Clay pipes and pineapples...

A long pineapple knot tied with tan and gray 1.4mm cord, over a clay pipe, that my dad gave me years ago.  I thought he might have bought it at a Civil War reenactment, historical site gift shop, museum, or such, but when asked, he said it came from a tobacco shop in the mall, probably a Tinder Box. 

Besides being one of the greatest smelling places with all the tobacco and cigars, the Tinder Box shops also had(guess they still do but haven't been to one in years) display cases with lighters, pocket knives, intricately carved chess sets, and other assorted gadgets, gear, and accessories. 

The cord for the pineapple knot, worked into the long 4 bight turk's head knot, is just slightly darker than the base knot, so it doesn't show so well in the photo as it does in hand...

Gaucho bead paracord lanyard...

I used gaucho knot beads, made with 1.4mm cord, for this paracord lanyard.  The gaucho knot starts with a 5x4 turk's head knot.  I started with a 10 ft length of black paracord, from the center making a two inch loop, then tying series of two strand wall knots, adding a knotted bead, then alternating that pattern for the lanyard, finishing with a swivel snap hook.

At a total finished length of 18 inches, from snap hook to loop end, this one is for use with a key chain, flashlight, knife, multitool, or as a wallet lanyard.

Attachment options let the loop end fit over a belt and clip to an item, or clip to a belt loop, bag, pack, or other gear and loop onto a gadget...

 A longer length version would make a nice neck lanyard, decorative hat band, or necklace, and a shorter version for a paracord bracelet.  A custom paracord pet leash could be done for a lengthy project...

I'd tied some similar variations last year for lanyards,  fobs, and zipper pulls.

74 Face Globe Knot....

This was my first attempt at a globe knot with this many faces/facets, and also the first time I've used pins with a mandrel for knot work, usually doing projects that I can get by without needing them.

I was following CUrchin's tutorial, but was using a smaller diameter cord than I thought I was, and half way through the knot, realized my error.  If I'd used 2.4mm diameter cord, like in the tutorial, the golf ball should be evenly covered with 3 passes, but when I started working the slack out and added the third pass with my cord, which is actually about 2mm, I could see I'd need another pass, but I was already getting uneven with tightening it up.

Since I already had so much time invested in this one, I went ahead  and finished it, even with my mistakes.  I'll make sure to take more time on my next attempt to hopefully get it right, although I'm already thinking of using two passes of paracord, which may throw me off as well, haha...

After tying the initial 3 lead 4 bight knot and doubling it, it was a bit awkward in adding slack in the knot to fit it over the pins in the cardboard tissue tube, so I had to start over when that got out of hand.  It was easier after I figured that I needed to work the slack into the knot for each of the 4 outer bights, on each side of the knot, one at a time.  From that point on, following CUrchin's video slideshow was just a matter of play/pause to make sure I had all the overs/unders correct.

CUrchin mentions retying the initial knot around the pins if working the slack into them doesn't work, but not having used pins before had me scratching my head at a loss, even with a simple 3L4B TH knot.  I've learned to tie turk's head knots from loosely tied diagrams of the knot, and even to date have not used printed out grids that are meant to be placed around a mandrel and used with pins.  That would surely open up much larger and complicated projects for me, but I tend to want to stick with easier fare.

The hard part with tying globe knots, for me, is in the time spent working the slack out and tightening them up.  If I get in a rush, it quickly gets uneven, scrunched up and crowded in some spots and spread out on another as seen in my photos, and I've not been able to fix them any other way than to start over.  That's a real bummer of a feeling for a project that can involve a few hours of work...

If I posted all the mistakes and errors I've done in learning knot work, this blog would probably have 10 times as many or more posts, lol...  Hopefully showing my slip-up will help someone avoid the same blunder. ;)

Pray for fire...

As mentioned in the previous post on the 'Sailor's Cross Knot', adding a small 1/8" x 2" firesteel to the vertical section of the cross is easy to do.  For this project I made a Sailor's Cross Knot lanyard/fob/zipper pull, with swivel clip for attachment, jute cord inside the paracord, and a removable/replaceable firesteel in the vertical section of the cross, shown with a Wenger Evogrip 18 Swiss Army Knife.  I ended up using less than 5 feet of paracord, and double that length of jute twine(Thanks for the roll of twine, Manny!).  An Arms-Akimbo knot was tied with the single strand coming out the bottom of the cross.

I first replaced the paracord's inner strands with jute cord, which can be pulled apart and made into a nest to use as tinder to catch a spark from a firesteel or flint.  From that you get a flame that you use to get kindling burning, then add in larger bits of sticks, branches, and logs for a sustainable fire.

I'd seen a video, done by fellow knot tying friend Ken earlier this year, showing some wax/paraffin treated jute twine being pulled from a wet section of paracord and lit with sparks from a firesteel.  I didn't give the jute for this project a wax coating, but it's certainly a useful idea, giving the jute a longer burning time like a candle wick, to help in getting a fire started.

I added the jute to the paracord by tying one of the inner strand ends to the center of a length of doubled up jute, then pulling the inner strands out one end, and the jute replaces the twisted nylon core strands.  Depending on your paracord's outer sheath, sometimes the inner strands don't fill up all the space inside the core, so you may be able to leave some of the core strands in with the jute, for later utility use, or you might have to pull them all out to make room for the jute, depending on it's diameter as well. 

Jute has been made for centuries, and paracord has been around 70+ years, so their uses in knot work are as old as they are, but the internet has plenty of search results to explore for more recent combinations of the two, like this example from 'The Paracordist'.

If you don't have a lighter or matches, learning primitive fire making and survival techniques can help you use a firesteel to get a fire going.  There are literally millions of hits Googling those topics, so if you get sidetracked, have fun but don't get burned.  Fire can be dangerous, so be safe with it.

Loud Focus at Stake...

Loud, as in the slim and lightweight Vargo Titanium Emergency Whistle to add to my keychain or maybe my jacket as a zipper pull.  A Long 3 Bight turk's head knot is tied around it, with three passes of 0.9mm braided nylon cord.

The Focus is a 6" neck knife made by Meyerco, of a Dirk Pinkerton design, with a short gutted paracord 2 bight turk's head knot grip wrap.  I may add something to the sheath, but haven't decided yet since it would affect the use of the belt/pocket clip mounted on the backside of the Kydex sheath.  I probably should put some paracord over that ball chain too, since it feels cold around the neck this time of year, lol...

And the Titanium Vargo Ascent Tent Stake (ultralight) can also serve as a hollow fid for knot and rope work.  I tied a lengthened two strand diamond to secure a loop of tether cord, which makes it easy to pull the stake out of the ground.

This knot is seen in 'The Ashley Book of Knots' as #782, with the diagram on the bottom of page 140....

The Drop-Line Rapid Line Deployment System

County Comm now offers 'The Drop-Line RLD System'.  The Delrin Drop-Line roll is a definite improvement over the PVC pipe and recycled plastic spools that I used with my projects a few months ago.

Some folks like to have readily accessible cord that's not knotted, kinked, or tangled up when they need to use it.  Having one or two of these attached to your gear is just being prepared.


I wound up some cord on a couple of them, and was able to get 50 ft of 550 paracord on one, and 100 ft of 3/32" tether cord on another.


The Delrin roll has just enough give in it so that it can be removed/replaced, but it's not going to come off the carabiner until you want it to.  The load rated Omega locking carabiner can also be put to use when the cord is emptied off the wheel .

*Note this is just a device meant for storage and dispensing of cord, not a life saving/support piece of equipment, so use responsibly.

The Sailor's Cross Knot...

A couple of recent posts by 'skyout' on the KHWW.net forums, showing 'The Sailor's Cross Knot', had me revisiting the knottool.com page, that I've had in my links list for a few years, to see Don Burrhus' tutorial (pdf link).

I missed an over/under on my first attempt, untied it and started over, getting it right with the second and third attempts shown in my photo.

I used around 3.5 feet of orange tether cord for the smaller cross, then did another with 4.5 feet of olive drab ungutted paracord, but you may use more or less depending on how loose or tight you work the cord, or if you want a longer loop out the top, or add a bead at the bottom with a knot to finish, etc...  I've used fishing swivels for past projects, so I had a few stashed away to use with these, and probably a few more in a tackle box somewhere in the garage...

I didn't have any bobby pins to use as shown in the instructions, so I just temporarily lashed together a couple of my paracord lacing needles with 0.9mm cord to knot over, and just pulled them out when required.  The paracord version looks to be just the right length to insert a small firesteel in the vertical section, for survival use on a zipper pull.

Another made without a swivel, attached to my Victorinox Silver Alox Lumberjack.

And one made with two colors, for use as a bookmark and shown with 'Strength for Service'.