Not All Paracord is Created Equal

In recent years the parachute cord industry has exploded, there are more producers than ever before and they are bringing new colors and patterns to the market than ever before.  What was once just a military utility item available in Olive Drab, Black, and White has now become something of a fashion statement.  Now parachute cord is available by the spool and in colors like “Neon Green” and “Overkill” but is this new paracord all it’s cracked up to be? 

The reality of the situation is that paracord is a name that can be put on any rope or cordage and unless you are getting your supply from a trusted company you could be getting fooled.  Rescue Bands only buys from US suppliers of 550 paracord and all of our cord is tensile tested to ensure that it is up to par with what we expect and advertise.  Some cord however comes out of places like China or India (What?  Companies buy items from China and India for a lower price regardless of quality?  Crazy huh?).  There are no repercussions for mislabeling spools of cord to sell off as 550 parachute cord when your across the ocean and a few governments away from the consumer. 

The only real way to tell is to have the cord tensile tested by a machine that specializes in tensile testing.  This isn't really something that most consumers have access to.  The best solution to someone looking to buy a parachute cord product is to make sure whoever is selling you your survival band/strap/bracelet is getting their product from a reliable source that has done the proper testing.  

The hammock you'd be hard pressed to break!

This week we will be providing a link to a great article about making your own hammock out of paracord.  This article was found by us on the Ray Mears website : http://www.raymears.com. Ray Mears is the founder of the”Woodlore” school of Wilderness Bushcraft.  You can follow this link: http://www.raymears.com/blog/how-to-make-your-own-hammock-part-1-2/2717/ for their 4 part series which teaches you how you can make your own hammock out of the ultra-strong parachute cord.  You can get your supply of paracord for your own hammock at Rescue Bands!  

Rescue Pet Collar

A new product that we are very pleased with here at Rescue Bands is the “Rescue Pet Collar”.  Made out of the same 550 paracord that our bracelets are made out of, now you can have even more utility rope at hand with a collar for the family pet.  Not only will this collar potentially come in handy when the need for strong rope arises but these collars will last for a very long time.     

            

Aside from their usefulness and longevity, these collars are as custom as they come, each collar is made to order according your animals measurements and there are hundreds of color and closure combinations. These collars are ideal for letting fido show his team spirit with a team color inspired collar for game day or a color combo that matches his coat.  Our collars are available with the classic Rescue Bands plastic side release clip or our heavy duty D-ring closure.  The plastic clip is encouraged for small dogs and cats as the D-ring closure may be slightly heavier for a cat or small dog.  Order a clooar now at http://www.rescuebands.com/Rescue_Pet_Collars_p/301.htm

Rescue Bands Student Marketing Specialist

Rescue Bands is looking for college students to become market specialist for their campus.  Becoming a Rescue Bands marketing  specialist is a great opportunity to gain real world work experience in marketing and sales work.  All reps will receive free Rescue Bands gear and full support from our Tampa office as well as performance based pay.  This is the perfect opportunity for someone looking to get experience with sales and will look great on a resume as well.  Interested? For more information you can contact info@rescuebands.com

Paracord on the Big Screen!

The new movie "End of Watch" takes the audience for a ride in the streets of LA from the view-point of a police cruiser.  The movie is about two police officers who have a knack for making the big bust and seem to always be in on the action.  One traffic stop however gives them more than they were bargaining for when they get on the Mexican drug cartels bad side.  Starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena as the two police officers who are the main characters in the film, they play Officer Brian Taylor and Officer Mike Zavala.  

One thing most movie goers probably did not notice is what Officer Taylor (Gyllenhaal) wears on his right wrist... a paracord bracelet!  Although we can not say with any certainty if it is a Rescue Bands paracord bracelet, it is the exact same style as our Vintage Cobra with the stainless steel D-lock, found on Rescuebands.com .  And we did leave a few bracelets in LA a few months back, just sayin'...

Either way it is pretty cool to see the paracord movement hitting hollywood! 

Sizing your Rescue Band

When sizing your Rescue Band the first step you should take after picking out what style Rescue Band you want is to measure your wrist to make sure you get the correct size.  To get the right measurement you should do the following:

Step 1- Wrap a flexible tape measure or a piece of string completely around your wrist, just below the wrist bone (towards elbow), without creating slack and without creating pressure to your wrist (where you would place a wrist watch). If you use string, measure item against a tape measure or ruler for accuracy. \

Step 2- Select your size from our sizing drop down menu (located on the purchase page of our website for your particular style).  Choose the size that is closest to your measurement. 

Our goal is to create a great fit so please be sure to double check your measurement. Your bracelet will be handmade slightly larger than the measurement you submit to Rescue Bands for comfort.  When constructed, the inside circumference of the closed bracelet will match the size you provide.

Curious about how much paracord you’re getting in your bracelet? Below you can see approximately how many feet of cord you get based on the size of your bracelet. 

Cobra Braid (for Cobra 2 color, each color is responsible for half the total length)

Men’s

Extra Small 6” size has 7’2” of cord

Small 6-1/2” size has 7’9” of cord

Medium 7” size has 8’4” of cord

Large 7-1/2” size has 9’1” of cord

Extra Large 8” size has 9’6” of cord

Women’s

Extra Small 5” size has 6’ of cord

Small 5-1/2” size has 6’7” of cord

Medium 6’ size has 7’2” of cord

Large 6-1/2” size has 7’9” of cord

Extra Large 7” size has 8’4” of cord

Keep checking the blog for more sizes and paracord lengths for our other styles 

What is an EDC?

EDC or Every Day Carry is pretty much just what it sounds like, something that you carry every day.  Of course not everyone has the same idea for an EDC, the most extreme EDC carrier might be preparing for the end of the world as we know it and carry a gun, knife, and some dry food rations.  On the other end of the spectrum you could see a business man who carries a flash drive, laser pointer, and iPad. 

Somewhere in between is where you can find the Rescue Bands EDC products.  Currently available in two styles, the Lite and the Axis, these EDC’s are capable of saving your life or helping to overcome the minor speed bump in your daily life. 

The item on the Axis that I find most useful is either the waterproof/airtight lighter or the mini crowbar.  I can imagine the lighter to be the most useful in a survival situation.  Having done some survival training myself I have a pretty good understanding of how important fire is and how challenging it can be to generate a fire in these situations.  The crowbar certainly has its uses in the wild but I tend to use it more often to open a package or pry the top off a beverage. 

The most useful tool on the Lite for me is probably the Philips head screwdriver.  It happens to fit perfectly into the screws that attach my wakeboard bindings to my wakeboard.  If you’re a wakeboarder you can probably appreciate the convenience of having a screwdriver that fits on your keys or just stored on the boat.  With the little Philips head on the Lite, you always have a screwdriver if you have your EDC.

And of course both EDC’s from Rescue Bands have 3.5’ of parachute cord.  The uses for this stuff are countless but I’ll stay on the wakeboard example for a little longer, think back to if you’ve ever been riding and either your laces on your bindings broke, your tow rope broke, or you don’t have enough rope to tie up to the dock.  The paracord solves all of these issues.  Especially the binding laces, for some reason mine never hold up for more than a few months and I end up going through a few pairs of shoe laces before I am done with the bindings.  I’ve started using the paracord instead of the shoelaces and haven’t had any problems.  If only the binding companies would just put this stuff on their bindings originally then I wouldn’t have to replace them.