A gift from a friend- turk’s head bracelets!

In this article I wanted to show you guys a gift I got a few days back. Scott W Johnson, a fellow knot enthusiast and a person I respect (also a great sounding sax player) sent over a gift to me. He saw me having a bit of a hard time with my homemade lacing needle in one of my videos and decided to send over a couple of Tandy Leather lacing needles. These are tools of the trade for many a craftsman. I usually make my own tools, but these lacing needles really help out, especially if you work with cord a lot.

But there was something much more valuable included in the gift! A couple of turk’s head knot bracelets that Scott tied. I found them to be done superbly well and I have questioned him on his tips on his tips on how to get the best look out of these bracelets.

Herringbone knot paracord bracelet.

He pointed out that the trick to getting an even weave is to roll them, much like what whip makers do with their plaits. Basically, you take a couple of heavy, flat pieces of metal or rock or even wood and roll the bracelet in between these two pieces. This will give you a much more even and flatter look.

There are two other, interesting things to point out:

1. the ends of the weave are finished with accent knots. Knots such as the gaucho knot can be used to hide the ends of the interweave, as well as further improve the look of the bracelet
2. Scott uses the lanyard knot to finish his bracelets. I have to say it looks and works well. I have mostly used the ABoK 615 as the stopper knot, but the lanyard knot fits very well onto these bracelets.

The hansen knot bracelet, finished with accent knots.

The herringbone bracelet, also finished using the accent knots. I really like these!

For those wondering what kind of bracelet styles these two bracelets are:

So, I did not only get a couple of beautiful bracelets, but also a few tips on how to improve my own work. I hope these insights also help you guys in improving your trade.

Thank you again Scott, I wish you well!