Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Black and green mat

I made this Ocean Plait Mat to go on my nightstand or dresser. I used 5/16" utility rope of black with a light green tracer running thru it.

When I empty my pockets of all the every day carry stuff: overloaded key chain, multitool, pocket knife, flashlight, wallet, pens, etc..., I place them on the mat so they don't scratch up the finish on the nightstand or dresser.

I followed a diagram in one of my knot books to learn this mat, but you can give it a try with smaller diameter cord and printing out this diagram from the IGKT website. The diagram is for 2mm cord, but you can adjust your printer settings to make it larger when it prints out and try it with paracord.

Here's one done with some olive drab paracord. The amount of paracord used in this mat with six turns, is about 27 feet. I'd thought about putting it on the top of my boonie hat, secured from underneath with a few safety pins... eh, maybe not.

11 comments:

k13pt0 said...

those mats look great man ... I'll see if i can give this a try later on ... i may need to order some more paracord.

Wally Banners said...

not knots they are works of Art man well done!!!

Unknown said...

Wait...is that a camera on that light?

Stormdrane said...

It's not a camera, it's a Safe-Light LED flashlight.

Mohulis said...

Do you think one of these made out of paracord would be an okay pot holder? Or would the bottom of the pot be hot enough to melt it?

Stormdrane said...

@Mohulis, I've not used a paracord version for a pot holder/pad, but a little searching shows paracord's melting point at, "244 degrees Celsius or 471.2 degrees F", so it might be ok.

I have done a couple with sisal/poly type ropes, and they were ok. The poly has a similar melting point to nylon paracord...

Unknown said...

I've tried this mat several times with and without the pattern. I am able to weave it together, but I am having problems when it comes to tightening it all down. Any tips on tightening and finishing the mat?

Stormdrane said...

@Matthew, Unfortunately, tightening and working the slack out is the most time consuming part of projects like this, and doing it right requires patience.

I usually start tighening by working all the passes as one, to get some initial slack out, then each individual pass from start to finish, gradually over several passes.

If you try to do it all at once, it just won't work, so you have to take your time, doing a little bit at a time, to keep it from getting uneven with the passes getting all out of whack.

smet337 said...

Good Monday morning to you Stormdrane,Bought some 1/2 rope from Walmart for trying the ocean plait ,when I went to the IGKT site it had an error?I tried doing some 550 cord first to see how well I might do,I think for me I will need some kind of pattern in order to hold it's shape.Was wondering if you might have some idea as to where to go?I also checked out KHWW.net not good at navigating that site yet.Thank you for help Scot

Stormdrane said...

@Scot, Here are a few links for tying the Ocean Plait Mat:

IGKT

Animated Knots by Grog

Marinews

It's best started from the center of your length of cord, then double/triple with each strand in opposite directions, so you're not having to work the entire length of cord in one direction... ;)

smet337 said...

Afternoon Stormdrane,Thank you so much for the links and the heads up on where to start with my cord!That is valuable information.If my memory is correct happy B-DAY.Thanks again Scot