How long is a piece of string?

[Deleted member 4605]

What would you say a good length for cordage is?

The reason I ask is I have just bought 10 lots of 15m paracord off eBay which I intend to give to my Scouts. There isn't enough to give them an original length each, so I was going to divide each length by three giving them 5m each (with a proper length and the surplus left over for me). The idea is that the length they are given becomes their responsibility and it will be used for various activities in the future, but of course the obvious one is practicing their knots! If they lose/forget their cord, they miss out on the activity.

Is 5m too long? Not long enough? Am I thinking about this too much?!?

 

[Brocktor]

yes you are thinking about it too much

 

[Batfink]

Nope. This is a perfect question for deflecting time on a Monday lunchtime when you're longing to be anywhere but sat at your desk.

Is 5m long enough? Yeap. If they need more, get them to work in pairs!

 

[Deleted member 4605]

Nope. This is a perfect question for deflecting time on a Monday lunchtime when you're longing to be anywhere but sat at your desk.

Nail on the head!

 

[Deleted member 4605]

Nope. This is a perfect question for deflecting time on a Monday lunchtime when you're longing to be anywhere but sat at your desk.

Is it just me, or is BCUK sometimes too depressing. You get all fired up reading about what other people have been doing, and then realise you actually have work to do and your can't go and enjoy yourself.

 

[andyn]

How long is a piece of string?

Twice as long as it is from one end to the middle.

But in answer to your other question, one way of looking at is, is that most bushcraft courses recommend you take 10m of cordage with you so perhaps this is a better length? But 5m seems perfectly fine for most stuff.
I'd have thought something thicker than paracord, perhaps that good old blue lorry rope, would be better for practising knot tying?

 

[Deleted member 4605]

Twice as long as it is from one end to the middle.

Good answer!

I'd have thought something thicker than paracord, perhaps that good old blue lorry rope, would be better for practising knot tying?

That's great for demonstrating knots, but I'd rather they were used to working with something more 'everyday'.

 

[Longstrider]

I'd say that Batfink has it spot on. 5m is ample for most jobs, but still a small enough piece that it will go in a pack or jacket pocket without being too big of a bundle.
Limiting the amount of good strong man-made cordage available for a task will not only keep things even between the scouts, but could well lead to them having to think a little more about their designs of projects, realise that it might sometimes be better to work in pairs or as a group and/or adapt and inprovise along the way to achieve their goals. All in all, a good way to get them thinking and learning.

Don't forget to melt the ends of any cut lengths of paracord though.
Not doing so will soon result in a troop of scouts who all have no good cordage but do have a big bundle of nylon fibres each.

 

[Zodiak]

I take it we are talking about the kermantle stuff with an outer sheath and mutiple inner fibres and not the hawser laid nylon stuff that is sometimes advertised as paracord?

I am not sure I would use it for know practice, its a but thin and if you have heatsealed teh ends it can be a swine to undo, however its fantastic for small pioneering projects.

My favourite troop night practice used to be give each patrol two marquee side poles (6') and half a dozen cricket stump lengths of broom handle/whatever and get them to make a ladder.

You then place three tables out for each patrol about 5' apart. The patrol all stand on table 1 and deploy their ladder to reach table 2, at which point they recover the ladder and repeat the exercise to reach table 3.

Do it as a race or against the clock if you are short of stout tables.

Give them 10 minutes to repair dodgy lashings and then go back. Its amazing how much better they get second time round

 

[Deleted member 4605]

I take it we are talking about the kermantle stuff with an outer sheath and mutiple inner fibres and not the hawser laid nylon stuff that is sometimes advertised as paracord?

Er... It looks pretty similar to the paracord I got from the group buy off here. Apart from that, I'm not a paracord connoisseur!

I am not sure I would use it for know practice, its a but thin and if you have heatsealed teh ends it can be a swine to undo, however its fantastic for small pioneering projects.

Trust me - it's better than the pile of old cord they use at the moment! The idea is that they've always got a piece of cord to practice knots with, and it will be used for pioneering projects as well.

Give them 10 minutes to repair dodgy lashings and then go back. Its amazing how much better they get second time round

Great idea - I may pinch that!