Paracord Lanyard InstructionsFor Complete Beginners

Paracord Lanyard Instructions

An intricately woven paracord lanyard to hold your keys or pocketknife. The "king cobra" design looks cool, and you'll always have 12 feet of super-strong paracord handy.

Paracord Lanyard Materials

You will need:

• 13 feet (approx 4m) of 550 paracord*
• Metal clip - from key-cutter shop
• Ruler or tape-measure
• Rubber band
• Scissors
• Lighter

*Stormdrane's original instructions recommended 10 feet, but I'm sure I used at least 11 or 12. I recommend starting with 13 feet, because it's really annoying if you run out of cord right near the end after all that weaving.

550 paracord is about 4mm (somewhere between 1/8" and 1/4") in diameter. It feels a bit like a nylon shoelace. You can buy it at army surplus stores, camping and outdoor stores, or ebay.

Click here for paracord

Where can I get paracord?

You can get cheap stuff, and you can get good stuff, but the trick is to find good stuff that's cheap!

I used to recommend eBay or Amazon, but now I recommend a place called "Camping Survival ", because they're a good combination of price and quality. They sell 550 paracord for as little as $,3.99 / 50ft, which comes out as about $,1 per bracelet or lanyard.

All the paracord they sell is manufactured by certified U.S. Government contractors. You can click the image to the left to visit their store.

I've tried using other, slightly thicker cords, but they produced rather chunky lanyards. I'd stick with the 550 paracord if you can find it.

Got your materials? Great! Time to learn how to make a paracord lanyard with them.

Paracord Lanyard Instructions Step 1 - Mark the Center of the Paracord Step 2 - Tie a Lanyard Knot

What's a lanyard knot? It's this decorative, round-ish knot:

How do you tie it? Just follow my easy step-by-step lanyard knot video. I promise it's not that hard. But if the lanyard knot looks too intimidating, you can always just do a simple overhand knot instead like this:

Whichever knot you choose, you'll probably need to adjust its position a bit once you've tied it. Make it so that the loop on the end is about 2" (5cm) long. Also, you want the center of the paracord (marked by the rubber band) to be right on the end of the loop.

Step 3 - Measure Lanyard Length Step 3 - Cobra Stitch Step 4 - King Cobra Stitch

Continue all the way back up to the metal clip. (In this pic I'm using a mini carabiner as a clip.)

Step 5 - Tidy Up Loose Ends

It's time to snip off the loose ends from the king cobra stitch. Pick one loose end to start with. Cut it short, to leave about 1/4" (5 mm) poking out of the bracelet.

Melt this end with a lighter, and press on the molten end with a wet finger (or the flat edge of a knife). This stops it fraying. Also, by pressing on the end, you squash it into a sort of mushroom shape (like the head of a nail), which stops it working loose. Just be careful not to burn your fingers!

Repeat for the other loose end.

Here's a picture of one of the molten ends to show you what I mean:

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