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***Confidential Report***

Underground Survival-Cord

Secrets

Underground Survival Cord Secrets

*** SPECIAL CONFIDENTIAL REPORT ***


By Caleb Lee

©UGAR LLC 2013 and Beyond

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this report may be reproduced or transmitted

in any form whatsoever, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying,

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DISCLAIMER AND/OR LEGAL NOTICES:

The information presented herein represents the view of the author

as of the date of publication. Because of the rate with which

conditions change, the author reserves the right to alter and update

his opinion based on the new conditions. The report is for

informational purposes only. While every attempt has been made to

verify the information provided in this report, neither the author nor

his affiliates/partners assume any responsibility for errors,

inaccuracies or omissions. Any slights of people or organizations are

unintentional. If advice concerning legal or related matters is

needed, the services of a fully qualified professional should be

sought. This report is not intended for use as a source of legal

advice. You should be aware of any laws which govern the topics

discussed herein in your city, country and state. Any reference to

any person or business whether living or dead is purely coincidental.



Underground Survival-Cord Secrets

You’ve probably seen people running around with “survival bracelets” on; maybe

you’ve got one yourself.

If you do, you’ve probably wondered why they cost so much. After all, it’s just a few

feet of cord and a plastic buckle, doesn’t seem like it should cost all that much.

You might have wondered why those are called survival bracelets or paracord

bracelets as well.

Well, let me start out with the bad news ...

A survival bracelet won’t guarantee your survival if you’re caught out in the woods

some night. I don’t care how good you are at survival skills; it isn’t enough in and of

itself to constitute a complete survival kit. Sorry about that.

However, a survival cord bracelet will help you to survive.

The cord that is used for making that bracelet is parachute cord, sometimes called the

shortened “paracord” or even “550 cord.” It was originally manufactured to military

specification for use in making suspension lines for parachutes. Like anything else

made to meet military specifications, it’s a lot more than it seems to be; tougher than

any other comparable cord.

The name “550 cord” comes from the fact that a single strand of milspec paracord

must be able to support 550 pounds hanging from it. That’s pretty amazing, when you

consider that it’s only 5/32 inch (4mm) in diameter. By comparison, a normal three

stranded 1/4 inch nylon rope (made of the same material) has a 124 pound rating,

much lower than the paracord.

What is typically sold as paracord is actually Type III Paracord. There are six

different cords in the specification, each of which is manufactured slightly different

and with different strength requirements. The 550 pound, Type III cord has surfaced

as the one which everyone refers to as “paracord.”

Paracord is a kernmantle rope, meaning that it consists of an outer braided sheath,

around a core of inner strands, called a kern. This makes for a very strong, highly



flexible rope that is very durable. Should a strand break or some of the strands of the

outer braid be frayed, the integrity of the rope is not compromised. Milspec versions

of Type III Paracord consist of 7 to 9 core yarns, each of which has three strands. The

outer sheath is braided from 32 or 36 strands. Both the kern and the sheath are made

of nylon.

Commercial versions of paracord may not meet these specifications. Typically, they

use less yarns on the interior and less strands per yarn. This greatly reduces the

strength of the paracord; reducing its utility as well. Most of the colorful paracord sold

at retail is commercial, as opposed to milspec, as the military specification limits the

colors to those normally used for military applications.

Before accepting any paracord as being milspec, one should verify that the

manufacturer has a valid Mil-Spec Certification Certificate. Even this may not prove

the cord to be milspec, as the same manufacturers often manufacture cord for the

military as well as civilian markets.

A good check to see if the cord is milspec is to open the end of it up and check the

kern. If it has the required number of yarns and each yarn is made of three strands, it

is probably the real thing.

In this picture, the cord on the left is milspec paracord, having the seven yarn kern.

The lowest yarn has been separated to show that it consists of three separate strands

(please ignore the tape that is holding it in place).

The cord on the right is a non-milspec cord, which has a bunch of strands on the

inside, roughly bundled into three yarns, but not fully twisted as cords should be.

While the milspec cord on the left will support 550 pounds of weight hanging from it,

the one on the right will not. It was not specifically rated on its package, but I would

be surprised if it would hold 100 pounds.



That is not to say that it is worthless as rope; there are still a lot of things you can use

it for.

On the other hand, if you are carrying paracord for use in a survival situation, it would

make sense to carry the best possible paracord, rather than something that might let

you down in a pinch.

Speaking of survival situations ... just what is paracord good for anyways?



What Can You do with Paracord?

While paracord bracelets are a favorite, the same basic design can be used to make

belts, leashes and dog collars.

You can even make replacement straps for a backpack or purse with it.

Backpackers and survivalists replace their boot laces with it, to ensure that they have a

few feet more on hand at all times.

However, these aren’t the main uses for the paracord, merely ways of ensuring that

you take some along with you wherever you go. More important than that is making

sure that you have some with you if you are in a survival situation. The real use of

paracord is when you unwrap it from the bracelet or belt, providing you with a good,

strong length of rope, which can be used in a variety of ways.

Besides a good knife and some matches, rope is probably the most useful survival tool

around. Its utility comes from its versatility. There are many different things you can

do with paracord, or with any rope. The advantage that paracord has over other types

of rope in a survival situation is its relative strength and compact size. No other type

of rope is going to give you as much strength in as small a size as you are going to get

out of paracord.

Being made of nylon, paracord needs to have the ends melted to prevent it from

becoming frayed. Like any rope it will do this fairly quickly if left untreated. The nice

thing about nylon is that this can be done in a moment with a match or lighter. Other

types of ropes require wrapping with a thread, which is much more time consuming.

Paracord can also be taken apart so that the individual components can be used

separately. This is usually done to gain access to the inner yarn, which can be used for

sewing thread to make repairs or as fishing line.

Some of the many uses for paracord in a survival situation include:

Pitch a tent – If you’ve got a tarp or poncho and some paracord, you can easily

make a tent to keep yourself out of the rain.



Hold up your pants – When your belt breaks at the wrong time, you can use

paracord to make a belt or suspenders.

Hang a bear bag – Hang your food from a tree branch, high enough to keep

any bears that are visiting your campsite from getting into it.

Sleeping in a tree – If you’ve seen Hunger Games, you might remember

Katniss tying herself into a tree to sleep at night. I would have tied my body to

the trunk of the tree, rather than just tying my legs to a branch, but the idea is

the same.

Stop blood flow – In the case of a serious injury to a limb, you may need to

stop or slow the flow of blood. A tourniquet made out of paracord will do the

trick.

Repairing broken equipment – If a backpack strap breaks or some other piece

of equipment falls apart, paracord can be just about as useful as duct tape for

emergency repairs.

String a clothes line – Eventually you’ll have to wash your clothes. A

clothesline is a much easier way to dry them than throwing them over bushes,

where they’ll pick up leaves, bugs and twigs.

Tie equipment to your pack – Can’t fit everything into your backpack? No

problem, tie some of it outside with paracord.

Repair torn clothing – Take the paracord apart and use the internal strands to

sew back on buttons or repair tears caused by the underbrush.

As dental floss – While you’ve got your paracord torn apart for sewing, you

can take the inside yarns apart and use the individual fibers for cleaning

between your teeth.

Tie up a captured enemy – If you’re the type that doesn’t want to kill your

enemies, but forgot to bring a pair of handcuffs, you can tie them up with short



pieces of paracord. Using short pieces is much more secure than long ones, as

each additional wrap with a long cord gives more opportunity for slack in the

cord.

As a safety rope when climbing – While paracord isn’t climbing rope, it will

support your weight. If you aren’t all that sure of your climbing ability, use a

couple of runs of paracord to catch you, in case you slip.

Use it for a sling – If you happen to fall while climbing and need to take care

of a broken arm, you can use paracord to tie sticks to your arm for a splint, and

then make a loop out of paracord for a sling.

Make a backpack – If you find yourself lost without a backpack, you can use

paracord to tie up any bundle, putting shoulder straps on it to use as an

emergency backpack.

Make a shelter – The hardest part of making a lean-to or other shelter is

coming up with some way of tying it together. While you can use grass, it’s a

lot harder than it looks. A little paracord will make it much easier to tie those

tree branches together.

Start a fire – Make a bow drill for starting a fire.

Make snow shoes – Snow shoes are a loop of wood, with cords strung across

it, making a surface that won’t sink into the snow easily. A perfect application

for paracord.

Get some food – You can make a sling out of paracord (not a slingshot), use

the inner strands for fishing line or make snares to catch small game.

Hang something around your neck – Flashlights, compasses and signal

mirrors are easily lost. Hang them around your neck on a loop of paracord to

keep them from getting misplaced.

Obviously these 19 suggestions aren’t by any means a complete list.



My intent here isn’t to show you everything that you can do with paracord or a

paracord survival bracelet, but merely to make you aware of the value of having it in a

survival situation.

Now, of course you can buy one ... but like we said before they can be kind of pricey.

And of course – because we want to be self-reliant – let’s talk about how to make

them yourself the DIY way!



How To Make a Paracord Bracelet

We are going to make our bracelet using what is known as the Cobra weave. This is

the most common weave used for paracord bracelets and can be done with one or two

colors. To make your paracord bracelet, you will need:

Paracord

Plastic buckle

Lighter

Ruler

Sharp scissors

Originally, paracord survival bracelets were only made in single color. The idea was

to have the longest possible piece of paracord when you took the bracelet apart to use

the cord for survival purposes.

Today, many survival bracelets are made with two colors of paracord, basically to

make it more attractive. However, to do this means that you are using two pieces of

cord, each of which is half the overall length.

How to make a one color paracord survival bracelet:

Determine the length of the bracelet you want to make. To do so, measure

around your arm and then add an inch to an inch and a half, including the

length of the buckle.

You’ll need about a foot of paracord for every inch of your bracelet length, less

the length of the buckle. So, if you are making a 7-1/2 inch long bracelet,

subtract the inch of length for the buckle and multiply by a foot, giving you 6-

1/2 feet. Cut it a little long, say at 7 feet, just to be sure you have enough. You

can always trim it, but it doesn’t stretch well.

Use the lighter to melt the cut end of the paracord, eliminating any fraying and

sealing the end together so that it doesn’t continue to fray.



Fold the piece of paracord in half, so that the ends line up. You will start

working from the midpoint. Run the midpoint through one of the buckle loops

and pull the cord all the way through the loop that is formed, until the loop is

tight up against the buckle. This makes a half-hitch knot.

Separate the buckle and run the free ends of the paracord down through the

loop on the other end of the buckle, pulling the cord through the loop until you

reach the point where the overall length of the bracelet, including the buckles is

the desired finished length.

Note: the amount of cord you leave between the two buckles is important as it

will determine the overall length of the bracelet.

You will be working from the second end of the buckle. For ease of working, it

is helpful to use something to hold this in place. For the photos, I used a couple

of small nails to hold it in place on a board. The other part of the buckle is held

in place by a clip.

Take one of the loose ends of the cord and pass it under the two strands that are

going between the buckles. Then take the other strand and lay it over the two

strands as shown in the picture.

Note: It is important to keep track of which string goes under and which string

goes over, as they must consistently do that. So, in the case of the picture, the

string that was on the bottom side of the picture went under and the string that

was on the top side went over. For the next row of the bracelet, the string that



goes over will be starting from the top, not the bottom. It is the same string, it

has just changed sides.

Pull the end of the back string through the loop made between the opposite side

and the center strands. Then push the front string through the loop made

between the opposite side and the center string. Once both ends have been put

through the loops, pull tight.

Continue tying the knots to make the bracelet, alternating sides to keep the

pattern consistent. Don’t lose track of which strand is going behind, as that

strand always needs to go behind to keep the pattern consistent. After a while, it

will look like this:

Note: If you lose track of which strand goes over and which one goes under,

you can tell by looking at the knots on the bracelet. There is a loop on the side

that goes over the top. The strand on the other side of the bracelet is the one

that goes underneath the two strands in the middle.

You will need to continue tying knots until you reach the other end of the

bracelet. Don’t worry; once you get the hang of it, it goes very quickly.



Once you reach the buckle at the other end of the bracelet, you are ready to

finish it off. To do so, cut the excess cord off about 1/8 inch away from the

bracelet. Using the lighter, melt the end of the cord to seal it and prevent it from

raveling.

How To Make a Two Color Paracord Bracelet

To make a two-color bracelet, you will need two pieces of cord.

Each of these needs to be about half the length of what was measured for use in the

single colored bracelet, with one about two inches longer than the other.

The longer piece of cord is tied to the first buckle loop; attaching it near one end of

the cord. The other color of paracord is fused to it, making the two into one longer

piece.

To do this, the braiding is pulled back about 1/2 inch on the short stub of the paracord

that is attached to the buckle. The kern is then cut off short, so that the last half-inch

of the paracord would be without the kern. The other piece to be fused with it is cut

off and the end melted with a lighter.

While still hot, it is pushed into the kern of the stub, so that the melted plastic of the

new piece can fuse to the kern of the stub. Once that is attached, the braid of the stub

is melted onto the outside of the attached piece, finishing the fusing of the two

together.

With the cord fused together, the paracord survival bracelet can be finished, just as if

it were being made with one complete piece of cord, all the same color. The fused

joint on the cord will be part of the two strands that make up the core of the weave,

hiding it from being obvious. The two-toned pattern will appear as if the center of the

bracelet is one color, while the edges are another color.

Making a “Double Cobra” Paracord Bracelet

The standard double cobra paracord bracelet is very similar to what we just did with

the cobra. The advantage to the double cobra is that it holds much more cord than the

cobra. Instead of using two strands of paracord as the core for the knots to tie around,



the cobra bracelet that we just made is used as the core. That means that the additional

paracord is being tied around the existing cobra weave, adding additional cord.

This can be a continuation of using the same piece of cord or a different color of cord

entirely. If a different color is used, the original color will show through.

The left part of the braclet is woven in a double

cobra pattern, weaving the second layer over

the original cobra weave, which appears on the

right.

Another way of making a double cobra is to use two cords, doubling everything.

This would mean that instead of making a single half hitch on the first buckle loop,

you would make two half hitches with two different strands of paracord.

Each double strand would then be tied as if it were a single one, using the same cobra

weave that is used for the standard survival bracelet. This makes a wider and thicker

bracelet that literally uses twice as much material.

Other Patterns

There are a number of other patterns that people have developed for making paracord

bracelets. As with anything else that man makes, people apply their imagination and

come up with a variety of different ways of doing it. However, the cobra weave I’ve

shown is the classic paracord weave pattern and is still the most common.

These same patterns can be used to make dog collars, leashes, key fobs, zipper pulls

and a number of other things, just as well as they can be used for bracelets. By making

a variety of different items, you increase the amount of paracord you can have with

you in a survival situation.



Making a Paracord Belt

The double cobra weave can be used to make narrow belts out of paracord.

There is also a modification of the cobra weave, called the Solomon Bar, which makes

an excellent belt that is wider than the double cobra.

You will need to start from a belt buckle or a pair of metal rings and will need three

cords tied to it in the same way that the cord was tied to the bracelet buckle.

Tying the Solomon Bar weave is like tying two separate cobra weaves, with two

notable exceptions. The first thing that is different is that there is only one core strand

for the weave to be done around, instead of two. If you count the strands in the picture

above, from the top down, strands number two and five would end up being the two

cores for the two separate cobra weaves. The second difference is that the middle pair

of strands is used to tie the two cobra weaves together by the simple expedient of

crossing this pair between each pair of knots.

To make the Solomon weave belt:

Tie the three pieces of paracord to the buckle with half hitches. Like the

bracelet, you will need about one foot of cord for each inch of finished belt you

expect to make.

Separate the six strands of cord into two groups of three. Tie a pair of cobra

weave knots in each set of three cords. By a pair, I am referring to starting with

the under cord on the outside and then the inside.



Important note: The two pairs need to be tied opposite each other. That means

that the outer cord goes over for both pairs. So, you will be tying one knot the

opposite of the other. This will ensure that the pattern of the belt is

symmetrical.

Cross the two inner strands. Then tie another pair of knots in each set of three

strands.

Continue in this manner, crossing the middle strands until the belt reaches the

overall length you want.

When you reach the end of the belt, cut off the excess paracord and melt the

ends of the cords to keep them from fraying. Fuse the ends together by melting



the nylon that the cord is made of and pushing them together. A clean putty

knife or butter knife is helpful for this, so that you don’t have to touch the hot

melted nylon and can get a clean edge.

The great advantage of the paracord belt over the paracord bracelet is that it can hold

much more paracord, which would be useful in a survival situation.

Whereas a paracord bracelet might have 6 or 7 feet of paracord in it, a belt could

have as much as 120 feet of paracord.

The question always comes up, “What do you do for a belt, once you take your

paracord belt off?

Well, if you need a belt, you can always take a strand of paracord, and use it as a belt,

tying your pants. The first belts were probably just a piece of rope used to tie a tunic

closed. While not as elegant or convenient as a belt, it will keep your pants from

falling down.



Finding Paracord and Buckles

Paracord bracelets have become so popular that you can find paracord almost

anywhere.

Many big box stores are carrying it, as well as a host of online sources.

You must be careful that you are getting real milspec paracord though, as there

are a lot of imitations out there.

As I showed you, not all paracord is created equal. If you are going to use it for

survival purposes, you want the best there is.

My favorite source for paracord and buckles is eBay. There are a number of eBay

stores that specialize in selling these supplies, competing in the eBay marketplace,

which guarantees good prices. You can also find a wider variety there, especially of

buckles, than you can in other places.

If you are going to make paracord bracelets as a business, buy your paracord in bulk.

That will save you quite a bit of money.

Most vendors are selling it in 50 or 100 foot lengths. While that is fine for someone

who wants to make one bracelet or one belt, if you’re going to make a business out of

it, you want the best possible price. Buying it by the spool will save you half or more

of your cost.



How You Can Make Money With Paracord Bracelets

Paracord survival bracelets are currently a fad.

There are a lot of people around who are buying them, even though they know

nothing about the survival uses of paracord.

This is especially true amongst the younger, trend setting generation.

You can capitalize on this fad while it is going on, bringing in a few extra bucks.

Paracord bracelets sell for anywhere from $4.00 all the way up to $10.00, the higher

prices being for those where there is something special about the buckle.

Paracord belts go anywhere from $40.00 to $60.00.

Other items are priced between these two ranges, depending upon their size and

complexity.

Most of the people who are buying paracord bracelets and other accessories are going

to be very conscious of what color the bracelet is.

They are buying it as a fashion accessory and not as a survival tool. Keep this in mind

when making your inventory. A wide variety of colors will increase your sales

potential.

The only thing left is where to sell. That depends a lot on you and how much of a

business you want to make out of it.

You can always sell online, establishing an eBay store or website.

Local fairs, craft shows and farmers markets are a great place to sell them as

well.

I would avoid stores, as they will expect to buy them from you at wholesale

prices, which would mean that you’d make so little profit that it wouldn’t be

worth your time.



However you sell them, remember that your time is worth something and price them

accordingly.

If your price is too high, you won’t sell anything; but if your price is too low, you

won’t make any money. Finding that middle point is one of the biggest challenges in

any business.

That being said, if you find you’re actually pretty good at making the bracelets – then

you might decide to turn it into a side hobby (it would be a great job for a retired

person to make a little extra cash).

Or if you knew that a handful of your friends all wanted one – and were willing to pay

you a small price – you could always use the money they give you to “subsidize” the

cost of making your own bracelets, belts, etc ... play your cards right and you might

even get to make your survival cord accessories free :)

Thank you for reading this report.

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