Here’s the real key to assembling/making a set of Ranger/Pace Counting beads that’s superior to most that are offered for sale.
If you’re not familiar with these, they’re essentially beads knotted onto a short cord in such a way that they can be used to count off clusters of paces (two steps) and keep a running tally of distance. It’s an ancient technique, but brought into prominence by US Army Rangers in Vietnam. I’m not going to go into exactly how they’re used here, there are hundreds of explanations on-line already, but estimating distance covered is absolutely critical for off-trail cross-country navigation, and not otherwise easy to do, short of GPS, which is more gadgetry to be concerned about being dependent on and takes attention and eyes off of your situation.
If you’ve looked at what’s commonly available you may have wondered at the odd beads most often used, beveled/conical black beads that don’t look like anything from a craft store. The unusual shape makes it easier to grasp and slide a single bead at a time by feel in the dark, or with your eyes elsewhere, compared to most quasi-cylindrical beads.
The key to the mystery is that the “beads” (at least some of them) are rubber, not plastic. That makes all sorts of sense, craft-store plastic, glass, and ceramic beads are notorious for chipping and cracking, sometimes from shock/impact (remember these are typically on packstraps, and the packs get thrown around and stored in rough conditions), sometimes just from temperature changes. Metal beads are cold to handle in cold weather, are either hollow and tend to cut fibers of the cord they’re on or solid and heavy. Rubber is a great solution for durability (practically indestructible), weatherproof qualities and easy handling.
Beveled faucet washers make good sense too. If you think about it their normal use requires to resist abrasion and to be constantly immersed in water without ill effect, so they have to be durable and reasonably weatherproof. I have no idea what their ultra-violet (UV) light resistance is like over long periods, it’s probably fine, but if you’re worried you can always hit them with a little spray of Armor-All or similar plastic/rubber preservative, that’s what it’s designed for.
These beveled faucet washers come in a huge number of sizes, but I’m seeing prices of less than $2 per pack of 10 at home stores. That means for less than $4 you can get 20, which is more than the 13 you need for a standard metric counting set and will let you experiment with some enhanced versions which are easily made but impossible to purchase ready-made, they seem to range up to 17 beads.
Inside hole diameters vary with the outside diameter, and parachute cord (“paracord”) now comes in innumerable varieties, real, fake and enhanced, so you may need to experiment a bit to get the amount of friction right so that it’s easy enough to pull the beads down, but you also want them very secure in place. Typically the ready-made versions use doubled-up cord, but it’s even possible to remove some or all of the center strands from paracord to reduce the thickness.
– Robert the Wombat
See also: Tip – DIY Ranger/Pace Counting Beads, My Current Configuration