Secondary considerations when buying or making a paracord "survival" bracelet

I had previously discussed the two primary considerations when buying or making a paracord "survival" bracelet - whether the bracelet comes apart easily and is there a sufficent length of paracord to use in your emergency situation. But there are a few other things to consider.

How is the bracelet finished?

The way a bracelet is finished will decide the amount of useable paracord you'll have when your bracelet is unraveled. Are the ends tucked back into the design of the bracelet or are they melted and stuck to the underside? If melted, your total length of paracord will be less and may make chunks of paracord virtually unuseable.

Shackle or Buckle?


The two connectors you'll see online are the plastic, side-release buckle and the stainless-steel, anchor shackle - the shackle will be stronger, more durable and easier to use than the plastic buckle in your survival/emergency situation.

But I'll add this caution about the shackle: When I first tried making a bracelet, I looked for a side-release buckle locally and couldn't find any so I bought a 3/16" anchor shackle (from Lowes for about $2.50) to use instead. I made a "test" bracelet but found I couldn't attach it to my wrist when it was done. I couldn't slide the pin through the hole then through the looped paracord with my free hand. So I ordered some side release buckles and made some bracelets with those. Maybe it's me though (lots sell the shackle bracelets) but my fingers just won't work that way. (Try Creative Designworks for buckles.)

Should you make a bracelet or a watchband?

If you'd like to try to make one yourself, check out the tutorial by Stormdrane HERE. He shows you how to make either a bracelet or a watchband - or you might use a compass instead of a watch, or try to include both. See some watch-compass combos.

And this brings me to the last of the things you should consider.

How does your bracelet look? Is it comfortable?

These may be your most important considerations. An "ugly" uncomfortable bracelet may spend most of its life in the back of your sock drawer. A "cool lookin" comfortable bracelet however, (with half the paracord) is more likely to get worn and will be more likely on your wrist when you need it. And if you've made it as a watchband, you'll always be wearing it.

So really, there is no "best" survival bracelet - it'll come down to some trade-offs and whether you'll want to buy or make the one that's best for you.

Lastly - you've got an emergency, you take your bracelet apart and you've got a good-sized length of paracord. Now what?

Is your basic knowledge and experience with knots tying your shoelaces? Are you going to wrap cord around and around wasting a good portion of your length when a few inches with the right knot would have done the job?

Take a look through my knot-related site links, practice what you already know, experiment with some new ideas, and if there's one book you should get, it's The Ashley Book of Knots. My favorite chapter (and Ashley's largest) is Chapter 2: Occupational Knots - from The Archer to The Yachtsman, see the knots that are peculiar to each of these 80+ occupations.

And this just in - take a look at something new from Stormdrane - a Doubled Paracord Bracelet. If you're a DIYer, you'll want to experiment and try to duplicate this interesting style.

See ya. And have some fun with knots.

(This was expanded from a post I made on the Every Day Carry Forums.)

Primary considerations when buying or making a paracord "survival" bracelet

A survival bracelet made from paracord (parachute cord) should be constructed so that it comes apart easily and gives you a sufficient length to use in your emergency.



I'll be looking at the 3 different styles you'll most likely find somewhere online: the single-strand solomon, the double-strand solomon, and the single-strand weave. ("Solomon" refers to a solomon bar which is a series of square knots. You can also look at a previous blog article I did on the solomon bar HERE. And the weave is just going over-under-over, etc. then snugging it tight.)
I made the three bracelets for my wrist, about 7 1/4" around. But don't get hung up on the numbers. And I don't want to get too technical with all this. I'm just trying to give you something to think about.

First up is the double-strand solomon, the most popular but as you'll see, is the worst of all three styles for a survival bracelet.


Is it easy to take apart? A solomon bar (a series of square knots) is easy to undo because paracord square knotting doesn't stay tight. But each of those knots will have to be undone individually. So as you're standing there freezing, sweating or in the wind or rain, you'll be fumbling through each knot. Easy, but it'll take a few minutes.

Is there a suffficient length of cord to use? For mine, I used 2 strands of paracord about 50" each. So that's 100" but it's not really 100 because if you need that longer length you'll have to tie a "bend" to join the 2 strands together and that will reduce your total length by about 3 inches for each strand. And the reliability and strenth of that connection will be dependent on the type of bend you tie. But with any knot, it will be weaker than a single strand. So you've got a weak 94" - though that may be good enough for what you need to do.

Second, is the single-strand solomon.

It's comes apart and has about the same length as the double strand but you'll get one long piece of cord. For that reason alone, it's better in a survival situation than the double-strand. If you need two lengths, you can always cut it. You're carrying a knife, aren't you? (Though with the single-strand, you can cut it where you want. With the double-strand, you're stuck with where it's already been cut.)

Third, and I think, the best bracelet for your survival or emergency situation is the single-strand weave. I used about 115" to make mine (more paracord than either solomon) and it's one strand.

But is it easy to take apart?

Taking apart the weave, is like pulling on a loose thread... The way it's put together, it's just one pull and your bracelet (with a little help) will come apart. It's so much faster and easier than the solomons, they shouldn't even be compared to each other.

So, I believe, the weave is your best bracelet for survival.

But don't be so quick to throw out your solomon bar bracelets and jump on the Weave bandwagon till you see what else I've got to say on the subject.

I'm working on a Part 2 to look at the other things you should consider before buying or making your "survival" bracelet. Like should you get one with a buckle or a shackle?

Seems obvious? Don't be so sure.

For now though, you can check out Stormdrane's tutorial on making the weave bracelet HERE. It's what I used to make mine. I'm not really sure anyone sells a "weave" bracelet, most are the square-knotted type - Google "paracord bracelet" to find those.

And if you need to tie your two strands of paracord together, use a "bend" that won't come apart in a couple shakes (like the sheet bend). Try the far-superior Zeppelin Bend HERE.

(This was adapted from a post I made on the Every Day Carry Forums.)

Mountain House Freeze-Dried Food

Three bracelets

I got my side release buckles in the mail the other day and made some bracelets as experiments for a possible future watchband. The two on top are done with square knotting and for the bottom one I used the instruction from Stormdrane found here.

The small buckle is the 3/8" Curved Side Release, the larger one is the 5/8" Curved Side Release from Creative Designworks (I recommend - good prices and my buckles arrived a couple days sooner than I expected).