Fist time poster, long-time lurker...

Anybody know of any instructions on how to braid paracord? Looking for simple lanyards and fobs for gear.

Thanks

Welcome Misanthrope

Try this page at Lighthound.com

Also has some useful related supplies here.

I have no affiliation, just satisfied customer, and, FWIW, he enjoys good reputation among folks on Candlepower Forums.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braid

I usually do this with boubling the strands around the item they are anchored to, and braiding the pairs. towards the end, I use one half of each pair to form two smaller braids, then whip it.

boondoggleman.com has instructions on lanyard making, but this is using lanyard lace, which may not lend itself easily to paracord. I've made lanyard fobs from paracord using the circle stitch and the square stitch. Anything more than four strands and it starts to look lethal/obsene. Two tone lanyards are pretty cool.

Repeating what was touched-on in another thread...beware of shrinkage after getting wet. Could ruin gear-lanyard or -braid.

This braiding supply site (click on "parachute cord") suggests preshrinking by soaking in hot water 5 minutes, then drying in clothes dryer or sun.

Testing, I took 12-in. length of mil spec 7-strand, soaked it, then dried. Ended up a little under 11-in.

What about a 5 strand paracord belt? Seems like a great way to have 5 m of paracord available -- if your pants don't fall down.

tro

This has been posted before, but thought reposting would save some search time:

Slatts Rescue (Paracord) Belt

This was posted recently too.

It suggests removing the inner strands. I'm guessing that makes the cord easier to work with, but if I'm using the lanyard as a way to carry more cord, it seems pointless!

Nylon doesn't shrink last time I looked. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I?m as perplexed as you are ? thought nylon didn't shrink. <img src="/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

At the risk of beating a dead horse <img src="/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" /> this may be of interest to anyone intending to make tightly-braided equipment lanyards.

Besides the experiment in my original post (using supposedly mil-spec 7-strand 550 paracord, purchased from a local surplus store), I repeated, this time with mil-spec from CountyComm.

Near-identical results after soaking 5 minutes, then air-drying in the shade. The 12-in. length shrunk 10%, to little less than 11-in. after just soaking in water. Air drying didn?t shrink further. Inner strands shrunk slightly less, maybe because braided differently.

Go figure.

Huh... *confuzzled look* Your dead horse beats me.

Most synthetics have a tendencyto "rebound" after being worked like braiding. That is the shrinkage that occurs. Weathering the material after it has been worked (getting it wet, air drying it), can accelerate the rebounding process. As a rule, leave a newly completed braiding project sit for 24 hours before putting the finishing knot or trimming the ends short. Any further material recovery after that time will be negligible. You've just got to let the project rest for a bit is all.