Woven paracord bracelet/watchband

This tutorial will show how to make a paracord bracelet or watch band using a weaving method. More knot work with releated links and resources can be seen on my blog page, Stormdrane's Blog.

Step 1 Supplies

For this project, you'll need approximately 10 feet of paracord, scissors, lighter, tape measure, hemostats, watch, and a 5/8" side release buckle. I used a 5/8" ITW Nexus contoured side release buckle, but you can use other less expensive ones like those found at Creative Designworks.

Paracord can be found at local Army/Navy stores or from various online sources: Supply Captain, Lighthound, Rotokid, Cool Glow Stuff!, ebay, etc...

The actual amount of paracord that will be used depends on your wrist size. My wrist is about 8.5 inches and I actually used around 8 or 9 feet after finishing the bracelet/watchband. So using 10 feet is a safe estimate for most folks, since having too much cord is better than coming up short when making your project.

*If making a watchband, the watch needs to have about 5/8" space between the lugs(where the watch pins go) so that 5 strands of paracord will fit.

Comments

[BLUEBLOBS2]

Here's mine.

[Stormdrane]

Nicely done!

[BLUEBLOBS2]

Is that a Zippo lighter?
-BLUEBLOBS2

[Stormdrane]

It's a Zippo lighter body with a Z-plus butane torch insert.

[BLUEBLOBS2]

Awesome.
-BLUEBLOBS2

[BLUEBLOBS2]

This is one of the coolest paracord projects I have seen.
-BLUEBLOBS2

[Adambowker98]

Does this certain knot have a name?

[Stormdrane]

This paracord bracelet/watchband pattern is just a form of weaving, it does not have a specific name, so that's why I just called it a woven paracord bracelet/watchband.

There's an example of this woven pattern in 'Creative Ropecraft' by Stuart Grainger, one weft and three warps, although the drawn diagram in the book is shown loosely made, so it does not closely resemble the finished tightened pattern.

[Adambowker98]

Thanks! BTW, do you or someone you know of have a fishtail bracelet tutorial or instructable or something?

[Stormdrane]

I have some info with doing a two working strand style in a blog post from a few years ago.

Knot tying friend Ken Cardwell has an instructable for one with a single working strand, that he calls the in-and-out loop, based on a paracord bracelet I'd made a few months earlier.

JD of TIAT has a couple of videos, single color and dual color.

[kbrown1835]

Thanks for the Instructable. I modified your idea a bit and added a second color for the middle two strands to match the watch face color. My watch is a thick Fossil so I created two sides that attaches to the pins and the buckle. Check it out!

[bigandtasty]

would like to know how to do this weave for a bracelet?
Thanks
Chris

[harriesu]

This just answered the question I had for Stormdrane. I have a watch that needs to have the back removed for battery replacement, so I wanted to leave the cord off the back to ease that operation. This solves my problem.

Thanks to both of you guys for your awesome designs and willingness to share!

[zenolijo]

Neat!
Interested of buying a cheap watch just to make this lol

[Stormdrane]

Nicely done!

[~•SMART•~]

Do you know a cheaper watch that can be used for this project? I have gone everywhere in stores to find one, but I can't! It can be online as well.

[Stormdrane]

I've found it best to use a watch that you already have, or one you can examine before buying, because you need to see if you'll have room to fit the paracord over the pins, between the watch lugs, and under the watch.  Watches can vary in styling that will affect whether you can tie a watchband as shown in the instructable, or have to improvise to make it work.

Stores like Walmart have a large selection of inexpensive no-name watches that can be used, as well as similar models to the Timex Expedition that I've shown.

[ArtByNancy]

I have an odd question. I have been braiding cobra weave horse reins. I have lobster snaps on each end. I carefully measure, as the reins must be exactly 8 feet from the tip of one snap to the tip of the other. I clip each end to a stationary object, stretched across a room. As I braid, the line begins to sag. When I finish, the reins have "grown" about six inches!

What am I doing wrong? This has happened on three sets of reins. Is this normal?

FYI, UNbraiding is not nearly as fun as BRAIDING.

[Stormdrane]

550 paracord is nylon, which can and will stretch a bit, and some types(450 and 650) will shrink, so some folks soak it in hot water and run it through a dryer to preshrink it before tying with it.  Longer projects like reins and leashes may experience stretching or shrinking of a much more noticeable length than you find with smaller bracelet type projects like lanyards, fobs, and bracelets.

I've not tied any horse tack, but I think some of the folks over at ubraidit.com might be able to better help you with your project since they have a lot of experience with your particular task. ;)

[ArtByNancy]

Thanks! And don't you guys laugh, but a quick & easy way to pull a cord through a tight stitch is to use a crochet hook.

[gdkaufmann]

Thanks, Stormdrane.

I missed that.

[gdkaufmann]

Just curious...

How do you account for different size wrists? I'm very interested in tackling this project, but the wrist I'd wear the watch on is quite small (I usually have 3-5 links taken out of the average watchband).

Thanks.

Great design by the way.

[Stormdrane]

In 'Step 3' of the instructable, I describe how I measured out the sizing of the bracelet/watchband with my wrist measurement. When weaving, the paracord can/will stretch out a bit, so it will/should fit comfortably on your wrist when completed. 

The cord you use, and how tight/loose you make the bracelet can affect the final fit, so before finishing up, try it on and see if it fits, or is too loose or tight. You may have to untie and retie with appropriate adjustments to get it just right.

[TheAmateurArtisan]

Stormdrane, been reading your instructables for a bit and I saw these stainless steel clasps for the bracelets and watch straps on survivalstraps.com. have you tried them and if so, do you know where to get them? they are a lot more comfortable as others have said but rather than buy it, I want to make these myself.

[Stormdrane]

I have used the clevis/bow/D shackles before with knot work, but do not use them for paracord bracelets, preferring to use side release buckles with the ones I make. The site you mentioned uses another piece with the pin, that makes the bracelets slightly adjustable, and I'd guess that they have those custom made and have not seen those sold separately anywhere.

[#OccupyInstruct]

love the instruct stormdrane, you have the dest paracord instructables on here. but one color is kind of bland, could you spice it up a little and make it 2 colors while still weaving it like that?

[Stormdrane]

The weaving method with a single strand is meant to be done with a single color of cord, but you can tie a bracelet/watchband that looks like a similar pattern using two colors with the 'ladder rack' or 'trilobyte' knots.  I do not have a tutorial using those methods, but someone else may...

[#OccupyInstruct]

thanks for the help!

[Robotob46]

Do you know of any digital watches that can be used for this?

[Stormdrane]

You just have to search for digital watches that have cases and lugs that are just like the ones on analog type watches, that have enough room at the pins to allow strands of paracord to fit.

A lot of digital watches have a short pin/lug/watchband setup, that don't work for paracord type watchbands, although there are adapters for G-Shock type watches, that allow the use of nylon watchbands, but I do not know if they would work with paracord.

An example of a Casio analog/digital combination watch, looks like it would work with paracord, but it's been twenty years since I had a model like that, so I can't say for sure if it would work.  You'd need to go to a store and handle some different models to get a closer look to see what will work with a model that you like...

[misses_soulful]

Did you use a Flat Side Release Buckle or a Curved Side Release Buckle???

[Stormdrane]

I used a curved(contoured) side release buckle, but you can use a flat one.

[nclark8]

Where can you find the buckles pretty cheap, and that takes paypal besides Ebay?

Thanks!!!

[dhemmer]

check out www.survival-pax.com they have many colors and sizes of the slide release buckels and safty side buckles and break away barrel buckles.they have e.l.wood braiding 550 paracord and gladding 550 paracord.with 20 colors of eachof the 550 paracord .@ 6.50 for 100 feet 0r a 1000 foot spool.they ship fast too .

[Stormdrane]

As linked in the instructable: Creative Designworks

[Teknix]

how long are these buckles? I found that 3/4" is going to be ugly long, like it will cover one side of my hand, if I'd want to make 3/4" watch band. 

[Stormdrane]

The Length of the ITW Nexus curved buckle, used in the tutorial, is about 1.75" long.  You can use a slightly smaller 1/2" buckle instead.

[misses_soulful]

Awesome! Thanks! I ordered the contoured one, it made sense to. Thank you so much for making this tutorial! I will let you know how it turns out :)

[Sundevildaddy]

Just made this band (without watch).. for aesthetics, I added (2) 1" welded metal rings (from old dog harnesses), overlapped, and configured in an Endless Loop, in the middle of the band, using the outer bight, skipping 2, outer bight (catching both rings) skipping 2, then outer bight, then finishing up the band as instructed.
I was afraid of loosing some of the integrity of the weave, but just ensure I kept it tight as i went.

From a survivalist perspective, you can never have too much hardware (weight/size minimal of course) and these rings, with the para-chord have hundreds of uses.

I, missed the mark on measuring total length at the start, so wound up a little short. Needless to say, my daughter loves it (black para w/ chrome rings).. now I have half a dozen tweens begging me for one... how can a dad say no? *eyeballs Stormdrane... (sarcastic) thanks ;p
lol I love your work - Thank you for the Instructables!
~Sun

[srmike214]

Thank you! What a great instructable. My watch band came out perfectly from the start.