The twisted/spiral pattern is made by tying the half knots the same way each time instead of alternating them like you would for the cobra stitch/Solomon bar/Portuguese sinnet.I used about 5 feet of gutted 550 paracord for the vertical section with the loop, and about 3.5 feet for the horizontal arms of the cross.
I left enough slack in the vertical section where I wanted to pull the shorter length through, to finish with tying the arm section.
I tied it with the simplest method of making a vertical then a horizontal section, but you could also make it by tying two separate arm sections first, then tie the top and bottom sections by pairing off the strands, or vice versa, starting with top and bottom sections of the cross first.
The Swiss Army knife is a Victorinox Ranger.
I've added a photo collage for tying the twisted/spiral cobra stitch/Solomon bar/Portuguese sinnet. You start by finding the center of your length of cord, come down to the length you want, then start tying with the working ends.
Left cord under the core strands, over the right cord. Right cord goes under the left, over the core strands and through the left side loop, and tighten it up. Continue the same process again, starting with the left cord under the core.... You do not alternate sides as is done with the cobra stitch/Solomon bar/Portuguese sinnet.
Every two or three knots, make sure the core strands don't get twisted as you go, straighten them out if needed, and push the tied knots up against the previous ones for a tighter spiral.
When you have the length you want, you can trim and melt the ends in place, or use hemostats/forceps to pull the working ends through a previous knot or two and then trim the excess.
11 comments:
Very nice. I have found knotting to be a really cool hobby. So far, with your help, I have made paracord bracelets, watchbands and rifle/shotgun slings. Do you know where i can find leather strip that is longer than a few feet? I average using 80' to make a single rifle sling and really want to try one made from leather instead of paracord. Any help is greatly appreciated.
You can find leather supplies at the Tandy Leather Factory. The nicest kind is probably kangaroo leather, but it's fairly expensive.
Yes I am having trouble attempting to make this cross. Do you tie it with the guts in or out? Can you give me a good link on tying the half knot? For some reason I thought you said somewhere to use the lanyard knot to make the cross. Please help.
With paracord you can tie it with the strands in or out, gutted just makes for a smaller/compact cross compared with one with the inner strands intact.
I added a photo collage, to the blog post, of tying the twisted/spiral cobra stitch/Solomon bar/Portuguese sinnet.
Using lanyard knots is just another method of tying a cross, just like using round/square crown sinnets, the snake knot, turks head knots, etc...
Hi Stormdrane, i have been following your blog for quite a while now looking in aspiration. i might be being stupid but how do i get the shape of the cross (insert one into the other?) i should be able to masters the knots but do you make the vert and horiz parts seperatly and then put them together some how? also do you have a youtube channel or something?
Tie a vertical section first, leaving enough slack to pull the second piece of cord through where you want the arms of the cross.
After you've finished the vertical piece, pull the center of your second cord through the cross where you left some slack and tie the knots over that to complete the arms.
I have some tutorials on YouTube and the Instructables websites, but not on tying any of the paracord cross variations. Links are in my 'Links list'.
I understand the vertical bar and I think I know what you are saying about the horizontal bar, but how do you start the horizontal bar without having the loop? Or do you just do it with the loop like the vertical and cut/burn the ends?
You still have the loop for the horizontal piece, but you cover it almost all the way up, not leaving it exposed. If you look at the right side of the horizontal bar in the photo, you can just see the tip of the loop on that end.
The knot work is tight so that it won't come off the end, but you can run a needle and thread through it or use a drop of super glue to further secure it.
Wow! That is a truly beautiful cross. I would love to make one, but have a hard time getting started and figuring out how to connect the two cross bars from the pictures. Do you have a video on how to make this?
I realize this question is almost a decade old, but like all information on the internet it is timeless as long as it’s still accessible. I once had trouble finding long pieces of leather, until a leather worker informed me of something I should have realized- you are limited by the size of the animal’s hide. For example, I needed an eleven foot strip of full grain cowhide, that would have come from the biggest cow ever imagined! It turns out cows don’t get that big.
Spools of leather cord are made from pieces that are joined together. This is accomplished in different ways, with various results as far as strength is concerned, etc. Here’s the FAQ section from a good website:
https://www.leathercordusa.com/FAQS.html
(I hope it’s okay to post that here)
I figured I’d leave this here in case someone else can use it in the future.
Thanks for this wonderful knot blog, Stormdrane, I’ve used it every so often for years! It’s a wealth of information, the presentation is quite well done and all of it is easily referenced. Nice work!
Really wish your instructions were clearer. I love the design.
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