Braided paracord handle ...again...

[Tobin]

OK, I know this subject has come up many times before, but I'm looking for any and all advice on fashioning a functional replacement handle from braided paracord. I see a fairly simple and straightforward way of doing it with a Portuguese Sinnet or Cobra Weave.



That looks decent enough, but I'm curious if anyone here has tried it and has any feedback about the comfort or strength of it. It appears that all of the load in this design is carried by the two inner lengths of paracord, and the outer weave is just for bulk and decoration, not strength.

The use I have in mind for this handle is not necessarily for a mandolin case. I might be using it on a heavy banjo case, and possibly in fashioning a handle for my bulldogge's body harness. In either of these uses, I'd need to hold much more than a mandolin case weight.

If you've used another type of braid or have any other advice, I'd love to hear about it. Especially one that is thicker and stronger.

[pops1]

I usually use leather, but you could use 4 inner cords instead of two. It would be stronger and wider so more comfortable for a banjo. Para cord is fairly strong, you could also wrap the metal ring for the handle with leather to wider the area where the inside cord goes around the ring. A piece of vinyl tubing may be the thing instead of a wrap to widen the ring and put less stress on the para cord.

[OneChordTrick]

Wouldn’t worry about the strength. Paracord is pretty tough - earlier this evening six of us were sitting on a log suspended by 2 loops of paracord. Long story...

[Tobin]

Wouldn’t worry about the strength. Paracord is pretty tough - earlier this evening six of us were sitting on a log suspended by 2 loops of paracord. Long story...

I do have a bunch of actual parachute cord from my late father who was in the Air Force. He literally cut it from an old parachute, saved the cord, and reused the parachute silk for a patch on the sail of one of his boats, as I recall. Yeah, I wouldn't worry about the strength of mil-spec paracord. But the civilian stuff out there on the market for camping can be hit-or-miss on capacity. Some of it is sold more for decorative purposes than function. I know when I was making my camping hammocks a few years ago, it was tough finding high-strength paracord that I could trust.

Anyway, I bought a couple of spools of cheap paracord at Home Depot (150 lb. capacity) and made a couple of handles last night. There was wine drinking during this process, so I got confused a couple of times during the braiding of them. But they turned out decently enough.

The grey one has 4 strands at the core for added bulk, and I pulled the outer braids really tight for stiffness. I wasn't in the mood to pull the tail ends back through the braiding, so I just trimmed them off and melted the ends; they seem to hold well enough. The black one is looser and softer with only two inner strands.

I used snap-hooks on the grey handle and carabiners on the black handle. Again, I made these specifically for a handle on the back of my bulldogge's body harness for training; hence the need for quick-attach hardware. But here's a photo of it attached to my 1918 Gibson F4 case as an example. One could, of course, just braid it directly to the D-rings on the case.

After doing this a couple of times, a handle like this could be easily made in about 15 minutes. It isn't elegant or period-appropriate, but it's a decent and cheap way to make a functional handle.

[MediumMando5722]

I love the look and functionality of that with the leash clips!