Doing things with paracord has become very popular. This lesson will show you how to build a simple jig that will make tying the paracord bundle or fob much easier and how to tie a length of paracord into a small package that can quickly be undone. There is a YouTube video at the bottom that shows all of this as well.
- measuring and layout
- selecting a drill size, a simple depth indicator and drilling holes in wood
- paracord wrapping and tying
- bits – twist drill type
- pencil for marking
- clamp (desirable)
- board – 2×4 or similar at least 18″ long
- two round school pencils
- tape – masking or blue painters
- Using your ruler and pencil or sharpie measure from one end of your board and make a mark at 4″, 6″, 8″, 10″ & 16″. You want these marks to be in the center of the board.
- Select the drill bit the size of your pencils and hold it next to the board so that the point is a little higher than the bottom of the board and put a piece of tape on the bit even with the top of the board. This is your depth indicator.
- Put the bit in your drill and drill the holes, stopping when the tape reaches the top of the board. Try to keep the drill a vertical as possible, this is called plumb by carpenters.
- Put the pencils in the holes and you are done.
The advantage of a jig for anything is repeat-ability. In this case you can learn how many wraps each length of paracord needs to come out correctly. I’m not even going to try to explain how to use the jig, watch the video. However I did list the settings I’ve found to work at the bottom. You may need to adjust them for the way you tie, but this will give you a starting point that should at least work.
The first hole always gets a pencil and 2nd pencil is placed in the hole that corresponds to the length of paracord you are using and then wrap the number of times indicated. Again see table below the video for the values that worked for me.