Letters To The Editor

Regarding: Uses For Paracord

Here’s an example of 550 cord (paracord) in use (picture included). In the past I had to build these or something like it in the field, woods and jungles where I was stationed. I spent 19 years in the Army as an 11B infantryman. This one I am building as an outdoor bar-b-q / kitchen.

I’ve been working on it for a few years now. Each piece of wood has been carried by hand from the local wood line around my home. No living trees have been used in the build. It takes some looking around for just the right piece for the spot I’m working on, but I always seem to find what I need. The structure is very strong and has with stood winds in excess of 40 mph even though there is no concrete used in the vertical posts.

I weigh in at about 195 pounds, and have personally hung on each horizontal cross member. I can stand on the roof and have done so each spring to prune the cherry tree that the hut is built around. At no point is the shelter attached to or tied to the tree so it is free to grow and sway as any tree needs to. The table is an old pallet, the grill comes from a dive into a local dumpster, and the net chair I also made from 550 cord. The roofing material is an old sump pump hose I found and cut length ways along one edge, and then opened up. Then it was cut to fit length wise like one long shingle. There is over 3,000 foot of paracord in this shelter. Hope this generates some ideas to your readers. Keep up the good work.

Lucian