Ultra-Portable Paracord Kit™

If you're anything like me, you tend to get bored in public and need something to keep your hands busy otherwise they end up getting wrapped around someone's neck ;)

Enter the Ultra-Portable Paracord Kit™. With this kit, you can carry with you almost anywhere enough paracord and the required tools for your creations to help keep your sanity as needed for those emergency situations - or just for those times when someone wants a cool keychain...

I'm sure that you can make this with most any container type that you see fit, but I love Altoids and have more than a few of these containers lying about for various projects. For this version of the project you will need two Altoids tins, four (4) bolts with nuts, small velcro straps, and hot glue.

If you don't already have two empty Altoids tins, find and eat your desired flavor - ask for help from a friend if needed. Please observe while I eat my Altoids.

Once you've finished the yummy Altoids, clean out the container (if you wish - I did - even though we do it later again) and get ready to combine the two tins. We are going to be joining the tins by the bases with the lids facing in opposing directions... just because I like it that way. That and it works better with the velcro.

If you need to, make a pilot hole for your bolt, thread the bolt, and tighten the bolt and nut well. Make sure that the containers stay lined up throughout this process. Once you get offline, there's no coming back without much cosmetic work.

After you've gotten all of your bolts threaded and tightened down, cur off any excess, as needed, grind off any sharp edges unless you like getting snags, cuts, and metal splinters, and clean out the tins... again.

This is where I put some hot glue on the bolt heads and the nuts after cutting the bolt ends to make sure I was able to avoid snags. It's not pretty, but it's functional.

Again, here's where your personal preference comes in. I used velcro straps (cut to size) and super glue. Place the straps in the logical places to make for a way to close your tins and... you're done.

Time to stock your new kit.

This is everything that I have crammed in my tins at the moment. There's still plenty of room on the tool side. Not so much on the cord side.

As you can see, to start off, I put in a pair of nail clippers to cut the cord, a small pair of hemostats, fire, and ten (10) key rings. There's still plenty of room for some buckles or a real knife instead of the clippers with room left over.

This side's rather tight. I didn't bother to pull the cores out of the paracord as you never know when you might need it for a design or for real life...

I was able to get four (4) colors of about six (6) feet each. A grand total of about twenty-four (24) feet. Give or take. I definitely need to find a tighter way of wrapping, though.

That's it. Another use for your Altoids (or other) tins.

Enjoy. Now, go forth and create people!