Curious about the little lanyards on knives

[CSG]

I see lots of you have a short braided lanyard on your knives. Just curious as to the purpose of them? Is it functional somehow or simply a style thing?

 

[jstrange]

It’s probably mostly a cosmetic thing for most people, but I find them functional. I keep mine simple, just paracord and a couple knots. I find it makes locating the knife in the pocket faster and retrieving it easier. This is especially true if you hang a lot of stuff from your belt and have dig in there to get to your pocket. I also like it for small two or three finger knives as it gives your other fingers something to latch on to. Think of something like a Spyderco Manbug or Dragonfly.

 

[Alberta Ed]

It's called a fob, and it's useful for accessing your knife in a pocket or sheath; also for picking up gunk if you're cutting up messy stuff like fish. I keep one on my Sebbie which I carry in a pocket sheath.

 

[CSG]

I should have added to my initial post that I do keep a orange paracord wrist lanyard on my two Fallkniven F1 knives for two reasons - 1) it helps me spot the knife if I lay it down when out camping and 2) it helps keep the knife secured to my hand when doing tasks. But for the little Mini-Grip or Bugout that clips to my pocket the "fob" as Ed refers to it have no practical use for me which why I asked in the first place.

 

[jstrange]

Also can be used with your teeth to great effect if you need to open a two-handed knife with just one hand. Wouldn’t come up too often, but it is useful during those rare times you need to do that. It ain’t pretty, but it works.

 

[knerd]

I mainly use fobs on my "waved" knives because it helps get a secure grip and extract the knives easier.

I use full wrist lanyards on my fixed blades.

On regular EDC type knives I find them useless. Maybe I'm in the minority, but I don't like lanyard holes and think they take away from most knife designs.

 

[unwisefool]

I mainly use fobs on my "waved" knives because it helps get a secure grip and extract the knives easier.

Yep, this is the only time I use them. Took the one I had on my Umnumzaan off.

 

[bflying]

I like them to aid pocket extraction. Sometimes wrap my pinky around it to pull. That way I have the rest of the hand to grab and manipulate the knife. Other times I just get lazy, and grab the fob only to pull from pocket. It's one of those things I thought was silly....until I tried it. Then for a while I got into the pocket jewelry thing with skull beads and various tying technique. But now I'm pretty much back to basics. Most of what I use now are simple slip pulls (like how they're tied on Reeve's). And usually a simple wire twists "bead", used to tighten the contact point near knife.

Here's a pic with three of my "beads". Fine Silver, Titanium, and Copper. Though not with the slip tie, but instead just open loop to be used as "portable" fobs. These I just slip onto the pocket clip. And can be easily moved from knife to knife.

The Crux on top has a slip tie with fine silver bead.

 

[Mr.sig239]

I use short fobs on mine to help pull them off my pockets. They work great for that.

 

[jstrange]

I like them to aid pocket extraction. Sometimes wrap my pinky around it to pull. That way I have the rest of the hand to grab and manipulate the knife. Other times I just get lazy, and grab the fob only to pull from pocket. It's one of those things I thought was silly....until I tried it. Then for a while I got into the pocket jewelry thing with skull beads and various tying technique. But now I'm pretty much back to basics. Most of what I use now are simple slip pulls (like how they're tied on Reeve's). And usually a simple wire twists "bead", used to tighten the contact point near knife.

Here's a pic with three of my "beads". Fine Silver, Titanium, and Copper. Though not with the slip tie, but instead just open loop to be used as "portable" fobs. These I just slip onto the pocket clip. And can be easily moved from knife to knife.

The Crux on top has a slip tie with fine silver bead.

I like that. You just buy wire and twist it around by hand?

 

[gazz98]

The only time I ever used a lanyard/fob is on a small knife handle to help fill the hand. If I only got 3 fingers around the handle, I added a lanyard.

I've gotten rid of most of my small knives, I have a big hand and like a big handle. Live and learn. YMMV.

 

[Stelth]

I use the short fob around my pinkie too. I have them on small knives and it makes them easier to hold and use.

 

[Jody744]

For reasons already mentioned above, and it also helps locate your knife if it slips out of your pocket into the couch.

 

[bflying]

I like that. You just buy wire and twist it around by hand?

Yes. I prefer 12-18 guage but have used others. Have done a few with basic needle nose pliers, but a pair of cheap craft pliers make it very easy to make perfect coils. You can tap them flat with a tack hammer. Or use a file, or Dremel cuttoff wheel to add lines, checkering, or jeweling. Also, Titanium wire is super easy to anodize. Even if just using Coca Cola and 9 Volt batteries. And Silver, Copper, and Titanium all look nice, and can be easily cleaned or refinished if wanted.

Here's a knife with a very simple slip tie. Not sure if there is an official name for this kind of tie/knot. I think it's basically like an old noose knot....maybe? I dunno, but I like them. You can get them nice and tight, yet still adjustable if needed.

 

[vjb.knife]

These are two of my usual work knives. The yellow is for on the surface around the boats and shop. I take the orange one with me when I dive on the Submarine.

With the orange knife I use this lanyard to attach to a snapshackle on my diving gear. The one on the yellow knife does not serve any particular purpose