Paracord wrap

[hlee]

I never really "got" the alure of a paracord wrap. Now I should say that I come from a hunting and fishing background, so my knives are used almost exclusively for wet, bloody, and (thankfully infrequently) "gutty" work. I've always had a hard time invisioning how a paracord wrap would be attractive for ANY reason, but my thinking has always been influenced by my tendency to get my knives blood soaked every time they are unsheathed. A cord wrapped handle just seemed like something that would get blood-logged, if that is a term, turn rancid, and eventually rust the tang off of my nice knife. However, today I got a new Busse Game Warden in the mail (orange G10 handle), and just for the heck of it I wrapped it in some black paracord that I have laying around the house. Now I get it, to an extent. The wrap made a very comfortable handle just down right luxurious. The fatter handle seemed to fit my hand better, and cord seemed to give a more secure grip than the naked g10. I'm not sure if the increase in perceived security came from the fatter handle or is intrinsic to the paracord, however. And, I was able to wrap 6 feet of ungutted 550 cord onto that little 4 inch handle (an easy and unobtrusive place to carry an emergency stash of cord). I unwrapped it, because I am still having a hard time with the whole blood soaked cord wrap thing. My question is; in your experience/opinion, do the pros of a cord wrap (security, feel, cord stash, etc...) outweigh the cons (bloody, rancid, rusted off tang, etc...)? And if so, do you unwrap and rewrap your knives for cleaning, and did you factor frequent cleaning/wrapping into your pro/con calculus. At this point my answer to the first question is No, making the other two moot.

 

[StretchNM]

I don;t have a knife where I've had to wrap the handle. I use the paracord for lanyards on all my knives. Only a couple of times did they get bloody enough to worry me. But I've replaced several just because they got dirty and nasty through time. I just undo them, clean the handle, slip a new 36" length through the hole, and tie a new hangman's on there. Paracord's dirt cheap.

Not ever having wrapped a handle, I don;t know how long it would take. I'm imagining now...guessing.... being pretty skilled (just as a long-term accident) with paracord, I suppose it wouldn;t take more than 5 or 10 minutes to do a nice, neat job. Maybe 15... I don;t know. Getting the wrap dirty would be the last thing I'd worry about I guess.

 

[gud4u]

Paracord is too slippery, too stretchy and flattens too much (low bulk) for wrapping a handle.

My preference is a good solid-core non-stretch cord, such as nylon starter cord. Starter cord retains it's diameter, doesn't stretch and provides excellent traction - whether wet or dry.

 

[killerskill]

I got some black leather used for shoe laces. I used it on my Becker necker. It's square so you wrap it really tight and keep everything in line and it works perfectly. It's also not as thick as paracord and has alittle more grip. When it is lined up and tight it looks like the factory did it. People see them and say wow thats a neat handle. I say I did it with a leather shoelace and they say wow. It worked really awesome on my Cold steel Spike knives. It feels almost like an old camillus Marine combat knife handle. They are really cheap, you can find them in most shoe stores. Use them as lanyards too.