Paracord Deployment Bag

I was first introduced to Paracord back in the early 80's in the Civil Air Patrol. Been hooked ever since. Now, yes, the Paracord bracelet is a very cool idea in principal, but I have never been convinced it is the best way to carry paracord with you. I have worn my bracelet for over 11 years now, and I have no intention of disassembling it unless I was in a life or death circumstance. That being said, I use Paracord all the time and I carry it with me all the time. This is how I carry it...in a Paracord Deployment Bag. I originally made this 20 years ago to keep Paracord handy, and accessible at a moments notice. I designed this after the rescue deployment bags used in swift water rescue, only way smaller. My original one went missing after an outing a few weeks ago, and I feel lost with out it.Time for a new one, and I might as well document it...so here we go.........

Items are simple:

5"X5" piece of cordura nylon

8" length of 1/8 bungee

Scissors

Polyester thread

Needle

Disclaimer, yes you can use a sewing machine, basting tape, neoprene, duck canvas, hemp, inner cords from paracord, crochet out of recycled grocery bags, leather, pleather, denim...a hundred different materials and a hundred different sewing methods...please don't ask "can I use, can I substitute" in the comments. Yes, you can do what ever you want and alter it as you see fit, this isn't an Arduino circuit, its a simple bag. This is how I made mine and it lasted 20 years...nuff said!

The cordura measured out about 5X5. What I really did was wrap my thumb with an inch or so of material on the sides. The technical term is eyeballing.

Fold it once so its inside out.

Thread your needle with the thread, about 3 foot doubled over works.

Start sewing. Nothing fancy here, just a whip stitch. Pull it firm, but not cinched super tight.

Sew two sides stopping about 3/4 inch from the end.

Fold the end over creating a seam that your bungee will go thru.

Simple hem stitch all the way round.

Leave the ends open and run your needle through a few times at the corner to reinforce it.

Then secure it with a knot. Again, nothing fancy, a simple double hex surgeon knot will suffice...Yes, I am kidding ;o)

I like to bury my tailing end of the thread after its been tied off. Just run it down the edge and cut it off. I don't know if this helps or not, but it makes me feel better.

This material is pretty stiff so its easy to push the bungee thru. You can use hemostats, wire or even a curved canvas needle if needed.

I think the title says it all....look its a bag!

Your bag is ready, now stuff it.

Tie off your bungee and cinch it closed. You can leave a little tail out so you can rapidly deploy as much cord as needed, whenever you need it.

As you can see, its about the size of my thumb, about 3 inches long. Easily fits in a pocket, on a belt loop or a key-chain. Perfect for EDC where rapid deployment of paracord may be needed. Easily refilled.

How much does it hold? With the rough dimensions I give here you can easily get 15 feet in there. BUT, as you break the bag in, it stretches a little, and as you get better at stuffing you can get an extra foot or two in there.

And there you have it. Simple and easy. Please share a pic if you make one.

Lex

This bag ended up holding 17 feet of paracord and is a bit over stuffed.

Please vote for me in the paracord contest