How bad would the situation have to be for you to take apart a paracord survival bracelet?

Realistically, it’s only purpose is to hang yourself…

With all due respect.

It would be helpful, if you already have a source of water, and shelter. In theory, you can use it to make a bow drill, or fire drill. Cordage is always useful.

But the bracelet itself, is not really a survival tool. Yes. They look cool. I took one apart once. It was difficult, and tedious.

If I did not already carry extra cord in my hiking/fishing pack, I would use the bracelet.

Off the top of my head, I have improvised:

Tent guyline
Boot lace
Fish stringer
Clothes line
Belt
Eyeglass retaining strap
Line to tie odd items on my pack
Line to tie luggage to my vehicle
Line to secure a 6-pack close by in the cold river

I have made shelters using branches and cord. You could also use it to tie your food from a branch to keep animals from getting it.

All good uses. I think I’ll add a roll of paracord to my Go bag.
The bracelet will stay tied up and on the shelf. .

If there were things that didn’t fit in my backpack, assuming I have a backpack, I could tie additional items to the exterior of the backpack, or even to my belt.

If I forgot a barrette I could use it to tie my hair back.

Maybe it would work as leverage when you need to break something. Put the string across the bottom, step on the item, and pull up on the string. Seems like there is potential to get hurt though doing that.

Pressure on an artery if you get cut badly.

Tying a splint if you broke a bone.

Setting a trip wire for added security.

I’m sure Boy Scouts would know a lot of uses. Don’t they learn to tie knots.

All you need is a knife, then you can make the same thing out tree bark fibres.
Or, if you brought a friend, you could harvest his sinews.

Paracord is extremely useful. It’s just that there isn’t a lot in a bracelet.

I once took apart a running turk’s head bracelet to jury rig a jib halyard on a 24’ sloop. It wasn’t paracord, just a basic ¼ inch nylon braid, but it did the job!

I really resented having to deconstruct the bracelet after all the work it took to make it, though, so I made sure to have some extra cord aboard at all times, even for little day sails.

Some of those bracelets have more than paracord. I have one with a small fishing kit woven inside it.

I keep one of those bracelets on each of my 3 outrigger canoes. I bought them from Home Depot for just a couple bucks each so I don’t hesitate a second to unwind one to use it. They come in very handy when I’m on the water miles away from anywhere and my rudder cable breaks (that happened) or I my paddle breaks (that happened) or need to tow an abandoned canoe (that happened) or to use as a personal leash or for a leash for my paddle if it suddenly gets extremely windy or for anything crazy thing(s) happens that I can’t think of that might happen.

Make a rabbit snare.

I could have used one while bouldering with @Rarebear one time – we needed something about 2 ft long to get down one particular boulder. I ended up using my T-shirt, since I did not have any rope.

What is “bouldering” @RocketGuy ?

The nice part about the paracord bracelets is that, while they are kind of a pain in the ass to make, you don’t have to make them. You can buy them for a couple bucks in tons of places.

@Dutchess_III – that would be scrambling on boulder piles. The piles in the CA deserts are quite high. It’s kind of like rock climbing without ropes. Its fun until you fall, then you experience “hard as a rock”. Most are sandstone, so if you slide you learn why they use sand on sandpaper.

I am laughing at the scenes of you two playing in my head right now…..:D

The climbing is fun, esp. when you get to the top of the pile. Sliding gets you scars. We never fell – that’s why we are still able to post here and on FB.

Boldering sounds like an extreme sport. Also a full body workout. I’m far too chicken to try it but I bet it’s a lot of fun.

^What?!!! You canoe in saltwater. You’re no chicken…