USAGE OF LANYARD

L

linjunpei

Joined
Oct 30, 2000
Messages
383
I purchased a Microtech® LCC, and in the box, it included a length of string(paracord I presume), what is the use of this lanyard?

Could someone kindly give me some information on why this "string" is normally seen tied to knives?(eg.Emerson®, Microtech® etc). What practical purpose does it serve?

------------------
silent souls leave .308 holes
 
The lanyard is to hook around your wrist when you are forced to use your knife in a "strenuous fashion". Don't want to drop your knife when you life might depend on it.

I find the lanyards do get in the way when attached to a folder that is carried in your front pocket. However, they seem to work fine on a fixed blade that is carried in a belt sheath.
 
There are several ways to use a lanyard. I don't tend to use them on folders at all, but on fixed blades I almost always use them unless I'm using a knife with a large guard.

1. When chopping I simply put the lanyard over my wrist. If I accidentally let go of the knife, it doesn't fly off and hit someone else or get lost in underbrush.

2. When cutting, and particularly where one uses the point or otherwise must cut on a forward stroke, I make a short loop and put my hand through it with the thumb outside. That is, I grip the knife handle (hammer or saber grip) with my hand in the lanyard, but not my thumb. This has the effect (if the size of the loop is right for your hand and the knife) of holding the hand back from accidentally slipping onto the blade when using a knife (most that I own) without a large lower (at least) guard.
 
You can tie a hangman's knot and use that to help pull your knife from your pocket, this is called a fob.
I tie a knot near the knife and then leave enough space to fit my hand through and then tie another knot. This is a type of lanyard set-up. I frequently use my knife above other people so I use this set-up to prevent knife droppage and people pokage.
For me lanyards are functional. If I don't need it I don't put it on the knife.

Jeff
 
Hold your hand out palm up in front of you, hang the knife by the lanyard on your thumb, rotate your thumb to vertical, continue to rotate till you grasp your knife. Adjust the lanyard to fit snugly, you will find that your hand neither slips forward or back on the handle. Proper use of a lanyard with a heavy knife lets your hand muscles relax because the lanyard holds the knife for you, rebound time is quicker, chopping and heavy cutting less strenous. The lanyard on a small knife will let you tackle heavier chores without worry of slipping forward on the blade or back off the handle.

Ted
MMHW
 
I've never used actually used a lanyard, but when I find that a short (3 to 4 inch) fob tied through the lanyard hole and finished with a monkey's paw knot is an outstanding way to retrieve a clip-less folder from your pocket. When I carry my Camillus navy folder, it's always carried this way.

Let the knife ride in the pocket, with the monkey-fist knot just outside the pocket for quickly extracting the knife from the pocket.
 
I understand if the lanyard is to loop around your wrist to prevent the knife from dropping.
But the one i mean is different. If you have an LCC, it should have had a slip of paper in the box, asking you to tie a knot with the string. The knot would end up looking like a hangman's noose, with the loop around the lanyard pin.
I'll try to find a picture of it so that you know what I mean.

------------------
silent souls leave .308 holes
 
This is a photo of what i mean.(photo credits to jackstraw) these are his knives and not mine.
this is the url: http://albums.photopoint.com/j/ViewPhoto?u=151050&a=1921587&p=20034623

If you notice, the ES1-M has this lanyard with the loop around the lanyard hole, and two loose ends at the other end of the lanyard. what is this for??
could someone kindly shed some light on this>
!!thanks!! in advance

------------------
silent souls leave .308 holes
 
Gary, thanks!! I see what you mean! thanks a million. Another thing is, in that case, won't the loop area of the string become slightly cut after some period of carry?


------------------
silent souls leave .308 holes
 
chitwang & bad4u, thanks for your explaining of the fob. I guess I didn't look at the posts in detail this morning, thus I kinda missed your posts.
bad4u, what is a monkey's paw knot? could you breifly describe how it looks like?
thnaks!!

------------------
silent souls leave .308 holes
 
Here is a page of knots; both with animation and not. The monkey's paw is, IIRC, the same as the Turk's head.

knots

Walt

[This message has been edited by Walt Welch (edited 01-17-2001).]
 
thanks for the url link Walt! I will check that website out later more throughly.
thanks!

------------------
silent souls leave .308 holes
 
One last thought on lanyards, they are real handy on knives (and pistols) that get used in snowy climes. I've dropped my knife in the snow before and it's
redface.gif


Thanks Ted for that great tip, I'll try that soon.

Also I know that James Keating likes lanyards on his folders for retrieval, but I don't know specifics.

------------------
Si Vis Pacern Parabellum
Semper Ubi Sub Ubi
 
Originally posted by crecy:

Also I know that James Keating likes lanyards on his folders for retrieval, but I don't know specifics.

crecy, what do you mean by retrieval?


------------------
silent souls leave .308 holes
Click to expand...
 
"crecy, what do you mean by retrieval?"

I think he meant retrieving from say, a pocket. I always carry a large Sebenza in my front pocket and use the "fob" to grab onto to pull out the knife. Much easier than reaching down further to grab hold of the knife itself.

Jon
 
Ah! I see what you mean.
the fob is for quick access to a blade.
Thanks! for the information!

------------------
silent souls leave .308 holes
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top