Laces as cordage?

A newbie wondering: You know those brown/yellow laces that come with a lot of work & hunting boots? Taslon or something like that? Considering how compact they are, would a pair of those in 60" or 72" in a hunting vest pocket make for decent emergency cordage? I mean, heck, it's nice to have spare laces, anyway. And they seem tough enough to hold up to other duty in a pinch. Or am I missing something?

Sure, but I would probably go to a climbing store and buy some 3-4 mm spectra cord. Its very compact and you know how strong it is because it has to be rated for strength on the roll in both working load and breaking strength. Or you could just carry 550 cord like everyone else its cheap and comes in lengths long enough to be useful.

For about the last month I've been using 4' lengths of 550# paracord as shoelaces. I find myself stopping to tie my shoes about twice an hour. It's driving me crazy. <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> I'm going back to wallet carry for my cordage.

Regards, Vince

I have heard from a lot of people in the past about reaplacing their boot laces with 550 cord. Seems like a great idea to me. For compact cordage in general I like 100# Firewire which can be found any place with deep sea fishing equipment. For anything having more than 100# of strength, I haven't yet found anything with a better compactness/usefullness ratio than true 7 strand 550 paracord.

If you tie them with a square knot with bows not a granny knot with bows they will hold a lot better!

Paracord as shoelaces and a backup reserve is a great idea- until you do it. Then you are walking around like a little child in daddie's boots. You can remove the very usefull 7 inner strands in the field and finally have proper flat laces. Or, weave the paracord belt and hope gravity doesn't humiliate you in front of that mythic GRIZZ everybody has nightmares about. Personally, I carry enough of the stuff in my rucksack to tie off to a tree at journey's start and just reel myself in if lost. <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I have paracord on a pair of my hiking boots because I needed to replace both laces while camping and just have never replaced them. They work OK, but are difficult to tighten properly or keep tied. If not tied with double knots you might asa well not bother tieing them at all.

Like Chris said I have gutted paracord on my wildland boots which works very well indeed.

If that's what you're comfortable with... personally, 10 or 12 ft. of 550 cord doesn't take up much more room, and it's a WHOLE lot more versatile.

Troy

While a Paramedic, I always used 550 cord on my duty boots. I didn't have a problem with them staying tied, but I believe I used kind of a surgeon's knot.

I used 550 cord on my snowboard boots this winter. Just had to make sure to double-knot them, which I did anyways. I couldn't find a pair of laces I liked in any of the ski shops, so I just grabbed some paracord.

I carry some 7/64" spectra cord in my kit. It's really cool stuff, rated for 1200lbs IIRC. You can also get even thiner stuff designed for kites. I think chopping your cord into small enough pieces for boot laces takes some of the flexibility out of your options.

-john

That Spectra cord looks like pretty good stuff. Anyone else have experience with it? What's it's intended purpose or what is it commonly used for?

Spectra is intended for uses where low-stretch is important. I use it for flying stunt kites. Stretchy lines reduces the responsiveness of the kite. But that's really thin line I use for that, 50lb to 150lb test. My buddies who kite-surf use heavier spectra. It's also used for sailboat racing, spinnakers also need delicate handling, and low stretch keeps them from needing re-trimming in gusts.

I like a little stretch in my boot laces, so spectra would be the last thing I would use.

I use paracord in my taller boots, and I haven't had much trouble with them. However, I cut them long and wrap them once around the top of the boot. Helps keep everything tucked in where it belongs, but it might be a case of tension being applied in two directions. Never really thought about it.

If you want to try, cut them about 14-18 inches long. Lace them to the next to last set of eyelets, then wrap them around, and thread them through the last eyelets. Tie with a double knot. This has worked for me for years, and it keeps the snow out.

I e-mailed the folks at the link JohnN provided for spectra cord. Asked them about knot-tying characteristics of the product as I've read (maybe on ETS even) that Spectra fishing line presents knot-tying challenges (slippery, somewhat stiff) -- although allowing that the 7/64-in. is thicker, braided, multi-strand and might behave differently. Their helpful reply:

You are correct, because this is multi-strand there is give in the cord when tying a knot. With single strand, the spectra is fairly inflexible, so getting the loop in a knot to close is a challenge. And yes, the spectra is slippery. I have used this spectra to tie down gear on my car and it holds well -- and sometimes the knots are difficult to untie. The spectra is not like other cord -- there is some tensile rigidity to it. Some people don't like this quality when trying to use -- they want to lay flat or other folding/compacting uses.

YMMV

Yes, the cord I linked to is braided and does have play in it. It is also easy enought to melt the ends to prevent unravelling. It is slippery, but the braid makes it easier to work with. Keep in mind it doesn't have a protective covering so it is exposed to abrasion and UV.

I also have some 3mm New England Tech cord (technora, not spectra) and that stuff is not braided has ZERO play in it. It is stiff even bending it. The technora core also doesn't melt for anything either. This does have a (VERY tight) sheath around the technora core.

The tech cord is much harder to use.

-john

Edit: Here is a picture of some various cord. From the top:

1) some glow in the dark cord (don't bother)
2) Kelty reflective cord (200lb, spectra core?)
3) glow in the dark lanyard from CMG Infinity
4) the Spectra cord in question

Cordage Picture

Here is one of just the Kelty and Spectra cord:

kelty-n-spectra

I don't have any closeups of the New England Tech cord, but here is a pic from my kit:

3mm New England Tech Cord

Instead of the normal "over and under" preparatory to tying bows, add an extra "over and under"

It's a surgeon's knot, and it will hold.

Well, I've been experimenting with this knot:

http://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/secureknot.htm

So far so good. It seems to be securing the paracord much better than the standard shoelace knot. The only problem of course is unlearning centuries of bad shoelace-tying habits. <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Many thanks to Mr. Ian Fieggen!

Regards, Vince