Lanyard Hole

T. Erdelyi-Ouch! Love those Lone Wolf/Loveless city knives. Hard to find. Lanyard, fobs and bails are all good by me. Fobs really do facilitate getting folders and fixed blade out quicker. Lanyards are great for the above mentioned reasons, or if you're working up high, say on a roof or ladder. Lots of folks get real irritated when a knife or hammer suddenly enters their lives from above. ;) Trust me on that. Bails are great too, again for the reasons mentioned already, and if you use a chain like SAK makes, it doesn't fray it, and it just imho looks better. To each their own on this one though. There have been a few threads about it before.
Thanks, Neal
PS-Woodrow like the Russell, is it the cowboy or the rancher ?
 
jc57 said:
A true lanyard is a loop or other attachment intended to prevent you from dropping or losing your knife. It goes over your wrist or you loop it over your thumb and wrap it around your hand, or it is attached (on a long lanyard) to your belt.

A fob, on the other hand, is useful for pulling the the knife out of your pocket or keeping it from falling into your pocket if carried with the fob draped on the outside of your pocket (depending on how tight your pants are).

A third usage is just for decoration (which I call a tassel).

All three are perfectly valid uses.
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I agree with jc57 and would add that the "decoration" is incorporated in the function reason for a lanyard. The reason being, if one were to employ a lanyard it would be a normal thinking process to have one that looks good. You can't just have function without form. Again...if function is first priority then it's up to you which material (paracord, leather, beads, ect) to use. So form is subjective but goes hand and hand with function...in this case.
 
In addition to all the other reasons already given for adding a lanyard, I sometimes add a fob to my knives just to make them more noticeable if I drop them in the woods (on a couple of my fixed-blades I have tiny tritium markers threaded onto a fob).

 
I like lanyards that are functional, like making it easier to retrieve from wherever you keep it. It's also nice as decoration if you are good at the knots and stuff. Real easy to make a lanyard look crappy.
 
leghog said:
For a pocket folder, a lanyard hole, ring, or bail serve the same purpose. Really for a dummy cord to attach the knife to your body to prevent its loss.

Consider the scout pattern. Vast majority have bails for that purpose. Many owners remove the bail if they don't like them which is why so many vintage scout knives are missing their bails. With a lanyard holes on pocket folders, you can choose to use then or not with either choice requiring you to change nothing about the knife.
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Not trying to be rude but I have to correct you on this. The bail on BSA pocketknives are designed for a different purpose. The BSA official uniform belt has a clip on it designed to hold the bail on the pocketknife. That was the express reason it was designed.
 
jc57 said:
A true lanyard is a loop or other attachment intended to prevent you from dropping or losing your knife. It goes over your wrist or you loop it over your thumb and wrap it around your hand, or it is attached (on a long lanyard) to your belt.

A fob, on the other hand, is useful for pulling the the knife out of your pocket or keeping it from falling into your pocket if carried with the fob draped on the outside of your pocket (depending on how tight your pants are).

A third usage is just for decoration (which I call a tassel).

All three are perfectly valid uses.
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Agreed. I would add that on some smaller knives it "extends" the handle of the knife adding to the grip.
 
TedderX said:
leghog said:
For a pocket folder, a lanyard hole, ring, or bail serve the same purpose. Really for a dummy cord to attach the knife to your body to prevent its loss.

Consider the scout pattern. Vast majority have bails for that purpose. Many owners remove the bail if they don't like them which is why so many vintage scout knives are missing their bails. With a lanyard holes on pocket folders, you can choose to use then or not with either choice requiring you to change nothing about the knife.
Click to expand...
Not trying to be rude but I have to correct you on this. The bail on BSA pocketknives are designed for a different purpose. The BSA official uniform belt has a clip on it designed to hold the bail on the pocketknife. That was the express reason it was designed.
Click to expand...
And how is that different than what I posted above?

That's why bails are on scout patterns, like the one's issued by militaries and also sailors knives and marlin spikes and rigging knives, etc.
 
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I just bought a jacket that came with a bonus I didn't even notice until I got it home. It shows the perfect use for a lanyard hole. I knew there was a reason I was drawn to this jacket :)

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I use a fob because the added friction makes is so the knife doesn't turn sideways in my pocket, I'd honestly prefer a small clip but..
 
When I worked at the docks i used to keep my knife tethered to me so it wouldn't go for a swim. It was also handy because if a run away tag line caught on anything it was readily available. I have a lanyard on my SAK huntsman to get it out of the carpenter pocket on my jeans without digging around too much. All of my knives that go to the beach get a lanyard tied on and secured to my trunks. Different strokes for different folks.
 
Im used to pocket knives with clips but have always loved the look and function of a tradition folder. Only hang up for me was not having a clip to hold it in place in my pocket. I hated when I had to fumble thru my pocket to find the knife when I needed it. I picked up a GEC #72 recently to get back into carrying something a little more traditional and added a small "fob" to help make it easier to get to. I wasnt a fan at first but now I love it. If its in the coin pocket of my jeans, the fob hangs out and I dont have to stand up to get to it. If its in a pair of pants without that pocket, the top knot of the fob hangs on between the top of the pocket and my pants and allows for quick and easy retrieval. I no longer miss having my pocket knife with a clip for that very reason. I do miss one handed opening but am getting used to going oldschool again and its not as big of a deal as it was initially.

Matt
 
I have seen various discussions regarding lanyards, fobs, etc and it is interesting how contentious the discussion can become sometimes (not here, though). I carried modern folders with pocket clips for years, so I never had a need for any sort of fob/lanyard. However, I saw the need when I got my son his first knife, a SAK. Not only did it help him retrieve the knife from his pocket, but it also has made it easy to locate on the occasion that he misplaces it. I recently have a newfound appreciation for a fob of sorts with my GEC Bullnose. I have taken to carrying more traditional offerings as of late, which means no convenient pocket clips.... I dislike digging around in my pockets, so I have found that the hastily fashioned fob I made allows for easy retrieval from my watch pocket. Otherwise, the other knives go in an inside jacket pocket until I can make a pocket slip/sheath. (Jacket weather isn't going to last forever....)

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