Freshly Baked Woggles



You can make your own woggle (neckerchief slide) out of paracord (aka 550 cord).  Neckerchief slides are easily and frequently lost.  A paracord woggle costs less than 1/10 the price of an official BSA neckerchief slide.  A scout is thrifty!  Since paracord comes in hundreds of different colors and patterns, you can make unique ones for each patrol, or use special colors as recognition for achievements.  To make one, you have to tie a complicated knot, burn it with fire, and then cook it.  What could be more scouty than that?

The typical woggle is made using the Turk’s head knot.  There are different types of this knot, but I like the 3 lead / 5 bight version (3L/5B).  The best way to learn to tie it is by watching a video.  Picture diagrams can be confusing.  The following video from WhyKnot does an excellent job of demonstrating it:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71bHtsBkGKg

You will need 40 inches of paracord for each woggle.  You can get paracord at your local craft store or buy it online.  A 50 foot hank of paracord costs about $7.50 on Amazon.com and is enough to make 15 woggles (about 50 cents each). 

Complicated knots like the Turk’s head or monkeys fist are much easier to tie if you have a fid, which is a special paracord lacing needle.  You can buy them online or make one yourself.  See my separate article on how to make your own fid for less than two dollars from parts you can get at your local hardware store.  You should definitely get a fid if you plan on making a bunch of woggles.

After you have tied your Turk’s head knot, wrap it around a 7/8” dowel and tighten it up neatly.  Don’t bother to glue it like it says in the video.  Clip the ends, tuck them inside and melt them with a lighter until a ball forms on the end.  This will keep the end from pulling through.  To stiffen your woggle and keep it from coming untied you can use Modge Podge as some have recommended, but I like the easy bake method.  Put your woggle, still on the dowel into a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes.  Let it cool and it’s ready to wear. 



Just out of curiosity I weighed some woggles.  A paracord woggle weighs 3 grams.  An official BSA neckerchief slide weighs 12 grams.  The lighter paracord woggle is less likely to fall off and get lost, but if it does, its only 50 cents.  I’ve also noticed that the paracord woggle is easier to slide on than the official slide.  It is very smooth and doesn’t catch on the edges of the neckerchief. 

P.S.  If you want to bake your woggle in a dutch oven, you’ll need 29 charcoal briquettes for a 12” oven.  19 on top and 10 on the bottom should get you to 400 degrees.  You will have to devise a way to prop up your dowel to keep the woggle off the bottom.  Blocks of wood should work. 

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