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Parachute Cord Belt

Parachute Cord Belt
Update 3/21/10 Forgot to say why I even wanted to make the thing!  Silly me...

Here's a custom belt made from a few "D" rings, some webbing, and a single length of parachute cord. The idea was sparked by a customer of mine who noticed the bit of cord that I keep around my neck for tying things out of my way, keeping baby toys from falling out of the stroller, etc. He was an ex- special forces soldier, and mentioned that they used to make belts and all kinds of things out of paracord so that, in addition to being useful, the item could be unraveled in an emergency. When I got home I found only a couple of designs for such a belt, the best of which were published on stormdrane.blogspot.com/. I found that I had some preconceived notions of what I wanted such a belt to actually do:

1) It must hold up your pants. It's a belt. Preferably it should be able to do this even if you need a piece of cord.

2) It must be able to unravel quickly. Paracord is certainly strong enough to retrieve a friend who has fallen through the ice, so time is a concern (a la Slatt's Rescue Knot bit.ly/8sPMIG which can be very difficult to untie).

2.5) It would be nice to be able to make it quickly, just so that there is no subconscious, "is it gonna be worth it? I mean, I spent 3 days locked in a room to make this thing- how good a friend are they?...)

3) Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition. Neither would you expect to need to rescue someone from thin ice, so it must be something you can fit through your everyday belt loops (usually 1") and still look good enough that you will actually wear it.

Here is my answer. Looks good, can in fact be made in 15 minutes, unravels without binding in less than 15 seconds, and can be used a bit at a time while still holding up your pants. It can even be assembled with multiple lengths of cord, allowing any piece that you needed to be put back without making a whole new belt!
 
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Step 1Materials

Materials
Tools:

While this can in fact be done without tools at all, I'm going to use a couple of nails, a hammer, a tape measure, and a needle and thread.

Here's what we'll use:

1) 50-100' Paracord (in case you forgot)

2) 16" of 1" webbing

3) 3 - 1" "D" rings


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17 comments
May 7, 2010. 3:40 PMabehambino says:
you know what would be a great use for this? as a rifle sling. that would be great forsurvival.
May 14, 2010. 9:14 PMsora says:
i second that,  it wold be great for an old m1, m14 or m16
Apr 2, 2012. 9:14 PMchogan3 says:
Great guide and nice Nebelung cat you have there he/she looks adorable.
Aug 9, 2011. 5:54 PMatomiclegocreations says:
cute cat.
Jul 27, 2010. 1:41 PMknektek says:
Whats next? Paracord pants?
Jun 29, 2011. 8:25 PMtheweldingwizard says:
good idea !!! im on it!!!;)
Apr 1, 2010. 12:36 PMBroom says:
Maybe it will be clear once I make it, but - how do you take off some, and keep the rest of the belt intact?
May 6, 2010. 9:26 PMlaborspy says:
i like the idea, but need to come up with another method of making the end without the black piece of nylon.  like i said i really do like the idea.
Mar 21, 2010. 12:11 PMunclelar says:
If you started with 32" what was the finished length of paracord part that you did.I am wanting to make a non-adjustable rifle sling and would like to know what you lost in length.They call this the SLATTS rescue weave,I think it is because that is the name of the guy that first did it.I have searched the web for quite sometime looking for info on how to do this,yours is by far the best I have come across.Great job!!
Jan 16, 2010. 3:24 PMbucklipe says:
 In this step the measurement is 35 inches, on the next step it looks like it is 32 inches, were these measurements for two different belts?

Do you set the nails the same distance as the measurement or do you add some in to compensate for the "shrinkage" due to the vertical weave?
Jan 16, 2010. 3:40 PMbucklipe says:
 Could you post some pictures illustrating the part about taking out the half hitches and finishing the belt?
The description is adequate for ending the loops but not for what to do with the end.
I've found some other Instructables that show different ways to finish the end but having it here would be better. 
Also could you show the sewn webbing end. Thanks
Jan 16, 2010. 3:27 PMbucklipe says:
 Could you offset the yellow boxes in the third picture so we can read both of them? Thanks...
Dec 11, 2009. 6:24 AMScott_Tx says:
Nice looking belt. I havent tried it yet but I wonder if a video on youtube might help explain the weaving better.

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