Saturday, October 29, 2011

UNIQUE CRIMSON TIDE PARACORD GEAR II

With all the hype approaching next weeks big game, I decided to get into the spirit as well. This was a post that I intended to do prior to to the season, but I wasn't able to get everything together until now.
For those who don't know, college football is king here in the south and you are born a fan. And if you couldn't already tell, I am lifelong fan of the Alabama Crimson Tide and going into next week, the U of A will play what should be the biggest game in college football this year.
With all of that said, I know that some of the readers are fans of that other in-state team and I don't want to appear one-sided, so should they pull off a miracle and beat Bama in the final game, I will make a Paracord Gear post in their honor.

The bracelets in this edition are all designs by TyingItAllTogether and a video for each bracelet is available on his YouTube channel. There are three bracelets included in this edition of Crimson Tide Paracord Gear, the Stitched Solomon Bar, Thick Zipper Sinnet and Shark Jaw Bone.

For these bracelets I used a 5/8" side release buckle and for all but the Stitched Solomon Bar, I used six feet of cord for each color. For the Stitched Solomon Bar, I used six feet of cord for the Solomon Bar color and around two and a half feet for the stitched color.
The Thick Zipper Sinnet and Stitched Solomon Bar bracelets were tied for a new friend and reader of my blog and I hope she enjoys her new bracelets.
I hope this post doesn't offend any of the Auburn or LSU (or any other teams) readers, I respect all teams especially teams in the SEC. 

Thick Zipper Sinnet
Shark Jaw Bone
Stitched Solomon Bar

Monday, October 3, 2011

UNIQUE PARACORD BRACELET DISPLAY

Recently while building a Paracord Tying Jig for a customer, I thought of a design idea that would be great for displaying paracord bracelets. I merged the design of a gun rack into the piece, but I tilted the curves so that the bottom rack sticks out past the top rack, it reminds me of a sword display.

(Please excuse the left part of the rack that looks like it's leaning, there was something underneath the bottom of display and made it tilt inward and I didn't catch it while taking the photos.)




BUILDING THE DECORATIVE PARACORD BRACELET DISPLAY

MATERIALS
The materials required for building this project can be created from scrap materials that you may have lying around, which is what I did.

  • (1) ½" x 6" x 24" board
  • (1) ½" x 3" x 24" board
  • (1) 1" x 2" x 36" board
  • (1) 1½" x 24" PVC
  • Spandex or other material to cover the PVC
  • Contact Spray Glue
  • Wood Screws
  • Wood Glue
  • Wood Stain
  • Varnish or Spray Polyurethane

BUILDING THE BRACELET DISPLAY

Start by clicking on the display template located to the left, then press Ctrl + P to print the image (if your browser supports this technique, otherwise Save the image to a folder on your computer and then open it with a word publishing or image editing application to print it).

NOTE: DISABLE ANY PAGE SCALING OR SHRINK OPTIONS IN YOUR PRINTER SETTINGS PRIOR TO PRINTING THE IMAGE.

Mark the ½" x 6" x 24" board at 10" and cut, then repeat the step again which will leave you with two 10" pieces.

Next, cut the template along the lines and then use it to trace the image to the ½" x 6" x 24" board, do this for both pieces.

Using a Jig Saw or whatever tool you have to cut the curved pieces that you just marked.

Mark the 1" x 2" x 36" board at 7½" and cut, then repeat the step again which will leave you with two 7½" pieces.

Use a Belt Sander or course sand paper to round the edges of the 2½" pieces that you just cut so that it will fit inside the PVC, it should be a tight fit, don't remove too much material.

Mark the  1" x 2" x 36" board at 2½" and cut, then repeat this step again until you have four 2½" pieces.

Using a compass to draw a circle that is just slightly bigger than the diameter of the PVC on the ½" x 3" x 24" board (if you don't have a compass, I traced around a can of WD-40). Once your circle is traced, use your Jig Saw to cut out the circle, then repeat this step until you have four circles cut.

Mark the 1½" x 24" PVC at 12" and cut, then repeat the step again which will leave you with two 12" pieces.

Use a spray adhesive to secure the Spandex to both of the PVC pipes.

Now secure the bottom pieces to the curved pieces by using wood glue and wood screws.

Finish assembling the display by securing the circles to the 2½" pieces by using wood glue and wood screws.

At this point your display piece should be completely assembled.

Now start sanding, be sure to start with course to medium sand paper and move down to fine sand paper once you get close to finishing sanding. Once you have smoothed all the rough edges, you will need to stain the wood.

You can choose to leave the display stained or finish it with a varnish or spray (Minwax® Fast-Drying Polyurethane) for a nice shine.

You will have to excuse the bare display rack, I recently sold or gave away most of my bracelets and this was just a few that I wear on a regular basis.