Cobra stitch bracelet

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The Cobra Stich, also known as a Soloman Bar or Portuguese Sinnet can be used to create comfortable straps as well as wrap handles. In this article, Stormdrane shows us how to use the cobra stitch to create a bracelet from paracord. This technique can be used to make a strap wherever one is needed. The finished product doubles as an emergency source of paracord. Stormdrane's paracord bracelet allows about 8 feet of paracord to be carried. Adding another layer as the 'king cobra' stitch, will almost double the amount of cord used. Some folks may also run the cord back and forth between the buckle ends a couple of times before knotting to increase the amount of cord used.

Darbyfett's rifle sling which holds 80 ft. of paracord for an emergency

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. I get my paracord from the Supply Captain and the side release buckles from Creative Designworks. More projects, links, knot references can be seen on my blog page, Stormdrane's Blog. You can also use glow in the dark cord from CoolGlowStuff.com. The 3/32" size is comparable to the paracord.

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.

Materials

Process

1) Wrap the paracord around your 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.

Measuring

please see paper writing for more info

2) Hold the ends of the cord together and find the center of the loop. Take the center of the cord and pull it through one end of the buckle(either side of the buckle, it doesn't matter). Now pull the cord ends through the loop until it's tightened up and attached to the buckle.

3) Take buckle apart and and pull the free ends of the cord through 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 they fit inside the female part of the buckle when the bracelet is closed).

4) 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 through 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 through 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.

Cobra Stitch

5) 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.

6) 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 {see fusing for photo instructions}, wait a second for the melted cord to cool just a bit and then use my thumb to press the melt 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 may use a soldering iron for the melting step if you wish, or even use something like a butter knife to flatten out the melted end of the cord to finish it.

Fusing

7) 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. By pushing the knots closer together as you go, you can use more cord.