Paracord Bracelet Instructions

As you begin your journey in pursuit of learning how to make these cool paracord bracelets you may feel overwhelmed at all the knots, weave patterns and designs that are out there. But rest assured they aren't as complicated as they may seem at first blush.

For starters, most of the common paracord bracelet instructions that you'll find start out by showing you the standard cobra knot, or solomons bar, and that weave is nothing more than a series of square knots tied over and over around a center paracord core. While the pattern itself looks complicated and involved, it's actually not.

As you progress you'll want to challenge yourself with more complicated and detailed designs, and even use different types of hardware, like the steel shackle buckle shown in this photo. Most importantly, however, is that you'll quickly realize how fun these paracord bracelets are.

Paracord bracelets owe their name to the Paratroopers who first began using cordage to create different projects. In WWII, soldiers were dropped into enemy territory by parachute and they were trained to quickly gather and hide (bury) their parachute rigging.

It didn't take long for the soldiers to realize that the cord used to connect the parachute to their rigging was very strong, and very useful for many tasks from trapping animals (and enemies) to creating survival shelters and splints. So the troopers would cut off the paracord before they buried the parachutes and stuff the cordage in their pockets.

Later, in their foxhole or tench, and while bored, the soldiers quickly realized that they could use the cord to craft useful and cool things like "paracord bracelets." And they became quite adept and skilled. Today, of course, soldiers the world over use paracord, too, and craft their own cool paracord gear.

This parachute cord (paracord) is extremely strong, with each strand having a minimum strength rating of 550 pounds, which is why the cord is also called 550 cord in the military. Today most soldiers replace their boot laces with paracord for the specific survival and emergency uses that it has. Within each cord are seven smaller individual strands and each, on their own, has a tensile strength of more than 75 pounds, so you can see how have a section of paracord handy can be quite useful.

Now that you know you want to learn more, to start crafting your own paracord bracelets and other cool gear, turn to resources that make learning easy and fun. Here's a link to an article with the best paracord bracelet instructions for some of the top patterns and weaves, and it includes links to both written instructions and video tutorials, so learning couldn't be any easier.

For learning the basic cobra knot, in the easiest step by step guide that you'll find, try this article on learning how to make a paracord bracelet in easy steps. You will find large photos for each and every turn, and within minutes you'll be making your own survival bracelet. There is also information for learning how to splice different paracord colors and even making a Monkey Fist as shown in this photo.

Eventually you'll want to add buckles to your projects, as you progress, and learn more about about your options regarding buckles and hardware, and make different looking bracelets. Most people start with the simple ball and loop bracelet as you'll see at the article I referenced, but eventually you'll want to use plastic buckles for their low price and ease of use. For really cool and rugged looking bracelet move up to using the steel shackles as shown in the introduction photo at the top.

Don't give up on learning these weaves; once you figure out how simple it is you will be amazed at the different straps, belts and lanyards that you can create, in hundreds of different colors and patterns, for some really unique, rugged and cool gear.