I got my techcord it is not supple enought to make a belt out of back to my paracord belt.

Well, I just finished braiding a "Slatts Monkey-chain" belt from 50 feet of white paracord from Seals Action Gear in Calgary ( www.sealsactiongear.com ) and an old Karrimor belt clip that I had lying around. Haven't finished the belt off yet, but here are a couple of observations:

1. 50 feet of (3 mm?) paracord, with three loops in each row, came to almost exactly 1 yard.

2. I didn't need any special tools, but I found it's like splicing a rope - you've got to keep track of where you are. When I quit each night, I made sure to stop at the same point and I wrapped the single loop I had left in a clove hitch around a small piece of broom handle. And I never put the belt down until it was at that point in the construction.

3. As I was pulling it through, I found that it very quickly got twisted; this resulted in the rope "kinking" when I pulled it tight. After the first five "rows" I found that I could fix this as I went by gently rolling the cord clockwise between my fingers as I pulled it through.

The belt right now is about the width of a standard men's dress belt, and fits around my 36" waist almost exactly. This means I can't tighten it up as Slattery-Sinnett recommended, by adding a short length of webbing. But I think it will look quite acceptable if I wear it to work with my dress pants. Maybe I'll just have to break down and get a set of suspenders. <img src="images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

How about "paracord suspenders" in Slatts Monkey-chain <img src="images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

You're a sadist, you know that <img src="images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Here is a picture of a length of the monkey chain sinnet that I made to carry paracord in my pocket. It is about the same size as my wallet and holds 25 ft.

Well, you could turn it into an educational lesson for the kids or local scout troop. just tell them what a valuble skill it is to learn to tie a Slatts monkey-chain, and that the only way to learn is to practice, practice, practice!

Oh, and then YOU get to keep the belt/suspenders! <img src="images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

I finally got mine done, 1.5" wide and for my 38 inch waist my belt holds about 80 feet of 3mm paracord

Thanks for the follow up.

You could loop the paracord inside two pieces of leather belting of any color and stich the pieces together into a belt. If the day of emergency use came to be, you simpliy separate one side of the stiching, unravel the paracord and you still have a functional belt.

What are the advantages of paracord over normal nylon cord? The working strength seems to be similar, 26 lbs. for paracord, 28 lbs for nylon of the same diameter. If the working strengths are similar, the break strengths are probably very close.

Bountyhunter

Where do you get 26 lbs for paracord? Mil Spec paracord is rated at 550 lbs; even if that's the breaking strength (which I didn't think it was) then the SWL would be 55 lbs, I think.

Other advantages, as others on this forum have pointed out, are that the mil spec paracord can be separated into smaller strands; the small inner strands can be used for fishing line, while the outer sheath is still strong enough to use for building a lean-to shelter.

Personally, I don't see the advantage to carrying "concealed" paracord - the belt I made just looks like macrame to anyone who doesn't know the secret, and encasing it in leather would make it harder to unravel, which kind of defeats the purpose. True, if I had to use the paracord in my belt I would end up without a belt, but if I needed one to keep my pants up, I suppose I could just cut a 40" length of paracord and use that. (In fact, I probably would just clip two of my beltloops together with a carabiner.)

Not that I want to discourage innovation; if the "concealed" issue is relevant to you, it seems like it would work. But I'm kinda proud of my "macrame" belt and wouldn't mind showing it off. <img src="images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />