The Official Lanyard Thread

While this looks bluish it's more purple, trying my hand at some combination of paracords, the weld is neatly hidden within the one and then using the whipping knot to keep them tightly together, you still would not want to go rock climbing with it ;) but for a keychain it will work just fine.

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

G2
 
I got my CKF SSE a couple weeks ago and didn't have a bead I thought was a really good match, so I just tied up a placeholder tail for it, using one of several ferruled blue glass beads I have kicking around and often use for such purposes, though I've got a couple that are more or less dedicated to certain knives.

H5dkkLA.jpg


I actually kinda like that combo, but I found something from one of my favorite makers at the Artsy Craftsy site that I thought would be a good match so I ordered it along with another. These beads get bulk-shipped to Miami then sent out individually by USPS and mine arrived in about 10 days altogether from Slovenia, which really isn't bad, all things considered.

So here's the new tail and bead tied up with a couple Diamond Knots from my newer hank of 550 Moonstruck which is darker than the little I have left from my first order of the blue/black mix of that name. I originally liked the brighter color better, but I'm getting to appreciate the other now too.

ndmoctK.jpg


3JA6TWZ.jpg
 
My new knife is pretty sizeable, blade is almost 4 1/2" long and 1 3/8" wide and these guys fitted it so tight that you couldn't get paracord around the standoff to install a lanyard.

I took some thinner paracord, while even that is too thick, I thought "hmm if I was able to OPEN the middle section and cut out the inner strands so just the jacket was left, that might be thin enough then" I know some people like to just use the jacket and remove ALL of the inner strands, but I find that too thin for the knots and I need that knot to be of good size to catch and draw the knife out, so by taking out a small middle section seemed the best, albeit difficult, move to do.

That is never an easy thing to do, at least for me, as you have to fiddle around a LOT in order to drag out the inner strands through that tightly woven outer jacket, but I got most of the inner strands cut and then wrapped that around the last standoff and did my whipping knot to keep that section in it's place, more fiddling around to tie the first diamond knot, but I ended up with a lanyard finally that works and the blade JUST barely clears and over the years of sharpening it will just have a little more clearance as it is sharpened.

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

G2
 
Last edited:
Gary W. Graley said:
My new knife is pretty sizeable, blade is almost 4 1/2" long and 1 3/8" wide and these guys fitted it so tight that you couldn't get paracord around the standoff to install a lanyard.

I took some thinner paracord, while even that is too thick, I thought "hmm if I was able to OPEN the middle section and cut out the inner strands so just the jacket was left, that might be thin enough then" I know some people like to just use the jacket and remove ALL of the inner strands, but I find that too thin for the knots and I need that knot to be of good size to catch and draw the knife out, so by taking out a small middle section seemed the best, albeit difficult, move to do.

That is never an easy thing to do, at least for me, as you have to fiddle around a LOT in order to drag out the inner strands through that tightly woven outer jacket, but I got most of the inner strands cut and then wrapped that around the last standoff and did my whipping knot to keep that section in it's place, more fiddling around to tie the first diamond knot, but I ended up with a lanyard finally that works and the blade JUST barely clears and over the years of sharpening it will just have a little more clearance as it is sharpened.

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

G2
Click to expand...
What are you using for your whipping knots? I thought you said earlier in this thread but I can't find it now.
 
Cool!! Do one of these for a crown knot.


ChazzyP said:
So, with the previous posts and a couple vids about Snake Knots, I thought I'd try to put something together about how I tie 'em. I watched a vid a few years ago to learn this, but can't seem to find it again. I've just shot some stills as I'm not set up to shoot videos, so I'll see if this'll format in an understandable way. One caveat here is that I used a piece of nylon750/11 strand cord and Snake Knots will come out a bit more lobed-looking than with nylon 550/7.

If you're following on a wide format (computer screen) the pictures will pair up side by side. On a phone they'll pair up vertically under the text which will string this out kinda long.

I tie these flat on a table, usually with the knife in a spring clamp for stability. Take the left-hand cord over the right, then back under both--think, over,under. Next, take the right-hand cord and go under the free end of the left-hand cord.

TtSAZxc.jpg
htA3Hhh.jpg


Next, take that right-hand cord pass it back over itself the left, over both center cords, and back down through the right-side loop. The second pic below is with knot cinched up and starting again with over, under. No need to turn over, open a loop, or anything.

TyzFDIQ.jpg
KHKvGYZ.jpg


First pic shows the second part of the second knot--under, over. Second pic shows the working end through the right hand loop.

VFd5VSe.jpg
1ziSDfa.jpg



Hope that's clear. I cinch up by pushing up hard on a lobe with my thumbnail and pulling down hard on the same side cord. As you cinch up, twist each completed knot into plane before starting the next. If the first knot is too loose, just do the same in the opposite direction after you've got a couple more done. If you need to cinch up a string of knots, just work your way from the top down pushing up the lobes with your thumbnail while pulling down from below. You can work that in the opposite direction as well.

Here's a completed string of Snakes that could still use a little cinching toward the bottom.

T0rEWWR.jpg
Click to expand...
 
Do you want to see a big collection of beads or just finished functional beads and lanyards on knives?
This past year I went from thinking that they were a waste of time to really liking and even collecting them. In fact, I have started thinking about Making them of myself using molding silicone and modding them with glow pigment.
Last few times I sold a knife I've included one for free, everyone has seemed to really like getting a little surprise.
I'd be happy to take a few photos of my collection unless you are more interested in seeing them actually on knives being used.
 
This is a decent number of them that were at hand. I have been adding glow accents, so many colors out there now!
Nothing crazy here, I still can't bring myself to spend $100 on one. I would consider it if it was sterling silver, but otherwise they get banged up (and sometimes bang up) my knives. I have taken to adding one to all of my knives though, the lanyard is a lot more useful than I thought it would be.
I grouped them by theme like animal sci-fi/comic characters etc. 20210214_151533.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top