Paracord Survival Grenade

This was our troop gift to the boys who went to summer camp in 2018. We are taking more backpacking trips, and thought a survival kit would be good for the boys to have on their packs.

This paracord grenade is based off of the MOD DIY Survival Grenade, I will make note up front the variations from the MOD video.

Variations:

• I used 2 colors of paracord (our troop colors), thus I used the Manny Method to connect the two cords.
• These are the contents we used in our kit:
  • emergency blanket
  • signal mirror (came with a pocket survival guide)
  • magnesium rod
  • 2 pieces of mole skin
  • 6 bandaids
• Due to the ease of unwrapping this grenade, finishing the wrap all the way to the bottom puts the final knot on the end where it can be knocked loose easily, then it falls apart. Thus, I finished ours off a little earlier to make it more durable.

Materials:

We made almost 20 of these, so we bought in bulk, the links below reflect that.

• 20' of each color 550 paracord you wish to use
• mini caribiner
• emergency blanket
• signal mirror
• magnesium rod
• 2 pieces mole skin (I cut each sheet into 4 equal pieces)
• 6 bandaids
• foil (large enough to wrap your supplies a couple times around)

Tools:

• rubberband
• lighter
• scissors
• paracord fid
• large plastic needle (optional) - helped create initial hole when using manny method to connect 2 cords.
• pliers (optional) - for pulling fid through cord
• papertowel - for wrapping fid with when grabbing with pliers
• tape measure

Prepare Cords:

• measure and cut your cords
  • I found it easier to fuse only one end of each cord so it was ready for doing the Manny Method to connect them.
• Use the Manny Method the two cords
  • I used the plastic needle to create the initial puncture in the outer sheathing
  • I tried several ways of making it easier to move the fid through the hole in the sheathing and so far have found wrapping the fid in a piece of paper towel then grabbing the wrapped fid with plyers to pull it through as the easiest method.
    • I would not recommend using soap, this can cause color bleeding.
  • I also found it useful to fuse the end of the external sheath while the fid is stuck through it, it can prevent the sheath from unraveling while trying to pull the fid and cord through.
• taking the connection point of the two cords, feed it through the caribiner to create a loop, then pull the ends of the cords through the loop to create a Larks Head knot onto the caribiner.

Prepare the Packet:

• take packet contents and figure out the best way to pack them together keeping as many rough edges covered as possible to avoid tearing the foil.
• wrap packet in foil, make sure to wrap a couple times around the packet, fold in the ends (trimming excess foil to reduce bulkiness)
• compress as tight as possible without tearing/puncturing foil.

Attach cord to packet:

• center the caribiner over the end of the packet with one cord down each side of the packet
• use a rubber band to secure the cord and caribiner into place
• on the other end of the packet, tie a square knot
• turn it around so the caribiner is closest to you, and the square knot is away from you.
• make sure your excess cord is separated and put to either side of the packet based on which side the color comes out from.

Create Initial Knot

• take the left strand and create an S under the packet (see pic)
• take the end of the left strand and feed it through the loop on the left side
• pull through until all the slack is through, but leave the loop on the right side
• pull on the top part of the loop on the right side to close the loop on the left side around the strand that went through it
  • you can pull some of the excess loop on the right side through to the left side so your loop on the right loop isn't too big to handle
• pull the top part of the right loop until the left loop is tight around the left strand
  • the knot will be up against/around the square knot.

As described in the video, continue doing the solomon's knot:

• take the right strand, slide a loop from the bottom through the loop from the left strand
• lay the loop over the front
• as before, pull the top of the loop from the right strand taught
• pull the end of the left strand to tighten the loop over the right strands loop
• take the left strand, slide a loop from the top through the loop from the right strand
• lay it under the back of the packet
• pull the top of the loop from the left strand taught
• pull the end of the right strand to tighten the loop over the left strands loop

See the pattern...

Note, make sure you make these knots/bites tight, and notice that it will take a few times for it to be wide enough to actually start going over the packet.

Continue with solomon's knot over the packet.

• once the knots get wide enough, you will start to be able to go over the packet.
• keep doing the solomon's knot until you near the end of the packet
• you may have some gaps in the cord over the foil, try to reduce it as much as possible, but don't obsess over it, the second pass will cover them up.
• when you get near to, or at the rubber band, you can remove it and finish working towards the end with the caribiner.

Finish up first pass

• continue doing the solomons knot, trying to prevent big gaps over the foil until you have the knots overlaying the end of the caribiner.
• with the last loop, take the strand from the side you would start the next loop with and feed it through the loop in the same direction you would if you were creating a loop, but feed the whole strand through.
• pull both strands taught
• tie a square knot, this will be your starting point for the second pass

Start second pass

With using 2 colors, you get a nice layered look with the strands because the first pass will put one color on each side, and the second pass reverses it.

• spin your project around so that the caribiner is on top
• take the strand that is on the left and make the s loop under the grenade (it should be the same color as the color of the strands on the side facing you)
• as before, take the end of the left strand, feed it through the loop on the left side
• pull the strand through, leaving the loop on the right side
• pulling the top of the right loop, tighten the loop over the strand on the left
• take the strand on the right, feed a loop from underneath through the loop on the right
• lay it over the front
• pull the top of the loop just created to tighten
• pull the left strand tight
• do this a couple of times until it is ready to go back over the packet

Continue second pass of solomons knot

• continue doing the solomons knot for the second pass covering up the exposed foil.
• continue until you have just the tip remaining to cover.

Finish second pass

• once you have gotten to where there is only the tip that you started with that is not covering the packet, stop making the solomons knot
  • Note: as stated earlier, you don't want to go all the way to the end, it can fall apart too easily.
• with the last loop in place, take the strand of the other side and feed it through the loop (like we did at the end of the first pass)
• pull both strands tight
• tie off with a square knot
• trim and fuse the ends
• DONE!