For those that lanyard / fob their knives - post up!

This was my fifth knife I had made a while back. It made from 01 and was my favorite knife to use when camping. Gave it to a good friend and I will make myself another out of A2 pretty soon.

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Hey all,

I know lanyards have their place, i.e., very useful while cleaning and skinning out game, and SOMETIMES over water. But......

I know a bowhunter that would probably freak a little seeing all these lanyards. One time he was up in a tree stand. There was a small branch in his sight line, so he steps down and on to a large branch. He slips his hand through a lanyard on his belt knife, pulls it out and reaches out to pull cut the offending branch. Since you're reading it here, the branch makes a cracking sound and he half slips, half jumps before the branch breaks. He realizes he has the knife in his hand, so he tries to toss it out of the way. The lanyard worked, so when he hit the ground the knife punches into his wrist, hits a bone, and goes sideways out the skin. This son-of-a-gun is so tuff that he pulled the knife out, went back to his truck, made a bandage with a t-shirt, and finished the hunt.

Bob knows he was incredibly lucky with the way it turned out. The blade was 4" long and a little over 1" wide. It went in parallel with the arm bones and ligaments, so it didn't cut anything that wouldn't heal on its own. The blade actually popped out a little piece of bone and went between ligaments and the bone when it went out the side.

Bob said that it was an almost routine thing to do, so he didn't really think about it ending the way it did.
1. The branch he was standing on was only 6-7 feet up, so he wasn't too concerned about falling or having to jump.
2. The tree is a regular of his, he'd actually trimmed little sucker branches off that same spot the same way several other times in previous years.
3. He didn't want to drop the knife and have to climb down to get it.

He had the reflexes to try to throw the knife away from him, if it hadn't been for the lanyard it would have been a roll in the dirt and some cussing. And to top it off, the branch didn't even break, or as far as he can tell, even crack. It's still on the tree looking healthy.

The moral of the story is to think about the possible consequences when you use the lanyard to (more or less) permanently connect yourself to a sharp instrument. It might be that losing the knife is the preferable outcome.
 
The only knife I keep one on is my Salt 1. I have a slider knot and platic break away on it. I'll tether it to my wrist when using the knife over the side of the boat or in the water.



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i add a lanyard to every fixed blad ei own, my atac tomahwak has one as well. i always top it off with a pewter skullbead helps me tell my knives at a glanc egives them some personality and improves morale a bit which is real important when youve been out in the woods for days or a third world country for a half a year i always get my beads here: www.thelanyardzone.com great selection and great turn around time. i also hav e a single custom bead i bought years ago that has tritium in its eyes its one of my prized possesions.
 
No pictures, but I have a small lanyard made from Kelty Triptease (spectra core, yellow color for day visibility, reflective strip woven in for night time visibility) on all of my folders and small fixed blades. It's large enough for me to fit my pinky and ring finger through which allows me to drop the knife without losing it if I need quick dexterity and also allows me to grip the bottom of the handle only so that I can snap cut (handy when removing thin branches).

On my larger blades I have 550 cord lanyards that I go around my thumb and wrap around the back of my hand.
 
I had a similar experience to the one Lukus described. I was fishing from my kayak and had my knife on a lanyard (tied to the kayak). I was using the knife when the kayak rocked, and I flung out my arms instinctively to balance the boat. I pulled the knife through my closed hand. Fortunately the blade was fairly small compared to the handle and the cut was not at all bad. But it was the last time I ever tied my knife to the boat. Now I just tie the sheath and carry a spare knife.

A lanyard has its uses, but I would now be very careful to consider the consequences of having one on a working knife. If any part of the lanyard caught on something it could pull the blade against my hand.
 
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I have a similar lanyard on my Ritter Grip. I use them mainly for visibility if the knife is dropped and when carrying my Ritter in the bush I clip a dummy cord to the lanyard and run that through a belt loop.
 
I’m pretty much in the no lanyard school, to many people want to slip them on there wrist and, as others have said, it’s an accident waiting to happen. :eek:

A small fob on a knife that rides deep in a pouch sheath or has a short handle is fine.

I will occasionally employ a lanyard when using a knife on the water or where dropping it might mean loosing it, but slipped over my thumb or fingers in such a way that it is easy to jettison.

Any lanyard or fob is removed before I will take the knife to a grinder of buffer.





Big Mike

”Scaring the tree huggers.”


Forest & Stream
 
This may sound like a stupid question to some, but for fixed bladed knives, has anyone thought of or tried using a constrictor knot on their handles instead of using the lanyard holes ??

Just curious...
 
Here is my RAT Cutlery Izula with lanyard by Josh K. He does awesome work! The colors complement the colors of the knife and I think the wooden bead looks great.

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I have lanyards on a few of my knives. For pocket knives or knives carried in packs, they make a nice extra "handle" to grab when you are fishing them out. On both fixed and folders, I think they can aid in the grip a little, especially if the handle is a bit short for my hand.

Another big reason I use them is for increased visibility. I like adding a neon orange or yellow lanyard to dark colored knives, especially ones with blackened blades.
 

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I have used constrictor knots on an Opinel...

And I found that it did not always hold.

I think it had to do with the hard and slick surface.

Marion
 
I'm apathetic about fobs and lanyards on knives. Don't like them on folders much; they just seem to get in the way with the placement of many lanyard holes. On three finger fixed, they're fine to extend your grip. I can see the security it might offer on a chopper, but I've don't have a chopper (that has a lanyard hole) yet and can't say. I did think they were pretty handy when I used them on some Busses at the last CA chopfest.

I think I put a fob on a knife for visibility purposes mostly. I like Jake's lanyard on the Gunny though, might start trying out something like that to see if it works for me.

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This fob is from Josh K :thumbup::thumbup:

The fob worked well on the farmer until I actually had the use the tool on that end of it...the fob getting in the way while screwing something got old really quick.

I'm thinking about putting one on my Izula to extend the grip, we'll see.
 
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I don't care for the large, long lanyards on most knives as they get in the way if you're not wrapping them on your wrist. I do like a small loop/fob, both for visibility (ie high-vis orange paracord) and it helps to get some folding knives out of pockets or pouches not to mention if you're traveling in heavy brush or in the dark, it's comforting to know you can dummy-cord it to your youself so it doesn't get snagged or fall out of the pocket/sheath.

Not sure if anybody else has tried this, but the smaller loop fobs can be used as a "pinky" lanyard. I'll have to take some pictures, but you just slip you pinky into the lanyard and you still have good manipulation of the knife with decent retention if dropped. I'm able to most of the bushcraft holds of a small fixed blade with the pinky-lanyard with no issues. Just my new-found method that gives you a small lanyard that doesn't get in the way, yet still can give you the option of securing the blade to your hand to prevent loss.

ROCK6
 
Apart from what I already mentioned, one of the problems for me is that when I work a knife I try to be above the task working down. Gravity invariably dangles any lanyard in the way meaning I have to accommodate that just for a couple of measly cuts. PITA. I also find them a grime / germs magnet and also the bit that retains moisture the longest. Of all the times I tried it the best I could get was just knotting a bit of paracord through and cutting it off when I'm done. I certainly couldn't be bothered making up something fancy every few uses.

I tried the fob thing: Thing is, either it is on the kind of a folder that gets its own pocket so no fob required, or it's a beater in there with a bunch of other stuff. Pull the fob and a lottery of other crap comes up with it.

I'm with the just bungee a loop of shock cord from a sheath over an FB handle if I want an extra layer of security.
 
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