Checkered Headhunter Knot

I tied a Checkered Headhunter Knot for a decorative grip around the body of the ULTIMATE EDC CAPSULE, a waterproof Delrin® storage container, that County Comm provided to me in a care package.

Like the previous couple of blog posts that I've shared this week, Checkered Pineapple Knot and Checkered Herringbone Knot, I followed the diagrams in Tom Hall's book, 'Introduction to Turk's Head Knots', to learn the pattern for the Checkered Headhunter knot, which starts with a 5 lead 4 bight Turk's head knot (also the base starte for the gaucho knot).

I used international orange paracord and 3/32" neon green with black tracer tether cord, both received from County Comm, for this project.  I started by tying the 5 lead 4 bight TH with the paracord, which I then raised/expanded into a 7 lead 6 bight knot.  Then I used the tether cord to work in the headhunter pattern, keeping everything straight and lined up, and gradually tightened it down, trimming and tucking the ends to finish.

I had started with 10 foot long lengths of each cord when I started, but only ended up using around six or so feet of each after tightening.  I'd thought I might raise/expand the 7 x 6 to a 9 x 8, but went with the slimmer wrap even though there was room for the larger knot.

The screw on cap of the capsule has a lanyard hole, so I used a leftover strand of the orange paracord, gutted (inner strands removed) to make an attachment fob, adding a Jester skull bead that Schmuckatelli Co. had sent me a few months ago, tying a two-strand footrope knot at the base of the lanyard bead.  I used a remnant strand of the tether cord to tie a simple Solomon bar/cobra stitch/Portuguese sinnet between the lanyard hole and the pewter bead, trimming the end strands with scissors and neatly melting the ends in place with my wood burning tool.

The Checkered Headhunter knot stays in place by friction alone, but you could make it more secure by first wrapping a strip of X-Treme Tape (self-fusing silicone tape) around the capsule body first, and it's certainly grippy enough to stay put and insure the tightened knot work done over it stays where intended.


I added some items to my capsule to provide for a variety of common possible edc needs that might come up.  A few leftovers from an MRE package included salt/pepper, sugar, instant coffee, and a wet nap.  I also added several bandaids, a couple of alcohol wipes, ibuprofen tablets, a whistle/storage capsule with a bunch of 81mg aspirin or a tightly rolled bill of cash might also fit, a titanium widgy bar, Maratac AAA LED flashlight, a firesteel, Companion Compass, and a Victorinox Waiter Swiss Army Knife with micro screwdriver fit into the corkscrew.

You might carry your stocked capsule in a backpack, glove compartment, tackle box, storage tote, or fanny pack.

I'm an Amazon affiliate, so 'Thank You!' to those that shop there through my links, since I receive a small commission from sales through those links posted in my blog.

If you need an edc backpack, check out the limited edition VENOM and VENOM RED mochi drawstring backpacks with Stormdrane logo, which I receive a percentage of sales from, each having a stitched paracord handle that I worked with Mochibrand on for the design.