Twine

[Geordie]

I never go out and about in the toolies with out a ball of "unbreakable" twine in my pack: it's just too useful not to have it, in my experience.

Does anyone else do that?

[IndianaHiker]

I always have 550 cord.

[Michael]

Originally Posted by IndianaHiker

I always have 550 cord.

Same here.

[outdoorsy]

When I go out on hikes I do usually carry some sort of twine (rope). You never know when you will need it. I don't carry a lot of it though, just a small ball of it. I also carry it in the camper.

[oldsarge]

550 cord...I have it wrapped around part of my hiking staff, a couple of knife handles & sheaths, use it for boot laces, made a watch band out of it and keep a small bundle in my pack. Probably one of the most worth while pieces of gear I have.The stuff has a thousand uses from gill nets to prussic handcuffs. Now they make it in really wild colors to keep us all in fashion!

[Michael]

Originally Posted by oldsarge

Now they make it in really wild colors to keep us all in fashion!

I was considering picking up some of the bright orange stuff, so that it's really visible.

[Hannah]

Ok a couple of questions, forgive me if I sound stupid. What is 550 cord, is that a brand name or an amount? What brand is the best cord to buy and how much would be a good amount?

[IndianaHiker]

Its a rope or string whatever you like to call it. that is fairly small and very strong. The name comes from its breaking weight of 550 lbs. It is also call parachute cord. Here is a ling to what it looks like.

550 cord

[jlj]

I always had some kind of cord or rope and something else I found indispensable were bungie cords. I took along a bunch of the smaller ones. You have no idea how many things you can add onto your backpack with these things...or maybe you do. : )

[oldsarge]

Originally Posted by Hannah

Ok a couple of questions, forgive me if I sound stupid. What is 550 cord, is that a brand name or an amount? What brand is the best cord to buy and how much would be a good amount?

If you research it, you'll find that 550 cord comes in different types, all is not 550 cord. The type use in the suspension lines of military parachutes has an outer woven nylon sheath around 7 trands of nylon line giving it a 550lb tensil streanght. You can find stuff that looks like 550 cord with few inner strands and a lower breaking point. over all the great bennift to 550 cord is the fact that you can remove the outer sheath easily and use the inner strands for other things, so the amount or cordage you would noramlly carry can be reduced because of this design. I never really measured how much I have on hand, but I'd like to say that I might have a 50' or so wrapped around my hiking staff, maybe another 25' around the knife handle, so it all addes up. Over all it's great stuff!