slatts

For those of you who like to be prepared for anything, you can now do so in style. Paracord bracelets have become somewhat of a fashion item due to the military and survivalist movements. More than a mere fashion accessory, the bracelets can contain up to 20 or more feet of paracord. Belts, watch bands, hat bands, and rifle slings can also be made from paracord as well.

Paracord can have almost as many uses as a person can think of, but in a survival situation it can be an invaluable tool. Used as a lashing for a raft, a swiss seat for rappelling, a tournaquet to stem the flow of blood from a wound, to hang a bear bag while camping, to catch wild game, to make improvised weapons, and the list goes on and on.

King_cobra

There are many ways to weave paracord to maximize the amount of paracord in the bracelets, and many patterns to weave it in. The one at the top of the article is called the Slatt’ Rescue Belt, the next one is the King Cobra Stitch or Soloman’s Bar, and below is the Dragon’s tongue.

dragons_tongue

As well as the normal military colors of black, OD green, and coyote tan, you can use red, blue, yellow, and many others are available at www.vtarmynavy.com
There are tutorials to learn how to do all of these bracelets, and more on youtube. The best by far are by JD from Tying It All Together. The music he uses is kind of new age, but he is great at knotting tutorials. You can find his channel here: http://www.youtube.com/user/TyingItAllTogether I had to rewind the videos a few times to learn some of the knots/weaves, but as complicated as they look, they’re actually pretty easy. Another resource for really cool knot ideas and other things is stormdrane.blogspot.com. Stormdrane does some really interesting stuff.