Cord Usage
In order to avoid dealing with varying units of measure (cm, inches, feet, furlongs), this data is presented as a simple ratio of cord length to finished length. For example, the Tractor Tyre is 5:1 for color one and 11:1 for color two. This means a 12" tie will require 60" (5 feet) of one color and 132" (11 feet) of the second color.
These ratios should be considered approximations at best. When you tie a new design, pull a little extra cord in case your technique is different from this chart's contributors' techniques. This chart also makes a few assumptions:
- You're using commercial-grade 550 cord.
- You're tying on buckles and not a knot/loop closure. That final knot can add a lot of variability to the amount of cord used, which is very difficult to approximate.
- For those ties which are tied on core strands, the standard core strand configuration (generally two) is used.
- For those ties which have optional core strands (unless those optional strands are what makes a buckle connection possible), these measurements are for the non-core version.
- The "internal" and "external" colors are based on the concept of the crossing cord in the front being the "middle" of the design and therefore internal. If it's not obvious which cord is the longer of two uneven cords, start tying and measure carefully which one gets used faster.
A couple things to remember also: you need more cord than listed just to use as "handles" to pull the last few knots through, and some ties are thicker than others so knowing how long they are is only part of the consideration for fitting around a wrist or other object.
| Design | Internal color | External color | Accent color |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4-strand Round Braid (coreless) | 3.5 | 3.5 | |
| 3-pin French Spool knitting | 13 | ||
| Alligator Fang | 5.25 | 7.5 | |
| Blaze Bar | 5.7 | 5.7 | |
| Chesty Solomon Bar | 6.5 | 6.5 | |
| Chinese Throwing Stars | 8 | 8 | |
| Crossstitch | 5.6 | 5.6 | |
| Dragon Claw | 8.5 | 6.3 | |
| Gator Scales | 9.9 | 4.75 | |
| Len's Original | 10 | 6 | |
| Lizard Belly | 8 | 8 | |
| Mated Snake Knots (coreless) | 10 | 10 | |
| Optic Star Bar | 7.25 | 7.25 | |
| Round Crown Sinnet | 12 | 12 | |
| Solomon Bar | 4.5 | 4.5 | |
| Shark Jaw Bone | 6.5 | 6.5 | |
| Snake Belly Bar | 5.1 | 5.1 | |
| Tentacle Bar | 5.6 | 8 | |
| Tractor Tyre | 5 | 11 | |
| Z-Bar | 4 | 10 |
Spreadsheet
Mike Malone created this great little Excel spreadsheet to do the math for you (his ratios may differ from the above chart, but edit them to fit your experiences). He even added a quick calculation for how much you should charge for the products. Play around with the 1997-2000 version (xls) or the 2003-2010 version (xlsx) of the file.
He wrote the following to help with the file:
- The "Material Cost" field is calculated by adding the average cost of buckles, $0.51 for bracelets/$7 for belts or $1.10 for Lightbanz bracelets + cost of cord used, usually about $0.10/ft.
- For bracelets, the "Cost" field is calculated by adding the Material Cost + Time To Make the bracelet (I estimated average hourly working rate at $10.00/hour or $0.17/minute, you can pay yourself more or less by changing the 0.17 higher or lower in the K column).
- Wholesale price is calculated by marking up the Cost by 25%.
- Retail price is calculated by marking up the Wholesale price by another 25%.
- Feel free to change any of these variables to better suite your needs.
- I used my calipers to measure the width and thickness on all my bracelets, but I use 5/8 buckles and double my core strands, so if you use smaller buckles or only use 2 strand cores, you might be able to knock off 1-2 feet from the "Total Cord Used" field, but just be careful. The "Total Cord Used" field is meant to be a estimated guide as to how much cord is in the finished bracelet, not exactly how much cord you'll need from start to finish.
