This tutorial will show how to make a paracord bracelet with a side release buckle. When made on a larger scale, you can make this for use as a dog or cat collar as well. A reliable online source of paracord is the Supply Captain,and for side release buckles is Creative Designworks. More projects, links, knot references can be seen on my blog page, Stormdrane's Blog.
Step 1: Materials
You'll need paracord, or equivalent 1/8" diameter cord, a tape measure or ruler, scissors, side release buckle, and a lighter(torch lighter works best). The amount of cord used can vary, but for this example, we'll use 10 feet of paracord to start with. Actual amount of cord used for the bracelet is about 1 foot of cord for every 1 inch of knotted bracelet length. So if your wrist is 8 inches, you'd use approximately 8 feet of cord.
Step 2: Measure wrist
Wrap the paracord around you wrist and make a note of where the cord meets. Hold this point next to your ruler or tape measure and that's your wrist size.
Step 3: Find the center of the cord
Hold the ends of the cord together and find the center of the loop. Take the center of the cord and pull it thru one end of the buckle(either side of the buckle, it doesn't matter). Now pull the cord ends thru the loop until it's tightened up and attached to the buckle.
Step 4: Finding the bracelet length
Take buckle apart and and pull the free ends of the cord thru the other part of the buckle, sliding it up towards the attached part. You're going to measure the distance between the two buckle ends for the bracelet size for your wrist. Add about 1 inch to your measured wrist length, this will make the finished bracelet a comfortable fit. You're measuring from the end of the female part of the buckle to the flat part of the male end of the buckle(the part with the prongs, they don't count for the measurement because the fit inside the female part of the buckle when the bracelet is closed.).
Step 5: Start making the knots
The knot used for the bracelet has a few different names, cobra stitch, Solomon bar, and Portuguese sinnet. Take the cord on the left side and place it under the center strands running between the buckle ends. Now take the cord on the right side under the left side cord, over the center strands, and thru the loop of the left side cord. Tighten up the cords so the half knot you just formed is next to the buckle. Now take the right side cord under the center strands. The left side cord goes under the right side cord, over the center strands and thru the loop of the right side cord. Tighten up the cords(not too tight, just until they meet the resistance of the knot) and now you have a completed knot. You will continue doing the alternating the left and right sides as you go. If you don't alternate, you'll quickly see a twisting of the knots, just undo the last knot and alternate it to correct.
Step 6: Continue knotting
Keep tying the knots until you have filled the space between the buckle ends. The knots should be uniform from one end to the other. Tie each knot with the same tension to keep the them all the same size.
Step 7: Trim the excess cord and melt the ends
You can now use your scissors to trim off the extra cord closely to the last knot you tied. I trim one at a time, and use my lighter to quickly melt the end I cut, wait a second for the melted cord to cool just a bit and then use my thumb to press the melted end onto the surrounding cord so it hardens as it attaches. You must be careful with this step. The melted cord is extremely hot, and it's possible to get burned, so you might also try using a soldering iron or wood burning tool for the melting step if you wish, or even use something like a butter knife, the side of your lighter, or the knurled section of a tool to flatten out the melted end of the cord to finish it.
An alternative to melting the ends, is to tuck/pull the ends under the last couple of knots. I have used hemostats to do this on the inside of the bracelet, then trim them to finish. It does work, and is just barely noticeable as the cords add a slight buldge at that end of the bracelet.
An alternative to melting the ends, is to tuck/pull the ends under the last couple of knots. I have used hemostats to do this on the inside of the bracelet, then trim them to finish. It does work, and is just barely noticeable as the cords add a slight buldge at that end of the bracelet.
Step 8: You're finished
If you did everything correctly, it should look something like this finished one. Once you know what you're doing, you can vary the amount of cord used by making the knots tighter or looser and pushing the knots closer together as you go can use more cord.
A tip for paracord bracelets: If the side release buckle is large enough, you can loop the paracord around them again before you start knotting, to fill in the extra room on the buckle.
The 1/2" side release buckles are a tight fit for this, but will work, and the 5/8" size are just right.
This leaves a two strand core for the bracelet when you start knotting.
Now, you could also have a four strand core by starting with a lark's head on the first buckle end, double wrap on second buckle end(at your wrist size), run cord back to and over the first buckle end, then start knotting over the four strand core.
Or, for a six strand core, lark's head first buckle, run the two strands around second buckle(at your wrist size), back to and around first buckle(now has four strands around), then back to and around second buckle, and start knotting around the six core strands.
This gives extra cord in case you need it for whatever, but it also makes the paracord bracelets thicker and more rounded, which I personally didn't care for and that's why I stick with the two strand core. YMMV
A tip for paracord bracelets: If the side release buckle is large enough, you can loop the paracord around them again before you start knotting, to fill in the extra room on the buckle.
The 1/2" side release buckles are a tight fit for this, but will work, and the 5/8" size are just right.
This leaves a two strand core for the bracelet when you start knotting.
Now, you could also have a four strand core by starting with a lark's head on the first buckle end, double wrap on second buckle end(at your wrist size), run cord back to and over the first buckle end, then start knotting over the four strand core.
Or, for a six strand core, lark's head first buckle, run the two strands around second buckle(at your wrist size), back to and around first buckle(now has four strands around), then back to and around second buckle, and start knotting around the six core strands.
This gives extra cord in case you need it for whatever, but it also makes the paracord bracelets thicker and more rounded, which I personally didn't care for and that's why I stick with the two strand core. YMMV
Step 9: Other variations.
Once you have the hang of the basic bracelet/collar, you can add another layer of cobra stitches overlapping first set of knots, called a king cobra stitch/doubled Solomon bar/doubled Portuguese sinnet. The amount of cord used for a king cobra is about twice as much as for the regular stitch. Glow-in-the-dark cord can be found at CoolGlowStuff.com. Both the 1/16" and 3/32" sizes work well for the bracelets and can be used alone or combined with paracord.
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Great job, you inspired me to make one of my own. I didn't have a snap buckle though, so I modified mine.
Measure your paracord according to stormdraines version, but add 1 foot. Tie the knot that is in this version. http://www.instructables.com/id/In_and_out_Knot_and_loop_Bracelet/
So I started it like kcardwel's but instead of tieing it to furniture and using a seperate piece of cord, I braided it like stormdraine. The end part was a little tricky. I braided it to the end until there was only enough room to fit the two loose ends of cord through the loop. I had one slightly longer end so I used that one to form the loop for the big knot, I think I tied a knot so the loop was in place. I then loosely wrapped the ends around the loop 3 times and then fed the cord through those loops (like a noose). I then pulled them tight and ran them down under the braids of the bracelet.
Hope this helps :)
-Josie
@helptopia
Thanks
Great instructions! been wanting to make one for a while now. just need to get supplies. what is a store you can get the supplies at?
The size/type of cord used as well as the size/type of ring used will affect the outcome, so there are variables to consider on such projects, where each may differ slightly from one to another... ;)
If 10 feet of paracord is used for a single color bracelet, two 5 foot sections are connected to make a two color version. Example of attaching two colors is shown in my snake knot lanyard tutorial.
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One question nobody has asked... If the ends are melted into the surrounding cord , what strength (or loss of) impact will it have on the Cord when uncalled, and also hw do you unravell it. I want t make one as a spare cord to carry that will actually get used in backpacking etc
A butane torch lighter helps with making a precise melt of the cord end, without damaging the surrounding cord.
The melted part can be pried/pulled apart from the underlying cord, after it's cooled/hardened, when you want to take the bracelet apart.
Alternatively you can use hemostats to tuck/pull the end strands under the last couple of knots on each side of the bracelet and trimmed to finish, and avoid melting issues all together.
Sewing the ends in place also works, but requires carefully cutting the thread between the cords, with a knife/scissors/razor blade, when you want to disassemble the bracelet.
Super glue hardens the cord, so is not recommended if you're planning on taking the bracelet apart. Rubber cement works if carefully applied, and after drying it can be peeled off of the cord.
Glue guns are cheap at WalMart and Kmart and a bag of glue sticks lasts forever and a day if you don't use them for everything.