I too cut it at an angle, burn the ends, and then use tweezers or needle nose pliers. For lanyards I prefer to take the inner core out first, which helps a little with the threading. For neck lanyards I never knot and use the plastic stops that hopefully would break.

Since I usually want a loop on the other side of the cordlock I put a piece of wire through the doubled cord, feed the ends of the wire back through the cordlock and pull the paracord through.

If you want only a single length you could do the same and then pull the free end of the paracord through after.

Thanks! Lots of ideas here, most of which do not seem to require that I sprout a third hand first.

But . . . it would be so useful!

For an easy break joint, this is what I do:
1)Take an empty .22 shell and cut off the head
2)Insert each end of the cord into each end of the shell
3)Crush shell with pliers and hammer it down

The cord is now retained inside the shell by friction only and offers no danger of hanging yourself.

I cut the cord at a 45 degree angle so that the end it pointy.

You can also remove a inch or so of the inner strands so that the end of the cord is not so fat.

Can also melt the tip in a flame to make a hard point.

melt the ends w/ lighter, wait a couple seconds, wet your fingers, then grab and twist the still melted (and HOT) ends to a point.

I hate blobs on the ends of cords, but for me, at least, this just leads to burnt fingers. If I wait for it to cool enough not to get burnt, even with wet fingers, it's too cool to form properly.

So I use the side of the lighter and a suitable surface to roll the hot blob down into an end piece.