Whilst trawling for indoor activities recently, I stumbled across paracord bracelets and promptly fell into a black, braided-nylon hole.
It became clear, very quickly, that I’ve been worryingly underprepared for the curveballs life might throw at me.
Emergency tourniquet for a severed limb? Paracord’ll fix it.
Improvised gillnet for an unplanned trout dinner? Paracord, naturally.
A shin-high tripwire to alert me to intruders or roaming children? You know the drill.
People have used paracord to make hammocks, rifle slings, dog leads, even axe handles. Impressive, but also the sort of projects that suggest a lot of free time.
For the rest of us mere mortals, the dads whose biggest expedition this week is surviving the Bakerloo Line at rush hour, the emergencies are a little more grounded:
A shoelace disintegrating at the school gates
Your apron neck strap giving up mid-spag bol
A football net tearing just as your kid scores a worldie
Which brings me to the perfect entry point into this surprisingly addictive world: the paracord bracelet. Easy enough for anyone with opposable thumbs; exciting enough to qualify as a wet-day mission; and who knows, you may one day uncoil it and genuinely save the day.
BBQ flavour, incase you were wondering
How to Make a Paracord Bracelet
There are lots of different types you can create. This is one of the more straightforward ones, made with two colours for maximum punch.
What You’ll Need
550 Paracord Kit (£13.89 for a bag of 24 x 10ft cords)
Buckles (£6.19 for 50)
Lighter
Scissors
1) Prep for Weaving
Thread one half of the buckle onto the paracord (1), and then melt the other paracord to the end of it using a lighter (2) before pulling it tight (be careful not to pull so tight that the cords separate).
Now thread the opposite ends through the other half of the buckle (4) and back over to the other half buckle (5), ensuring the distance between the buckles matches the wrist size desired. Clip the two halves together to check you haven’t put them on upside-down (a surprisingly easy mistake for someone who considers themselves mildly competent).
Feed the ends through the loops on each side of the buckle (6) and then pull tight (7).
2) Start the Weave
Take the right cord and loosely cross it over the centre (8). Take the left cord, go under the centre, and up through the loop you just made on the right (9).
Pull tight (10).
That’s your first knot done (11).
Now switch sides and repeat. It’s essentially a polite tug-of-war (12, 13, 14).
3) Find Your Rhythm
Keep alternating left, right, left, right - knot by knot - pulling tight as you go.
Think of it as meditation, just with slightly more nylon and slightly less inner peace.
4) Finish Off
Go all the way down to the buckle and it will eventually look like this (15). Cut the ends off as close as you can (16), the carefully melt them with a lighter so they fuse and don’t unravel (17).
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