Sunday, February 03, 2013

Mora knife paracord chain sinnet sheath wrap...

I made this paracord sheath wrap around a Mora 546 with the same chain sinnet method that I used in the previous blog post project, with a short video I uploaded showing the basic method used.

I used a little over 40 feet of paracord for the wrap and a few more for the neck lanyard, shown with an added Navigator Compass and a safety break-away clasp as well.

The chain sinnet allows the paracord wrap to be unraveled in seconds if the cord is needed for something else, and the separate strand used for the neck lanyard remains attached to the sheath.

To reduce the width of the wrap to match the contours/shape of the sheath, I skipped over a loop on the back side of the sheath, reducing the number of chains by one as I worked, made a couple of complete revolutions around the sheath, skipping another loop and around again, and repeated that a third time.  If you don't do that, the sheath will stay the same width from top to bottom, and that's ok if you want it like that, maybe leaving room for some extra survival items, tightly wrapped in a ziplock bag, to fit along side the sheath inside the wrap...

The lanyard strand could also be shortened and/or reconfigured to be used as a belt loop or used to tie/anchor the sheath onto a backpack or other gear.

The knife itself doesn't have a lanyard hole, but I've seen examples of other folks modifying theirs and drill one to add their own wrist lanyard.  The tang of the knife doesn't go all the way to the handle end, so there's no worry of having to drill through the stainless or carbon steel.

Mora makes inexpensive knives, but don't let the low cost fool you.  They're made well and you get decent value for a good all-around utility fixed blade knife.  The sheaths are just molded plastic, but functional, and that helps keep the cost of the knives down.

You can make your own leather or kydex sheath, or buy one from a custom maker, some offereing extra add-ons like firesteels.  You could add a paracord wrap to some of those type of sheaths too, but that may or may not work depending on how they add belt loops or a Tek-Lok.

I didn't add a firesteel to this sheath, like I did another Mora wrap, but one of those smaller 1/8" x 2" models could be tucked inside the knot work, or the chain sinnet possibly worked around one or a holder/tube made for one...

Other possibilities for anchoring the sheath are tying onto the sheath's belt slot at the start, or maybe drilling a hole through the sides, at the bottom of the sheath and running the cord through before finishing.  Some grip tape wrapped around the sheath before tying can also help keep the wrap in place.

9 comments:

KnotNatural said...

Looks great Storm! Love the chain sinnet, great way to add some cord to a knife other than the typical handle wrap.

Anonymous said...

I love these knifes,beautiful work on it!

Duff said...

Stormdrane,

I couldn't find a way to contact you directly and the contact on your profile page links to your blog, so I'm asking a question unrelated to this post.

Would you consider doing a post on your blog that shows off your paracord stash? Personally, I would love to see a post that shows how much paracord you keep stocked, how you organize it, what tools you have at your disposal, how you store your carabiners/hooks/clasps, etc.

Based on how much stuff you produce, I can only imagine that you have some area of your home/office that is dedicated to paracord paraphernalia.

Please consider it?

Thanks!

Anonymous said...

May I have a site to go to for the 1.4 mm cord please!!

Stormdrane said...

@Anonymous, I have several sources in my links list, here is one:

R&W Rope

Anonymous said...

how much estimated cord was used total for this? I'm thinking of doing this to my mora as well. thanks for your blog!

Stormdrane said...

@Anonymous, Over 40 feet of paracord was used.

Unknown said...

Do you make these on request? And if, what are the costs?

Many thanks and kind regards.

Stormdrane said...

@Cules, I stay away from doing custom request/commission work and selling to keep from getting burned out on my hobby, instead encouraging folks to give knot work a try themselves. :)