I used about 15 feet of tan 1.4mm braided nylon cord, to tie a long 4 bight turks head knot(45L4B), over a doubled up 3 foot length of coyote tan paracord. The paracord is attached to a swivel clip with a cat's paw knot at one end, and a small split ring secured by snake knots at the other end.The stainless steel rigging knife has a marlin spike, blade, screwdriver, lanyard loop/bail,and shackle key.
Tying the knot around a drinking straw as a mandrel first, is easier than tying it around the paracord. I doubled up the 1.4mm cord when tying the knot to only make one pass.
The bracelet version is a 61 lead 4 bight turks head knot, using less than 20 feet of 1.4mm tan/gray nylon cord, with paracord for the core and a 3/8" side release buckle. You can just see where I've used the hemostats to pull the paracord ends back through some of the knot work to secure them, and I'll trim and tuck those to finish.
Here's the finished long 4 bight turks head knot bracelet shown next to a regular paracord bracelet. And a couple more that I made with a some different colors I have of the 1.4mm nylon cord, with the knots spaced out a bit to see the paracord underneath, black paracord under the darker tan, and coyote tan under the off white.
Another larger one was made with a 4 strand paracord core and a 5/8" side release buckle. I put two drinking straws side-by-side, with rubber bands on the ends to hold them together, when tying the long 4 bight knot around them, before pulling the paracord through. I was hoping to get the 4 strands to lay flat in a row with the turks head knot over them, but they end up getting bunched up. I was thinking of a possible watchband version, but done with separated turks head knots on both sides of the watch, between the buckle ends, with the paracord running underneath the watch. Maybe tying the knots around nylon webbing, or just over an existing watchband would work better...
Here's a link to a blog post from September 2009, of a 2 bight lanyard tutorial and a 2 bight paracord bracelet that I made last year. The 4 bight knots start off as 2 bight knots. ;)
30 comments:
Once again another beautiful and useful creation.
How long does a turkshead like that take to tie?? I've never tried a long Turks head.
A long turks head can easily eat up a couple of hours during tightening, to keep everything neat, even,and in line.
I was making another one and it got uneven on me(distracted while watching TV, lol), to the point that I know I'll just have to take it apart and start over.
Also, tying a turks head over a soft flexible core, like paracord, takes more care than tightening over a hard cylinder type core.
It can be aggravating, but taking the time to do it right and go slow is worth it when the final product comes out right. :)
Great work. Love checking in to see what you have new. My question is how do you extend the long 45 lead out to a 61 lead turks head. Thanks, Jeremy.
@Jeremy,
I didn't expand the 45 lead knot to a 61 lead knot. The long 4 bight turks head knots start out as 2 bight turks head knots, which can be made as long as you want.
You just make however many initial wraps around an object, with enough space between them to allow room for the crossings as you tie the knot, and then to increase the knot to a 4 bight.
The long 4 bight turks head knot in the KHWW.net tutorial link, ends up with 21 leads after the initial 3 wraps at the start. The 61 lead knot I used for the bracelet had 7 initial wraps.
Once you get the hang of tying 2 bight turks head knots of various leads/lengths, increasing them to 4 bight knots will work the same way no matter the length/leads.
Greetings ~
THANKS once again for the - *visuals* - that/they assists me GREATLY.. :)
Visuals as such make a BIG difference and I appreciate the the effort in placing them.
... at times, when I do the knot-work, it tends to twist somewhat, but I am finding that - "middle ground" - where its now starting to look right.
Been reading the rest of the older submissions and I am now a 550PC enthusiast.
Thanks for start of a GREAT, useful, hobby!
KEEP THEM creative idea's coming!
Respects!
I have really enjoyed your blog. I would like to ask you a question. How do you finish a project? I understand you use hemostats, but could you show the complete finishing process in a vid?
Thanks for the inspiration.
Every project may be finished differently. Usually with a turks head knot, the working ends are trimmed and tucked under the knot.
With this project, the ends were long enough that I just worked the cord underneath the knot, from one end to the other and back, until it was used up. That extra cord firmed up the knot a bit, so it didn't require working more slack out of the knot.
Working the cord under the knot with the short perma lok needle, required pushing the needle under a few knots and out one of the crossings, pull up all the excess cord, and repeat that process down the length of the knot, nothing fancy.
Another fine, creative paracord project. I was wondering if you might add my blog to your links as I will do the same for your blog. I would really appreciate a link since you are one of the reasons I started this hobby of working with paracord. Thanks
This is one turks head I am having difficulties tying. The link to KKWW has me confused a little. After you do the 2 bight, how do you start the 4 bight? The pictures aren't that clear and the description sounds like I need to follow the standing lead down and then start O2U1 from the bottom, but that isn't right. I have tied long 2 bights, long 3 bights and most of the other ones, this one has me confused.
@Chris, After you tie the 2 bight, to increase it to a 4 bight, you follow the standing lead, just like you would be making another pass/doubling the knot, until you reach the top, go O2 U1(over the top bight and down over the bight next to it, then under) repeatedly(O2U1) back to the bottom/starting end.
At the bottom/starting end O2 U1(over the bottom bight, over the bight next to it going back up, then under 1), repeatedly O2 U1 back up to the top.
From there it's O1 U1 back down to complete the 4 bight, and you can double/triple it and so on.
Hope that helps. :)
Tip: Keep the crossings straight and lined up after each pass up/down when tying the knot. If you wait until after you've tied the knot to try and straighten it all out, it may have enough twist built up in all the cord to make that more difficult
Example link of viewing the crossings properly lined up. I use the tip of a clay stylus to slide/work the cord in lining the crossings up when using smaller cord, but a finger tip works fine with larger cordage.
Look around all sides of the turks head knot, and make sure it's lined up at each set of crossings.
I'm having the same problems as Chris. Could you post some up close pics showing the transions from top to bottom after the o2u1 step and bottom to top on the 3 run of o2u1. I think i'm not going over(or under) the correct bite when switching from top to bottom and bottom to top. Thanks. ;-}
I think I figuared it out. I pinned the knot on a styrofoam rod to use as a referance till I get comfortable tying it. I'll take some pics and upload them sometime.
Gorth
Hi, I am having a problem attempting to find someone who can do something with a paracord bracelet and incorporate a military still memorial bracelet into a paracord bracelet.. Someone has recommended your site, which I always look at, so I decided to give it a whirl.. I am open to any suggestions and help.. THANKS!!!!! You can reach me at sabrhawke@gmail.com...
You can try a couple of turks head knots over one of those steel band type bracelets, covering the sides, but leaving the info showing.
The same could be done with the cobra stitch/Solomon bar/Portuguese sinnet...
can u make a staff sling i tried making one but it didnt go so well any ideas?
I have not done a staff sling, but I'm sure there's info on them at Slinging.org.
Absolutely love the leather work, been thinking about making some fairly thin and 'delicate' styled bracelets for my mother's birthday. Any idea of a knot that might produce something less 'linear' in terms of it's width. Want something with some curves, widening out then thinning down.
Any ideas at all Stormdrane?
What is the name of the double ended tool that you use to take the slack out of your knots? I've seen it used on your Youtube videos and in the photo on this post but can't find what it's called!
I use a 'clay stylus' to work the slack out of the knots. It's used instead of a marlin spike, but has served the purpose well for me. YMMV
are your bracelets for sale anywhere?
@Anonymous, I'm not currently making any knotted bracelets for sale.
There are lots of folks that do custom knot work on various online forums, ebay, and etsy, but I usually suggest folks give it a try themselves. :)
I've done a couple of knots and one of my fave is the turks head knot. Stormdrane is right about taking it a lil'bit slow and making sure it wont mess up or you'll end up doing it over again. Your photography and the knot work itself really inspired me. Thanks again and hoping to see more of your stuff!
Thank you Stormdrane!
I've been puzzling over that tut for days now. No matter what I did I could not get raising the two bight to four to work. I was convinced I was doing something wrong at the top re-entry but it turns out I was just misreading step six. The instruction is a little ambiguous and you can't see what's happening in the photo. You clarified it nicely.
Reading on the net, I'm obviously not the only one to misinterpret it as follow the standing lead WHILE going over two and under one. If really should read: follow the standing lead to the top and THEN go over two and under one.
On the upside, I've done it so often now I can tie one of these in about 10 minutes.
Good afternoon Stromdrane,On the 4 bight bracelet I understand that it is done over a straw but it is smaller than 2 strands of 550 cord so how do you get it threw? I had done it once before with dental floss and I had problems when pulling it threw with it getting hung up and because the first part expanded the rest pulled in messing the whole thing up and had to undue all of it!!Also just wanted to tell you how much I have enjoyed the EDC forum and the astronomy site.You are always a wealth of great info.and knowledge!Hope this finds you well.Thank you so much.Scot
@Scot, I've used a thin string/dental floss to pull my paracord through the straw while it was still in the turk's head knot. It was snug, but loop/2 strands of paracord did fit my straw. It could be you're using a thinner straw, or maybe over tightening the knot around the straw...
I've also pulled paracord through the knot with the straw removed. You can push the ends of the turk's head knot toward the center to temporarily widen the knot for the paracord, then stretch it back out afterwards.
Hello Stormdrane,Being as you are going over two cords are the wraps prone to collapse? It looks like they are almost perfectly round? One more question on knife sheaths hat I have seen you do are you doing them over a round mandrel first and then tightening them up? Thanks SD have a good one
@Scot, For the lanyards and bracelets, I tied the TH knots first around a drinking straw as a mandrel, then removed straw and pulled the two paracord strands through the TH knot, and tightened it up.
The long TH knots form an oval shape around two strands of paracord when tightened up, and is firm, so no collapse.
If leaving an open pattern TH knot, where you can see the underlying paracord, I secure the ends of the TH knot in place with needle and thread, to make sure the knot stays in place. If you feel the TH knot is not as tight/secure over the paracord core, you can do some more strategic needle/thread work, under TH crossings and through the paracord core to further secure it in place, but that's entirely up to you...
When tying a TH knot around a knife sheath, I usually tie and tighten the knot in place, directly on the sheath, so no mandrel, but you can use one if you wanted to.
How would I go about making a 2 inch width dog collar like this or any nice designs? Girlie if pissuble
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