CreditonJules,
Thank you, you have got me hook, line and sinker with your Survival Bracelets. I shall set them as a project for the Solent Branch this comming Tuesday. Just a couple of questions.
What is your source of the whistle buckles ( I am very impressed with those, it must be a boys with toys thing ) and as we have some very good knot tyers, who have never even sat at a PC, the 'find it on line' option, is not part of the dialogue. Can you tell me also please the source for the lights.
Yours Aye
Ken.
Hi Ken
Thank you for your interest!
I actually came across these when I was doing some "Internet Assessor" freelance work. I work full time as a legal secretary but when the recession hit bad a couple of years ago and I was under threat of having my hours reduced I set myself up as a freelance secretary/virtual assistant. I picked up a job from a company, part of which was putting in an item in Google image search and seeing if the correct image came up. The item was "survival bracelets". Not knowing what these were - so not knowing in essence if the image matched the query - I dug a little deeper and found out some more information on them. I haven't knotted for many years, not since I was a Girl Guide, but my first reaction was "Wow I love these - I bet I can make one"!
My usual first port of call with anything is eBay. I actually found a kit - and got totally hooked! I actually use two suppliers for my paracord and buckles and both are as good as each other and always very helpful if I have queries.
http://www.fivestarcord.co.uk/index.phpJoe @ Five Star Paracord has fantastic tutorials on his website and is who I basically learned my craft from. I think I may have adapted the style slightly to meet my way of working but I prefer having the ability to "unpick" it.
http://www.thebushcraftstore.co.uk/550-gsa-compliant-paracord-85-c.aspJim and Andy @ The Bushcraft Store are also very good. They have a slightly different way of making their survival bracelets whereby they ends are melted and used as a seal to stop it unravelling. I guess this is an easier method if you don't have any tools like forceps to tuck the ends in.
The paracord (parachute cord) which I mostly use is imported from the US. The UK does have paracord, though it is a little different texture, only comes in one colour (military green) and is the one in the middle of the photo. There are quite a number of people selling these on eBay.
The torches re a little more difficult to source. The main person I get them from is Chris on eBay: -
http://stores.ebay.co.uk/gadget-shack-ukOccasionally I can pick them up in bulk from Kathyrn who imports them from China -
http://shop.ebay.co.uk/rifrafkaf/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p3686I've got some with white beams in black housing if you only wanted a few for a meeting to save you having to buy any.
The rest, as they say is history and I am very happy in my new hobby!
Let me know how you get on at your meeting!
Now off to see if I can make a horse fly fringe! LOL!!
CreditonJules