for survival needs what can you do with para that you cannot do with cheaper alternatives? i'm not talking about rapelling down cliffs , just repairs, shelters, bowstrings etc. you can use jute as tinder which is a bonus, too. jute or sisal rolls can be had for a buck or two at home depot.

i think some of us prefer para-cord because we used
"binders twine" in scouts and then discovered the cord
in the army/name your service..and never went back..
twine seems to un-ravel and is hard to untie and reuse..

Stronger, easier to work with. Sisal has a habit of breaking under any kind of load larger than a water bottle, unravels and starts to rot in days. While nylon DOES break down under exposure to UV light, it still will hold up longer than sisal.

What sisal does have going for it is that it burns, sorta, which means it can be used as wicks, and biodegrades, so if you have to leave it behind you aren't leaving something for future archaeologists. But if you are out long enough you need wicks, you can make your own cordage, and for practice, pack it out with you. In the real deal, you either break down your shelter when you move out or just leave it, just like scattering rocks from a fire ring.

I've never knowingly worked with jute, so I can't comment on it.

Oh, and I want to see you make a bowstring out of sisal or paracord, I'm thinking it would be some kind of sketchy.

The inner strands.

You get seven inner strands plus the outer casing. That adds up to a lot of line in a small package.

Both jute and sisal break down quickly in sunlight, and neither are very strong. Wind blowing a tarp tied with either will break them loose very quickly.

In fact, jute rots so quickly that most museums will no longer accept any kind of artwork made from it.

Sue

Personnaly i prefer a combination of cord/string for repair and DIYing. paracord is a jack of all trade, but a master of none. It multipurposeness also stops, when you have used it. Innercord is great, but a bit annoying to get when you have already used the cord to tie things. It's also stuff i generally don't use when practising, simply because i like stuff that rot away when i forget to retrieve it and it's cheap.

In my case, for the majority of tie-ing, twine is good enough. I don't use it for long term repairs or building anyways, so no rotting issues for me. I only use paracord and other more high-end cords for stuff that needs to be durable or/and hold a heavy load.

It maybe a bad habit but I prefer paracord or a stout nylon cord because it doesn't rot.

I like to build brush shelters and wickiups. I prefer to leave them intact afterwards since they may be needed by a lost hunter, backpacker, etc who may need them. I do a lot of weaving with living plants so that after I'm gone, the structure will continue to grow stronger.

Huh, I was thinking that the natural fiber ropes actually held up to sun exposure better than synthetics. Much like a cotton duck fabric tent (thinking of a Scout summer camp wall tent) lasts much longer than a nylon or polyester tent.

Most of the long-term tie-downs used at summer camps (wall tents, axe yards) are done with natural ropes and last for a long time (assuming Scouts don't damage them).

Natural ropes are certainly more prone to rot though.

My other experience with natural fiber rope is that once it gets wet and then dries, it shrinks very tight, especially with well done lashings. Sometimes I've needed to cut the rope to disassemble lashing projects that have gotten wet and then dried.

Yes-Paracord

Same with me... I lent some sisal or jute(do not remember which) to a friend to tie down a tarp over the top of his 'tarp over frame' garage... The stuff he had been using kept rotting away(some kind of synthetic string)... When it came time to remove it(6 to 12 months later), we had to cut it away...