The paracord reference
Tie it, weave it, trust it in the field.
Paracord Central is a reader-run magazine about parachute cord and light bushcraft: clear knot guides, projects you can finish in an evening, and honest advice on the cord worth buying.
Start here
Learn the cord before you cut it
Paracord looks simple: nylon shell, inner strands, endless colours. Knowing its construction, sizes and real working limits is what separates a bracelet that decorates a wrist from cord you would bet a shelter on.
Paracord 101
What is paracord?
kernmantle construction, military history, and why 550 cord became the default cordage of outdoors folk.
Read the primer →
Reference
Paracord types & sizes
Type I to Type IV, micro cord, mil-spec versus commercial: a plain-language table for picking the right diameter.
Compare the types →Buyer's guide
Paracord supplies
What a starter kit really contains, which tools earn their place on the bench, and the cord we would spend our own money on.
Read the buyer's guide →Knot guides
Knots that earn their keep
A knot is a tool you carry in your hands. These are the ones we actually use: each guide includes a diagram, common mistakes, and when to pick one knot over another.
Decorative
The lanyard knot
A symmetrical stopper that turns any cord end into a grab loop: the finishing move on lanyards and knife fobs.
Tie the diamond knot →
Friction
The prusik knot
The climber's friction hitch that grips when loaded and slides when slack: tarp ridgelines, adjustable guylines, hauling.
Learn the prusik →
Technique
How to braid paracord
The three-strand braid and the weaves behind every bracelet: cobra, king cobra, fishtail, the grammar of paracord craft.
Master the braids →Projects
Weekend projects, bench to trail
Every project is written for a first-timer with two hands and a pair of scissors: then annotated with the refinements that make gear-snobs nod.
Bracelets
Cobra weave bracelet
The project everyone starts with, done properly: sizing, tension, buckle choices and clean melted ends.
Weave a cobra →
Keychains
Box knot keychain
Four loops, thirty minutes, a keychain that survives pockets for years. The ideal second project after your first bracelet.
Tie the box knot →
Lanyards
Cobra knot lanyard
A cobra-stitched spine ending in a steel clip: keep a knife, light or whistle exactly where your hand expects it.
Build the lanyard →
Keychains
Monkey fist keychain
Three passes of wraps around a marble or ball bearing, patience required, swagger included.
Wrap a monkey fist →
Bracelets
Fishtail bracelet
Flat, symmetrical, quick to deploy: the fishtail is the cobra's dressier cousin and uses half the cord.
Try the fishtail →For the trail companion
Paracord dog collar
A wide, padded, washable collar that outlives nylon webbing: with a welding trick for the hardware.
Collar your dog →Field craft
Cord is knowledge you can unroll
Fifteen feet of 550 in a bracelet becomes a bootlace, a tourniquet strap, a snare wire wrap, a clothesline, a gear hoist. Our field-use guide walks through the deployments that actually work; and the Hollywood myths that don't.
Off the bench
What our readers keep in the other hand
Paracord is rarely anyone's only pastime. Three detours our readers send us, kept here because they teach the same thing cord does: patience, vocabulary, and knowing your limits.
Les meilleurs J-RPG, a French shelf of role-playing games, for the winter evenings when the weaving jig stays folded.
lexique de l'art graphique asiatique, because every craft names its forms before it teaches them, and Asian graphic art names them as carefully as knot books name bights and bends.
hjælp til spilproblemer, the Danish help pages worth knowing about before you need them, for the moment a pastime quietly stops being one.
Before you buy
Not all "550 cord" is 550 cord
Stretch tests, sheath percentages, fake mil-spec labels: our buyer's guide shows you how to spot cord that will hold up when it matters, without paying expedition prices.
Read the paracord buyer's guide