Paracord Fob With Hidden Compartment

Hello Felllas,

I am loving paracord now and after making this awesome keychain fob with hidden compartment I realized that I should have tried this as my first paracord project rather this one, because this is much simpler.

You will not believe me If I tell you that I tried 3 times before I could finally make a perfect one, silly mistakes, lots of learnings and off course some tricks which I discovered while making these.

I think it is a perfect hidden compartment for survival money. Imagine you forgot your wallet at home and driving your car and ran out of fuel. Thankfully you car keys are hooked to this fob with a $100 bill inside :)

I have realized that knot based projects can only be understood best if every step is captured as images. This is what I tried to do in this instructable, I hope you will find it useful and like it too.

Lets see how to make it.

Step 1: Required Stuff

You would need:

1. 3 paracords of 5 feet in length and color of your choice.
2. A Cigarette lighter.
3. A sharp scissor.
4. A pencil
5. Patience :)
6. Something to hide like a dollar bill or your treasure map or a love letter, or teachings from your Grandpa or your secret James bond Laser weapon pen :D

Step 2: Find Center

1. Intestect two cords from their middle.
2. Arch the horizontal cord (green) over the vertical cord (red) in opposite direction (See images above)

Step 3: Cross Knot

1. Weave top cord (red) into the lower right arch (green).
2. Weave bottom cord (red )into the top left arch (green).
3. Pull cord to form a loose cross knot

Step 4: Introducing the Third Cord

1. Insert the third cord (white) from top and pass it through the center of the knot (See image).
2. Let the third cord (white) pass through until its middle.
3. Stretch the cords to make a firm knot (See image).

Step 5: Making First Crown

The paracord fob is nothing but sinnet of crown knots, lets see how to make the first knot.

1. Pull top right cord (white) and cross the next cord (red) moving clockwise (See image).
2. Repeat 1 for next cord clockwise, continue till the last cord (red).
3. Insert it inside the arch of the first cord (white in this case)

Step 6: Stretch Untill Firm

First crown knot is ready.

Step 7: Keep Working Up and Making Crown Knot 3 More Times.

Do you see the beautiful patter coming :)

Step 8: Insert Pencil and Work Up More Knots

Once you are done making sinnet of 3 crown knots, insert pencil in the middle and keep working up to make more knots. I stopped when the fob was around 4.5 inch long.

NOTE: It took me a while to figure out this very useful step. Without pencil, when you try to stretch the cords to make a firm knot, you may end up with uneven sinnet, some knots may be loose , while others may be tight. Keeping a pencil in the middle as you work up will ensure that the entire fob has same thickness. You can stretch the cords without having to worry about too loose or too tight. This will also ensure that the secret compartment inside is intact.

Step 9: Making the 6-strand Diamond Knot

1. Make your final crown knot slightly loose.
2. Hook the lower right cord end clockwise around the next arched cord and insert it through the center of the Crown knot (See image).
3. Repeat for remaining 5 cords.
4. In the end, all cords will pop from the center

Step 10: Tighten the Knot and Remove Pencil

1. Snip the cords to your desired length
2. Singe the ends with lighter.

Step 11: Hiding Something

1. Pull the cords apart to reveal entrance to secret compartment.
2. I have hidden 500 INR Bill inside it :].
3. Fold the bill and insert it completely.

Step 12: Where Is My Money?

Your awesome keychain fob with secret compartment is ready to use. When you wish to take out your secret stuff, just push from bottom gently and it will peek out from entrance :).

I just loved working on this project and worked really hard to make it easy to understand.

Thank you for your time to read this ible, I hope you like it. Should you have any questions, comments or feedback, please share in the comments below.

If you like, please vote.

You are awesome :]

Stay tuned.