This week I happened across a video of what I think is the BEST Emergency Paracord (the creator calls it a Parafob):
What is paracord?
Paracord is a contraction of Parachute Cord. It is a lightweight nylon rope that was first used in military applications, such as secure parachutes to the harness. But since it is lightweight, compact and super strong, it useful for a zillion other purposes. (It’s so versatile that it was used by astronauts to repair the Hubble Space Telescope.)
It should be included in everyone’s emergency kit.

Storing for emergencies
To keep the cord getting tangled while in storage, you’ll often see the cord macraméd into other useful items: emergency bracelets (with multi-tools in the bracelet clip), key fobs or zipper pulls. But all of these are macramé. Which is cool looking, don’t get me wrong. But it takes forever to undo the macramé knots just so you can use the cord. And once it’s undone, then what? Some bracelet vendors let you return it to the manufacturer to be re-woven. Or if you know macramé you can do it yourself. Since it’s so complicated to reconstruct, it’s a disincentive to use it.
But this new parafob style is so quick and easy to undo. You can unravel it in less than 10 seconds. And it’s almost as quick and easy to re-make; anyone can do it–you don’t need any macramé skills and it takes about one minute to make. Since it’s so easy to use and re-make, there’s no reason not to use your paracord whenever you need it.
If you end up making one of these “parafobs”, send me a picture and tell me how it works for you.
