Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Some bright shiny copper and a chain sinnet paracord pouch...

I got a couple of new Maratac items in from County Comm last weekThis morning I finished up a new chain sinnet paracord pouch for the Maratac TLL Strobe Light, and added a single strand star knot lanyard to the Maratac Copper CR123 LED Flashlight. I used 2mm black nylon cord for the star knot lanyard on the very cool copper flashlight, with a Flat Titanium Gate Clip for attachment to my belt loop or other gear when needed.  This little copper chunk of cool EDC pocket gear has high, medium, and low settings and the high is incredibly bright for such a small light.  The copper body has a nice weight to it and will develop a patina over time from handling.

The Temporary Landing Light makes a great lantern, lighting up a large room on high, or a tent on low, which makes a nice reading light too.  The strobe is an attention grabbing feature, and there's a tripod mount on the bottom with multiple lanyard holes as well.  The light gets incredible run times, working off a D size battery.

 I made the chain sinnet paracord pouch for the light, stored inside the plastic tube it came with.  I started with about two feet of black paracord for the cinch cord/wrist lanyard, with a cord lock, and tied the two-strand diamond(ABoK #782).

The pouch is made similar to the hitching type pouches, either started on a separate cinch cord or with a loop tied to itself and then the tying process is begun.  I'm sure there's probably a specific 'crochet' term or name for the process of the chain sinnet, but I'm not sure what it might be.

There are other examples of crocheted and knitted pouches and can koozies, some made with yarn and others paracord, done with various different patterns/stitches, that can be found through some googling.  Here's an example of one shown on YouTube.

The chain sinnet may make a nice wrap on a cane, walking stick, or hiking staff, or handle/grip wrap on a flashlight/knife/axe/hatchet/tool too, kept in place with maybe a Turk's head or Gaucho knot above and below...
I used my hemostats to aid in the tying, not having a crochet hook.  The pouch is made from one continuous length of cord, being tied by pulling the needed slack to work with directly from a spool or hank of cord, so there's not the difficulty you get with long starting lengths, like you have with making the hitching type pouches.

I tied the pouch around a hand sanitizer bottle as a mandrel, that was the same diameter as the light storage tube.  The bottom is done like the hitching, where the chain sinnet spirals to the center, with reducing numbers of knots, and the end strand run through the last loop.  The entire pouch can be pulled apart in seconds if needed, by undoing that last lock stitch and pulling, should the need arise to repurpose the paracord.

34 comments:

KnotNatural said...

Great work as always sir! Just got my ABOK today, once the shell shock wears off from the staggering amount of knots I can't wait to start working out of it. Thanks for the link to county comm as well really dig there lineup. Have a good night.

Anonymous said...

Awesome work! How much paracord did you use for the pouch?

Stormdrane said...

@Anonymous, I used a 2 foot length of black paracord for the wrist loop/hanging strap, and about 46 feet of a 60 foot hank of cord that I had started with.

Tying one around a soda/cola can or larger object/mandrel would certainly use more, but how tight or loose the chain sinnet is made will also factor in.

The top of this pouch doesn't close up, but for one that cinches shut, you just space out the initial sinnet on the cinch cord instead of covering it all the way around like I did on this one. ;)

Anonymous said...

I really appreciate your reply! You're a celebrity in paracord, and for you to take the time to reply to paracord noobs... Well that's just awesome.

Ian said...

That copper finish flash light is just awesome. Thank you for posting this

Anonymous said...

Just awesome as always. Did you use gutted paracord?

Stormdrane said...

@Anonymous, The paracord was not gutted for the pouch. It would probably be a bit of a chore to try and keep gutted paracord from twisting/kinking with this project.

It may still be possible with gutted cord, but probably better suited to a smaller version, like a sleeve for a slim flashlight or pocket knife... ;)

W1ULH said...

"being tied by pulling the needed slack to work with directly from a spool or hank of cord,"

I'd love to know the stitch you used to do this with...

rigger said...

I would like to see one of the hitches made if possible. I really like this one.

Stormdrane said...

Video added to the blog post with enough info to get the hang of tying the chain sinnet pouch. ;)

rigger said...

Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Stormdrane,

Thank you for all your vids and work. I am just starting out tying and your site has been a great help. One question I have is about the quality of paracord. I have bought various hunks from different stores around Atlanta but to me they all seem to quickly become flat and don't hold their round profile. I bought a 10ft piece from Michaels of all places and it seems much "fuller" and does not flatten out. Is this normal or have I just bought cheaper paracord. Any advice much appreciated.

Stormdrane said...

@Anonymous, Paracord will vary from different sources, and it can sometimes be hit or miss from the same distributors with good cord and an occasional hank that's not up to par.

There's different types of paracord, 450/550/650, with slight variations in size and inner strands, nylon/polyester, and China is producing it now as well, but I've not handled any of that as of yet.

I get cord from the local Army/Navy surplus store sometimes, ebay, Supply Captain, Going Gear, Amazon.com, etc..

Sometimes the cord on the 1000 ft spools seems flattened out after being tightly wound, compared to 100 ft hanks where the cord has a more round/solid feel, but that can vary too.

Some paracord is labeled from the manufacturer, Atwood, Gladding, Atlanco, Rothco, and others come unlabeled, so you'd have to ask the distributor who manufactures it, and decide if you like it or not after handling/working with it.

If you find a source you like, stick with it. ;)

EDC Planet said...

Wow, I really like the copper finish on that flashlight. Excellent post as always!

branon.rapp.gsxr said...

This is really awesome! Where can I buy one??

Phestr said...

It's funny that you mention crocheting, as I just learned how to crochet so I could make a camp stool out of paracord. If I could figure out how to post a pic, Iwould. awesome post, as always!

Zachsfunk49 said...

I love this technique, so much so that i made a case for my iPad with it and i am loving it. Although i used much, much, MUCH more cord for it. In all i used around 300 feet of 550 cord in my case. Thank you for providing instructions on how you tie the chain sinnet pouch!

Leo said...

Great instructions thanks a lot! Keep up that work!

Did a pouch like this for my nalgene bottle used about 130 feet of 550 paracord!

thanks again!

Paracord Dan said...

Really Impressive work. I made a similar pouch for my water bottle, but decided to use leather to close up the bottom. It's great to have while camping.

Unknown said...

I am all thumbs & so wish I could buy one if these for my TLL! Anyone you can recommend?

Stormdrane said...

@Duncan, Some of the folks in the Facebook Parachute Cord Crafters group sell their work, so you might find someone there for a custom project.

Unknown said...

Thanks!

Unknown said...

Stormdrane,

when it comes to creating pouches,or koozies would you recommend using 450, or 550 parachute cord?

Stormdrane said...

@Paracord Dan, I pretty much stick with using 550 paracord, but for decorative knot work, 450 works just fine, and some folks actually prefer the 'feel' of it compared with 450, 650, and other types of paracord.

If you want the strength and added utility of what can be done with 550 paracord and the inner strands, and being able to repurpose a knotted project by taking it apart, then go with 550 paracord(military spec or commercial).

*Note that 450 paracord tends to shrink(with the polyester core strands doing most of the actual shrinking), so for size sensitive items like paracord bracelets, some folks preshrink their paracord. Ubraidit.com has mention of this on their site.

I've not had problems with 550 paracord shrinking. If an item gets dirty, I wash it with liquid soap and a soft bristle tooth brush in the sink, and then air dry. Some folks 'boil' paracord, but nylon is sensitive to heat, so how high heat affects the paracord aside from shrinking, I wouldn't know...

Chapman said...

Thanks for the video tutorial, Stormdrane, I modified this slightly to make a can coozie. You can find it on my etsy shop here:
lhall05@hamlineuniversity.edu

And I'd love to make custom orders for people as well.

As for your question about crochet terminology, the stitch you made to make this project is called a "slip stitch." An ordinary chain sinnet is called a "chain stitch."

As usual, great work and thanks for sharing!

Chapman said...

Sorry, left the wrong url on that last post. Check out my work here:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/127614593/can-coozie-tactical-can-cooler-survival?ref=shop_home_active

J-Lew's Poo said...

Just started yesterday, but this was a fun project!! Thanks!!

John said...

I Have tried to make it but I am stuck on the bottom you dont show how it closes up and I an kinda just stuck there. Can you help out?

Stormdrane said...

@John, To close up the bottom of the pouch, you have less room for the chain sinnet which is going to spiral towards the center of the bottom of the pouch, so instead of going to the next space like you would working around the sides, you skip over a couple of spots for the next chain.

Continue skipping over a couple more for the next, and again, then you'll gradually close up the bottom, similar to needle/half hitching bottles/pouches/can koozies.

Look at the photos of this bottle hitching example as it is finished up.

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for this project! It took 100'(+2' extra for cinch) of Atwood brand 550 cord to cover my 1 liter SS Nalgene. Using a "Boye size K hook" made it easier to get really snug fit now everybody wants one! Thanks again Stormdrane!

Anonymous said...

if I didnt want a cinch cord, how would I go about doing it

Stormdrane said...

If you don't want a separate cinch cord, you create a fixed loop by tying the cord to itself, then continue with your chain sinnet. See the example of the cow/ring hitching start in the photo collage shown in this blog post . ;)

Esa Virtanen said...

Hey!

I just discovered your work, and you truly have done some nice knotting. I gave your pouch a shot and I'm really happy with how it turned out!

http://imageshack.com/f/p8MnmfuUj
http://imageshack.com/f/knvkM3GSj

I made the mistake of tying the first way around too tight so you can't close the pouch. Do you think it's possible to open up the beginning of the strand and losen the knots up? Might get difficult tying the knots in reverse?

Stormdrane said...

@Esa, I've not tried tying it backwards, so I'm not sure how it would come out, but you could practice first with some scrap cord, tying around a cinch cord and another layer, then go back and remove the too many around the cinch cord and see if you can just do half the number around the cinch cord.

Other wise you could just keep that one as an open top version, or untie and start over, which although aggravating, I've done so my self when I found a noticeable error in a project three hours in, lol...