other titanium items including cuff links, tie clips, bracelets, chains, rings, tags, guitar picks, and business card cases
. As mentioned on their website, titanium is '45% Lighter Than Steel', 'Retains Shape 30% Better Than Steel', and is 'Corrosion Resistant'.


For the lanyard, I used the same black 1.4mm braided nylon cord in a cobra stitch/Solomon bar/Portuguese sennit, and a black clip/split ring from PhotonLight.com.

A somewhat associated item that I've made, are these money sign($) shaped paracord lanyard/fobs, one made with gutted paracord, the other with inner strands intact.

Money clip knots...

I received a nice stainless money clip, from Bill of Crazy4 Money Clips, to try some knot work on.

Using 0.9mm braided nylon mini blind string, I first tried wrapping the cutout sections of the clip with cobra stitch/Solomon bar/Portuguese sinnets.

I also tried a 3 lead 8 bight turks head knot to fit around the clip. I only had white string, but Sharpie markers do an ok job at creating other colors, and I ended up with the red, white, and blue turks head.

I also tried some 'West Country Whipping' on the back section of the clip.

Some recent SAK lanyards...

I tied several SAK (Swiss Army Knife) lanyards with 1.4mm cord over gutted paracord, and finally bought a jig with some of my birthday money to try out as an extra pair of hands to help in tying them.

The finished length of the lanyards, with clip/loop ends is around nineteen or so inches, which is about the jig's longest setting, slightly shorter than the spool knit lanyards that I usually make at around two foot long, but still long enough for me to use as a knife, flashlight, multitool, or wallet lanyard for edc (everyday carry) use.

I haven't been tying very much lately because of vision problems (Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy ~ macular edema) in one of my eyes.  I've gone back to trying simpler knot work where I can see what I'm doing, although it's difficult with depth perception problems and everything is blurry/dark/distorted and color is off too now out of one eye.

I can't see the cord's overs/unders with the recent eye going bad, and trying to focus just gives me headaches, beyond the migraines that already plague me.  Even trying to read the computer screen or watch television is problematic (trying to read the closed caption text because of my hearing loss/tinnitus), as my face is about 10 inches away from the monitor with my eyeglasses off.

I'll keep tying as long as I can, and trying to take decent photos too, although that's a challenge beyond what it was before as well.  I added one of those magnifying glass floor lamps to my amazon wish list in case I sell some things from the gadget drawer collection to eventually be able to put it in the budget.  I don't know if it would help me see better when tying or not though...

Knives shown in the photos with the lanyards are my Victorinox Spartan, Tinker, and silver alox and black alox Pioneers, and a blue alox Farmer. Lanyard and bracelet in the last photo are made with orange 1.8mm reflective guyline and blue Handy Hundred cord and paracord core for the knife lanyard.

TEC Accessories Python Clip

1.8mm Reflective Guyline

Gadget drawer toolbox

Paracord Fusion Ties - Volume 2: Survival Ties, Pouches, Bars, Snake Knots, & Sinnets

I was excited to receive a signed copy of JD Lenzen's new book last month, 'Paracord Fusion Ties, Vol. 2: Survival Ties, Pouches, Bars, Snake Knots, and Sinnets', with the foreword written by Kevin G. Gagne(The Paracordist).  Many are familiar with JD from seeing his Tying It All Together(TIAT) Channel on YouTube and Facebook.  With all the great projects inside, it makes you wonder how he's gonna top this with then next volume, but if you've seen the work he's shared, you know he will.

I tied this 'Secret Compartment Fob', from Chapter 7 of the book, with red, white and blue paracord, and placed a 2" x 3/16" misch metal ferro rod inside(which can be scraped to make sparks to help get a fire started), and attached it to one of my Swiss Army Knives.  I also added a Tiki bead to the fob, that I received from Schmuckatelli Co.  You could instead put rolled up money or a note with important info inside the fob, or similar sized objects.

The fob is tied with three middled strands of paracord so you have six working ends to tie a crown sinnet(round/spiral pattern), and finished with a 6-strand diamond knot, with the end strands trimmed to however long you want them.  The firesteel stays securely inside until you want to remove it, pushing it out from the top end, and is easy to reinsert, and just pull/tighten each of the end strands to close it back up. 

Brighter paracord colors used with lanyards and fobs help to keep them visible so you don't lose whatever you've attached them to if you should drop or set them down, but you can certainly work with 'tactical' or subdued solid colors like black, olive drab, tan, coyote brown, green, navy blue, etc... or one of the multitude of camo/combination/reflective/glow-in-the-dark variations now available.

I left the inner strands intact on this one, but you can gut them if you like.  You can tie these like I've tied my paracord wrist lanyards, having loops on both ends of the crown sinnet for more attachment options.  Took a few more pics of the cool Tiki beads(Ona, Kiko, and Ku) used on the examples I've tied here.

And I tied a modified version combining JD's secret compartment fob and my regular wrist crown sinnets, that have attachment loops on both ends for lanyard use, large wrist loop, and small loop around snap hook/swivel clip.  I used some ranger green(5 ft), brown(4.5ft), and woodland camo(4ft) paracord for the lanyard, and put a 2" x 1/8" firesteel inside the crown sinnet, alongside the wrist loop cords that the 6 strand crown sinnet is tied around.  

 I used a black oxide 'Classic' Schmuckatelli skull over the wrist loop paracord strand, which was not gutted.  The brown and camo strands were gutted.  Added six small 'Joe' skulls on the end strands after the diamond knot, and those strands will hang up or down depending on which way you have the lanyard oriented.  

I melted the ends of the paracord below the small skulls, then flattened each end out with pliers, so the cooled hardened paracord is then wider than the skull's hole, so they don't fall off.   The modified 'Secret Compartment' lanyard is pictured next to my EDC keychain for size reference, with the finished lanyard being about 14 inches long, including the snap hook/swivel clip. 

EDC keychain pouch lanyard replacement...

I replaced the zipper pull and paracord attachment/retention loop that came on the Maxpedition pouch that I bought with bday money last month.  Although the pouch is rectangular in shape compared to the old teardrop version I've used for a few years, they're not much different in what they'll hold.

I used 1.4mm cord for the zipper pull, in a doubled Solomon bar/Portuguese sinnet/king cobra stitch pattern, tied directly to the pull on the pouch, and went over the paracord lanyard with knot work between the diamond/lanyard knots, and used a couple of two-strand wall knots for the final length that fits inside the pouch and is attached to the titanium keyring.

The dragon clip was purchased within the last couple of years, and I'd dropped it into a gadget drawer without having a specific project in mind to use it with.

Since the knot work over the paracord wouldn't fit through the grommet on the pouch, I left that section uncovered, just long enough to pull the edc keyring out of the pouch when I need to access the keys, knife, multitool, flashlight or whatnot...