Chain Sinnet: The Ultimate Way to Stow Paracord

There should be no other way to stow paracord other than the chain sinnet, also known as the electrician’s coil or monkey braid. This is my go-to lately for anything cordage related. I’ve made paracord lanyards for my knives using the chain sinnet and packed in hundreds of feet of 550 and 275 paracord in a convenient pack. I don’t mess around with coils anymore.

Chain Sinnet Paracord Management

Most of the paracord coils I see in people’s packs tend to be a standard rope coil. The paracord is in a single strand, looped repeatedly between the thumb and elbow, and then looped in the center to manage the line. I used to do this, but would get kinks and tangles while trying to get some line out to cut.

With a chain Sinnet, I’m able to let the entire length sit at the bottom of my pack unmanaged. I know as I pull it out, I won’t get tangles and can easily cut lengths of cordage.

My personal set up is double stacking the line to halve the full length, then applying the chain Sinnet. With this set up, I cut two lengths of cordage of equal size each time I need it.

Chain Sinnet Lanyard Braid

The electrician’s coil can even be used as a lanyard braid. I’m already redoing these braids on my knives. The beauty of this application is that you can quickly use the length of cordage, and easily rebraid the paracord more quickly than most braids.

The only difference between doing the normal chain sinnet and the braid is tightening the loops while you are making the braid. The appearance isn’t as nice as a snake braid, but it looks good enough and is far more functional.

Benefits

The benefit of easy accessibility to cordage is that you can actually use it when you need to.

Specific to knives or braids, these lengths of paracord can be quickly undone to use as line for a bow drill or similar. Better yet, it’s just as quick to wrap up again as a lanyard.

There’s no need to worry about tangles when pulling out line. I love having the ability to messy-pack each length into the bottom of my pack. There’s no better way to keep your cordage managed than the chain sinnet.