Paracord Jess How To

Over the years I have made hundreds of paracord jesses for personal use and for work.  I can whip one out in less than 5 mins now and I think that the finished product is functional and not bad to look at.  I put these jesses on everything from a Coop to Bald Eagles and they are plenty strong.  So hopefully this how to will be helpful.

Here are the supplies I use from left to right:  Lighter, pick (cut piece of hanger with rounded ends), Snub nose pliers, paracord, scissors
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First I take out the inside of the paracord.  Next I melt BOTH ends of the paracord so it it looks like the pic above
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I find the top edge of what will be my loop (about 1 1/2" from the center of the paracord piece) and I use the snubnose pliers to gently push all the way through the paracord.  You can also put the pick inside the paracord about an inch from the melted tip by gently working it between the paracord's weave.  Do not cut slits in the paracord because it can fray and weaken the cord's integrity.
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Pull out the pliers and then use the pick to push the end all the way through the paracord
(you do this back and forth all the way up the jess if you want to make Daniel's woven ones seen at the bottom of this post:  http://ryanvanzant.blogspot.com/2010/08/lack-of-coops-updates.html )
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Cut off this melted end
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pull the end you pushed through until your loop is the size you want it.  Then use the snub nose pliers to push a hole just above where you pushed the cord through and insert the pick into the other melted end.
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Fish the other melted end into the center of the paracord tube gently.
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use the pick to push the end of the cord all the way through itself and out the now unmelted side until you can take the pick out.  Then work the "weave" you just made tight.
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what the loop and weave should look like when tight.  The weave locks off the loop so that it cannot go back inside of itself which will happen from time to time if you dont lock it off and it can be very difficult and annoying to pull back out
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For a really nice looking end knot you first tie a simple overhand knot to make a slipknot with a loop.

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Then you take the end of the cord and come back through the slip loop. Pull down on the jess to shrink the loop down tight over the end of the cord
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Then cut off the excess leaving about 3/4" or so and fray it out a bit
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use your lighter on the fray and it will melt down to look like this.  You want the melted part to "soak in" a little into the knot.  If you don't over do this it will not affect the integrity of the knot.
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Your finished jess will look like this.  Now repeat and make the jesses the same size.
*hint*  I dont cut off the excess or melt the knot until I have made both jesses.  Then I can adjust the knots until both are the same size.  Hard at first but gets pretty easy with practice.

Hopefully I have explained myself well.  Please comment if anything need further clarification.

-RVZ