For a proper counterbalanced hang to keep food away from bears, one can use close to 100 feet of cord if you use a doubled retrieval cord as well as the hang cord.

I like 2mm cord for most things. Smaller (1mm) is harder to tie and untie. 550 cord is too bulky for most uses and not strong enough for life support uses.

That's the stuff. It's tarred which gives it a good level of mildew resistant. It's very strong for the size and takes knots very well (it's just on the edge of feeling 'tacky' from the tar used to treat it). Bank line works extremely well to tie Prussik knots on other kinds of cordage, too.

I use the braided stuff but the twisted will work as well.

I've never bought any of that bank line, but I looked it on on those Amazon links and very well may have to buy some!

Just looking at the picture of it, reading about the tar, reading about the stiffness, and letting my imagination run wild - I'm assuming that knots tied with it should probably be considered permanent. Is that true? I would think that once the stiff cord "kinked" into place in a knot, and the tarring took hold, there's no way you'd be able to untie it. But it's difficult to know for sure without ever having touched or seen the stuff in person.

Paracord varies in how easy it is to untie for me. Something like a tautline hitch usually unties easily, but other knots - especially if they get wet and are under heavy load - are darn near "permanent" in paracord.

The bank line is a somewhat stiff to be sure. Yeah, if you tie a square knot it's not going anywhere. Paracord is easier to untie (of course that makes it aggravating when using it as shoelaces). To me the ideal is paracord as a ridgelines and bank line for guy lines and Prussiks.

Yes, same stuff - it comes in braided and twisted. The twisted variety can be separated into smaller threads as well. Braided is usually stronger at the same diameters, less likely to fray or unravel at the ends or from partial thickness cuts and abrasions, more symmetrical, and ties/holds knots better (although with the tar embedded, that's a moot point).

Dave Canterbury has heavily promoted the use of bank line even over paracord for most applications. Although it can be used for tie downs for tents/tarps, I prefer to use hi-visibility guy lines like Kelty triptease because I'm bad for tripping over them!

and I just bought another 50 meters of the stuff.

And I just forgot 100' hanging in the trees on my last excursion. I was using it to hang my sleeping bag for airing out and forgot to take it with me. So whoever finds it is getting a bonus!

May I suggest better word usage. It sounded like you said, "And I just forgot 100' hanging in the trees on my last execution."

Jeanette Isabelle

...and too much duct tape.