Paracord, also known as 500 cord, was originally used as its name implies, as part of parachutes. It has since expanded its use to a vast number of uses, including articles of clothing, whip making, and furniture, to name a few.
I’ve personally made a whip out of it, and quite the chore THAT was!
I’ve also previously made bracelets, belts, watch bands, containers, slings for throwing rocks (think David and Goliath), and as a woven top for a PVC frame table we use while camping. The real stuff is HANDY. (And while I’m on the subject, Stormdrane can teach you how to make a LOT of paracord items, go give him a peek)
So when I saw “paracord” at Home Depot, I bought several of the 100 foot rolls, and I was pretty happy…at first.
Let me back up a bit and explain what REAL paracord is. Paracord is a lightweight braided rope, usually with a core of 7 to 9 strands of twisted nylon, all designed under a military specification, MIL-C-5040H . I say usually, since the specification actually lists 6 types, some with core, others simply the outer shell, each type being a different strength and size. The typical paracord everyone talks about is type III. With a nominally listed breaking strength of 550 pounds, thus the name “550 cord”.
This is where the product being sold by Home Depot falls short. Like many other commercial enterprises, they feel that if it looks like the original, it must be as good as the original. Not so, at least when you look “under the hood”.
The Depot cord, while it LOOKS like the real thing, is listed with an overall breaking strength of 100 pounds, a far cry from the 550 it is supposed to be. Not an issue, you say? Well if I pick up a piece of “paracord” and expect it to hold my weight….well, dammit, it had better do so!
It is sort of like making a pistol out of the same material as the real thing, only it is in actuality just an Airsoft gun. Not what you expected it to be when you grabbed it to stop that charging grizzly, was it?
A little dissection of the cord also reveals more issues. The inner cores are actually just cheap braided nylon, loosely braided at that!
Color me unhappy. So yes, I have some cheap knockoff paracord. I’ll not be using it for anything “important”, but I’ll also not waste it either. There is always a use for cordage of some sort…and sometime I hate to waste a piece of the GOOD paracord on a short term use project…
For now, I’m back to buying my paracord from Amazon, since they treat me right. Wherever you buy it, be sure to verify that it is 550 pounds breaking strength.
You don’t want to need it and knot have it.
Peace,
db
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What I do with the stuff from Home Depot is pull out the white core and just use the outer covering. Since most of the everyday stuff I make is just for fun it works pretty well. It makes great key fobs and other stuff. With the core removed you can get a tighter pull on your weave. It probably would be great for shoe laces as well. I too was very disappointed with this stuff.
Yeah, the outer shell seems to be OK if used like you mentioned (great idea too, btw!), but like you said, this stuff is mostly a disappointment.