para cord handles

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440A

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Feb 15, 2008
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1
what is your opinion on para cord handles?

to me they look kinda cheap and not durable at all like if one of the intertwined roots get cut, the whole thing falls apart.

but then i saw that a lot of high end strider knives use them. knives that are really expensive like in the $500 dollar range.

and this kind of twisted up my already shaky perception on para cord handles. i mean, if the para cord is good enough for high-end knives then para cords must be good...

errr... right?
 
im also a fan of paracord and its applications towards knives. im trying to educate myself so last week i bought a "wrap" book (modern knives as well as old japanse swords -my fav it the Dadao wrap) by Jan Dox (belgian guy) and had a long chat with him about handle wraps.

a good wrap can be very practical. problem is that it gets dirty, smelly. which you can prevent by soaking it in epoxy, but then you loose the primary benefit of a cord wrapped handle : the use of the cord to tie something.
so a cord wrapped handle which uses a short 30cm of cord is more "the easy, lowcost way out" while one that uses ONE single, long piece paracord could be classified as being practical. but then, how much length of cord is required to qualify for "handy for bushcraft/survival".

Jan Dox showed me som epoxyd wraps, he said they give tremendous grip (and they do!), very good for self defense, but reap havok on your hands for hacking or machete style prolonged work.
non epoxyd wraps are softer but can nudge a little.

the idea is to be able to take off the cord to use the knife as a spearpoint or attach a smaller knife to a heavier piece of wood to use as a chopper/wacker.
and the cord can then be used to tie the blade to spear or somit else (tourniquet, makeshift tent or whatever)

my (non expert) opinion so far is : cord wrapped handles are a cheap handle option which CAN be practical for using the knife and CAN be practical to use OFF the knife.


OT:
i tried the simple diamond wrap (like on japanese swords) Jan explains in his book (using a flat shoe lace, not cord) and it makes for a very ergonomic, very grippy handle! its like having finger grooves all over the handle. i was amazed.
 
i am a fan of paracord it gives good grip and i love the look and paracord u really have to abuse it to break its not like thread
 
The story goes that this practice started in WW2, the soldiers wrapped their broken knife handles with cord.

I personally think they are a cheap way to manufacture handles. Heck you can do it yourself! You can’t do micarta or G-10 in your own home.

They soak up liquid. They will abrade. As far as using the cord for survival, well, if you didn’t plan well enough to have some paracord around anyway……

They are kinda comfy, I’ve wrapped my own basic neckers a few times. You can use a couple different colors of cord and make them look cool.

It is a usefull skill to learn. If you ever break your handle in the bush, THEN wrap it in paracord. {You did bring some with you, right?};)
 
I hate paracord handles and I am not too fond of strider. Why would I pay $500 for a sharpened crowbar wraped with $3 worth of paracord? IMO, strider is in the same league as cold steel and dark ops. I had a knife with a paracord handle as my first F.B (I cant find any info on it but it was S30V and said mantrack on it.) I liked the knife but I hated the handle. I abused the crap out of the blade so the handle got equal abuse. It reeked, I couldnt stand the smell when I washed it, it took hours for the cord to dry. It got all grubby and gross looking and was too thin for a good grip so I un wrapped it all and "made" a handle out of electrical tape.

edit: Hey why are you banned? :confused: I didnt read any thing against the rules. Or is it sprite/sprint/serration again? I can't tell.
 
You can always check the banned list in service and support to see why someone was banned.
 
3wolves said:
I hate paracord handles and I seriously dislike strider. Why would I pay $500 for a butt-ugly sharpened crowbar wraped with $3 worth of paracord? (or I could pay the price of a spyderco native+an opinel and get G-10) IMO, strider is as mall ninja type baddass as cold steel and dark ops. I had a knife with a paracord handle as my first F.B (I cant find any info on it but it was S30V and said mantrack on it.) I liked the knife which was about 4 inches and not a mall ninja-sentry deanimating-blacktical-super thick turd, but I hated the handle. I abused the crap out of the blade so the handle got equal abuse. It reeked, I couldnt stand the smell when I washed it, it took hours for the cord to dry. It got all grubby and gross looking and was too thin for a good grip so I un wrapped it all and "made" a handle out of electrical tape.

edit: Hey why are you banned? :confused: I didnt read any thing against the rules. Or is it sprite/sprint/serration again? I can't tell.
Click to expand...


There are numerous makers that use cord, custom makers too. Look around.

It's fine to disagree about cord wrapping but to work in manufacturer bashing is trollish. But I'm sure you go around against all the makers for their use of cord wrapped handles.

I personally dislike cord wrapping for the reasons already mentioned.
 
"I hate paracord handles and I seriously dislike strider. Why would I pay $500 for a butt-ugly sharpened crowbar wraped with $3 worth of paracord? (or I could pay the price of a spyderco native+an opinel and get G-10) IMO, strider..."
------------------------------------------------

Why? Because some of like Strider knives.
 
PatriotDan said:
There are numerous makers that use cord, custom makers too. Look around.

It's fine to disagree about cord wrapping but to work in manufacturer bashing is trollish. But I'm sure you go around against all the makers for their use of cord wrapped handles.

I personally dislike cord wrapping for the reasons already mentioned.
Click to expand...




Sorry, didn't mean to troll.:o (don't tell me you never bash dark ops;) )Just hate cord wrapped handles. I am sure that strider knives are great knives but they are not worth $500. (edited my post to remove strider bashing material.)
 
440A said:
what is your opinion on para cord handles?

to me they look kinda cheap and not durable at all like if one of the intertwined roots get cut, the whole thing falls apart.

but then i saw that a lot of high end strider knives use them. knives that are really expensive like in the $500 dollar range.

and this kind of twisted up my already shaky perception on para cord handles. i mean, if the para cord is good enough for high-end knives then para cords must be good...

errr... right?
Click to expand...

hi 440A.

as far as para cords are concerned... i love them! they look so neat.
 
can someone direct me to a good site that has an easy to understand way to cord wrap a japanese style knife. thanx...
 
Wrapping is a skill I'd like to learn. I'd also like to learn how to make lanyards/fobs. I plan on ordering a Buck Hartsook next week; I'll get a hank of 550 as well and try my hand at wrapping the Hartsook.

That said, I definitely wouldn't lay down extra cash for a knife that was wrapped at the factory.
 
I've got a Boye Cobalt Basic 3 knife with a cord wrapped handle. It is one of the most artistic looking knives I own. It also feels pretty good in my hand, and whoever wrapped it really had skill because it is real tight. I doubt I would ever undo the wrap to use the cord, but being a former woodworker I prefer the beauty of natural wood scales.
 
I personally think cord-wrapped handles from the manufacturer/maker are a cop out. There are any number of things on my pack that I can wrap extra paracord around (a sheath, for example) if I feel the need to have extra laying about, and unless its a sub-$50 knife, I expect to be paying for a finished and complete handle, not one I could make myself with a few dollars of equipment.

Now, I have nothing wrong with it as a survival practice and people doing it on their own, I just don't think that they should offered on standard models.
 
I would never have a cord wrapped combat knife. To me, it doesn't make sense.
EDC knives, yes---different story.
 
I'm not a fan. I'm sure that like many of the things we like and dislike, it comes down to what floats your boat. As for wrapped handles, the recent unpleasantness in SE Asia was a good place to figure out what worked, and what came up short.

I discovered a cord wrap gets slimmy. There is no way to keep it clean. Add some mud to the slime and the next thing you know you have a hand full of naked blade. Know what that can do to your trigger finger? We'd get the tape they use to wrap tennis rackets, it's kinda sticky on both sides; worked well in the humidity. And, that was on regular knives. The skeleton stuff got lost pretty quickly. I carried my dad's WWII Ka-Bar.

I think with contermporary knives they are targeting the survival folks who want to carry minimal trappings. So wrapping the handle provides an item you might not have, otherwise. Of course, we had rope, cord, and line out the wazoo, and everyone carried an extra set of laces.

Usual disclaimer; YMMV and what works for me, works for me.

Greg
 
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