Paracord: The Essential Prepper’s Tool

Among preppers, paracord is considered to be one of those things that is just too useful to even discuss.  Want to meet a new prepper?  Just look for someone wearing one of those paracord bracelets and cargo pants.  😊  You’ve just found a newbie prepper!  Personally, they are not my fashion choice, but I keep finding them given away as freebies.  They seem to be particularly popular as bonus items tossed in with online orders.  I just take them and toss them into the family BOBs.  Nobody has tried to convince me to wear cargo pants, so I am safe on that one.  😊

If you wear paracord bracelets, no offense intended.  😊

One of these days, I am going to have to clean all the extra paracord bracelets out of the BOBs.  ☹

Uses

The reason paracord is taken so much for granted is that it has all the uses of any string or rope, but is stronger and more compact than traditional rope.

About the only thing that tops a rope in utility is a knife.

Choices

You have a few basic decisions to make when purchasing paracord.  Do you want a color that blends in, e.g. earth tones, or something bright and eye catching?  If you’re of the opinion that you’re going to need to be hidden at some point during your personal disaster, a camo pattern works, but if you want to see it, some of the brighter colors may be more effective.  As time goes by the rainbow of choices seems to keep expanding.

Another choice is the “weight” of the paracord.  The most common is 550.  550 paracord is the default choice, i.e. it is the most common paracord and you’ll run across it everywhere.  The weight is supposed to represent how much weight the rope can bear.  No, I haven’t tested it and I don’t intend to.  😊  However, paracord does come in other weights, so if you need a stronger rope than 550, there are 750, 950, etc. available.

You also need to decide how much paracord you want.  I tend to go for 50-100’ lengths, which I then toss into BOBs, car trunks, etc. so it will be readily at hand when needed.  However, paracord is commonly available in lengths up to 1000’ if desired.

How to Package

Having acquired your paracord, you now need to store it in a fashion that you’ll have it when you need it.  That’s really the idea behind the paracord bracelets.  If you were to wear one of those all the time, you would obviously have the paracord with you when the need arose.  Personally, I haven’t found the cutesy paracord gizmo that has motivated me to do more than toss a hank of it into every BOB, backpack, car trunk, etc. that I might have with me when the need for a bit of cordage arises.

Despite that, I am impressed with the ideas folks have come up with to create an item that entertains, or provides some utility.  One of my favorites is the “Survival Grenade”.

Survival Grenade

This little item is simply a ball of paracord with some survival goodies wrapped inside.  I figure having one of these in my backpack will add some entertainment value the next time I am searched by security at a train or bus station in New York.  😊  Maybe I’ll be able to donate one of these to TSA someday!  😊

Knots

Even if you don’t get into “Prepper’s Crochet”, you’ll probably find it handy to know how to tie a few basic knots.  I learned a few knots when I was in the Boy Scouts a few decades back.  However, many today do not have occasion to pick up some of the same skills I learned back then.  If you feel a bit overwhelmed by a bowline knot, don’t be afraid to get a book or pamphlet on knots for your Prepper Library.  I confess to having a couple books on how to make cutesy items, like paracord bracelets, in my library.  I really have looked for the cutesy item that would motivate me to do something entertaining with the paracord.

The Survival Grenade is tempting, but that’s about it.  😊  For basic knots, I have a Boy Scout manual.  They might come in handy post-SHTF.

Block and Tackle

You may recall my post on Bears.  One of the problems with bears is they will completely destroy anything that smells like food.  As a result, when camping you want to keep your food well away from your camp and really inaccessible.  The favored way to accomplish this is to have it hanging from a branch of a tree some distance from your camp.  A Block and Tackle with carabiners and paracord is an excellent way to place something up in a tree.  The link will take you to a simple video on how to do this using, you guessed it, paracord.

Tip

Paracord is inexpensive, so people don’t tend to think in terms of conserving it.  However, whether you are in a post-apocalyptic world, or just on a camping trip, you may be in a place where obtaining some extra paracord is not possible.  You don’t want to find yourself without an adequate length of paracord, so avoid cutting the cord when you use it.  This may leave you with an excess when using it for one purpose, but when you want to reuse it for a different purpose where you need one long piece of cord, you’ll have it.

Summary

Paracord is really useful and quite inexpensive.  However, if you want a bracelet, try costume jewelry.  😊