Lockable Paracord Collar

I have been seeing all these awesome looking paracord projects on Instructables and decided to try one myself. Instead of the usual plastic clip that I see most often, I wanted to be able to lock the collar, which took some experimentation. Most of this instructable will be about how I used the paracord and d-rings to make this collar able to lock.

Safety note: Paracord is very strong and so are locks and welded d-rings and this collar won't break if it gets caught on anything, which can be dangerous if your pet panics. Never leave a pet unattended while wearing this collar and be careful where you leave the key. I always keep a pair of paramedics shears on hand to cut through the paracord, just in case.

For this paracord project, I used:

• Approximately 38 feet of black paracord (to determine the length you need, you can follow the general rule of 1.25 feet of cord for 1 inch of finished length. I always try to leave a little extra so I don't run out.)
• Approximately 18 feet of blue paracord
• scissors
• two d-rings (I used these ones)
• lock with key (I used one similar to this)
• match or lighter
• crochet hook or paracord needle (not pictured)

For this project, I like the look of the cobra weave but I wanted something wider. Enter, the monster cobra weave! I used this Instructable to learn how to do it. I knew I couldn't present the weave itself any better, so I will mostly show the start and finish of the collar.

I took the center of the length of black paracord and tied a lark's head knot around the flat side of one of the d-rings. Measure the length that you want your collar, then tie the two ends of the black paracord into two more lark's head knots around the flat side of the other d-ring. You should have two long lengths of black paracord hanging off each side of the second d-ring. That will be the side you start your weave.

I don't have a paracord jig so I used to lock to attach the d-ring to a hard point to provide tension while to did the weave. I also singed all the ends before I started to prevent fraying while I worked.

Once I had done the monster cobra weave all the way to the other d-ring, I pulled one side of the paracord through the d-ring, then used a crochet hook to pull it through the last few stitches and pulled it tight. I did the same thing on the other side. I trimmed the extra paracord off and singed the edges to keep them from fraying in the future.

Lock the two d-rings together around your pet's neck and you're done!