Second Diamond Braid

So after I showed my combatives instructor the first item I made with the diamond braid he thought i should make another item that could be used as a "flex" weapon. A flex weapon is just that, a flexible tool used for self defense. You can use a large bandanna, a small bit of rope or what not. So I made him a flex, about a foot and a half long, out of red and black 550 paracord.  I used the same method to start as i did on the choker, a doubled lanyard knot. And used the snake knot as before as a whipping. But after the whipping used another doubled lanyard knot to finish it. I added a snake knot as whipping around the starting end as well to give it uniformity. And as the first time I used a bit of black 550 paracord to go through the first lanyard knot so it could not collapse on itself, finished with a normal lanyard knot.

First attempt at a diamond braid.

I recently made my first attempt at a diamond braid. I used black and tan 550 paracord and made a choker of sorts. I used a lanyard knot doubled up to start. To keep the knot from collapsing on itself i put a single strand of black 550 paracord through the loop, finishing it off with another lanyard knot. I then used the diamond braid to get it roughly the length I wanted. To end it I used a snake knot to whip the end. Leaving a loop to capture the lanyard knot in.

Monkey Fist Lanyard

I make a lot of monkey fist self defense tools. I make them as discreet carry bracelets, and long flails and as I will show here as lanyards. You could use this for a knife lanyard, or attach it to your keys or what not. Like most of my monkey fists, this one contains a 5/8" stainless steel ball bearing.

Here we have it as a lanyrad on my trusty Cold Steel AK-47

Here it is on my key chain. Also visible is my two bight turks head key fob.

This is an older photo, of the same lanyard minus the skull bead on one of my nicer carabiners.

King Cobra Stitch Monkey Fist Bracelet.

I make a few self defense items with monkey fists. This is one variation I make with a king cobra stitch. This one happens to be three colors of paracord. I used desert tan, coyote brown and OD green. This can be worn as a bracelet and used as a flail in a sekf defense situation.

I used one color for the monkey fist, leaving two strands to be used as the center of the cobra stitch. A lanyard knot was used to finish the end. then one pass with another color for the cobra stitch and another for the king cobra stitch.