How/What is the proper use for knife lanyards?

Unless you are hanging off a mountain they are pointless on a using knife of any kind....but each to his own, some like them for decoration.
 
I don't use lanyards on knives, but have one on a Fenix AAA light that helps my find it quickly in the bottom of my pocket.
 
My brother put a lanyard on his bravo 2 because if you do any chopping it want's to slip out of your hand unless you put a death grip on it. I showed him a few lanyard thread's and some web sites on how to tie and his first time making a lanyard he came up with this.

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You put your thumb through the top loop and wrap it around the back side of your hand, gives it a great grip.
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A bunch of people hit it on the head with the 'wrap behind your hand through thumb' method. For some reason I thought it was your palm....


If you had a shorter fixed blade, you could put a smaller FOB on the end of the knife with enough room for your pinky finger if you needed something extra to grip on or needed a little extra length, right?

I have heard that having a small lanyard/fob and putting your pinky in it was a way to prevent a sweaty hand from losing grip and going forward and slicing your hand up. Does that make sense? Does anybody do that?
 
I make a small little loop that fits my pinky snug. That way, it won't fall out of my hands and gives me some extra length as a handle. Very useful.
 
I only use a lanyard when I'm using a knife where dropping the knife means not getting it back. Otherwise, while I do appreciate a nice lanyard, they get in the way for me.
 
When you've got 3 knives, keys, change, etc all in the same pocket, a short fob is easy to distinguish by feel when trying to get the right knife out of your pocket.
 
I don't use a lanyard on any of my knives other than my larger fixed blades.

It's mostly up you whether you put your wrist through the lanyard, loop it around a digit or whatever.

If I'm using it for finer whittling work I'll loop the lanyard over my forearm and choke up the blade (keeping my fingers away from the edge, of course).

Otherwise, I loop it over my thumb then wrap it around the back of my hand.

I tried the little fob thing on my SAK Tinker...but it just got in the way too much.
 
I need to get into the habbit more with my choppers for obvious reasons and I have a small one on my Busse AD that I can slip my pinky into if I'm around water.

Quick lucky and funny story:
I was limbing a tree that went down in the back yard a few weeks ago in the rain. Wasn't a lot of work to be done on it so I graped my leather gloves and Battle Mistress and was getting it done, no lanyard. :eek:

Well I'm limbing away and the knife flies out of my hand on a down stroke and gos right by my leg, oops got lucky. Well right when it happened I hear a large gasp, neighbor lady was watching and thought I decapitate myself I guess.
 
I use a lanyard on my pinky when skinning/deboning game on a gambrel (standing). if I'm gutting, skinning on the ground I don't. I just use a simple thong (single thong doubled back) bead system. The bead will snug up around my pinky. When in carry mode (Sheathed) the bead is slid all the way up to the knife, so as not to form a loop that could get caught on brush.
 
knifenut1013 said:
I showed him a few lanyard thread's and some web sites on how to tie.
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Your brother did a nice job with this. Can you share what thread's and web sites you shared with your brother with me, I'd appreciate it?

I have a Machete that I use for clearing out cat tails and weeds and something like the one your bro made would be ideal. I also need to figure out a small weave for a folder I carry. I have dropped it a few times while doing work and I think a small, bright colored lanyard might be of use to me.

Thanks!
 
I love lanyard's, Especially on fixed blades. Right now my favorite is Snodys Turk Lanyard he uses on his knives, both my Custom Snody Menaces have them and they are VERY handy when grabbing the knife out of the sheath because it has thick knots. And also they can be VERY handy when in a survival situation , You can gut the paracord and use the internal threads for fishing line or use it to sew up a deep wound :p
 
moonwilson said:
I have no use for lanyards, they just get in the way for me. The only time I ever use a lanyard is with a big chopper, if I'm working outside, and will be using the knife for a long time doing heavy work. Then I wrap the lanyard around my wrist until it's semi-tight.
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I tend to agree. For a big combat style chopper fine - to stop it flying out of your hand - but for a regular knife I think they get in the way too. Originally I think they were used in the armed forces to stop them losing a knife or tool when they were running around, or losing it overboard. Then they clipped it onto their trousers.

For us non servicemen I think they are a bit of a pointless gimmick IMHO.
 
The only time i use one is if i am going in the water lost a few knives that way i clip the blade to my cargo shorts leg pocket then put the loop thru the button hole and button it up if it unclips its still hooked on the button no more lost knives . otherwise dont use them like many others have said seems to just get in the way .
 
ron_m80 said:
A lanyard is to prevent loss of the blade. Think of sailors working in rigging on old stick and cloth vessels. Or riggers working on cranes, scafolds, or hoisting gear.

If you can pick up your knife after dropping it, and not drop it on someone if you let it go, then you likely don't need a true lanyard.

And positioning of a lanyard, is a matter of pure personal preference, they can be made for neck wear, belt wear, wrist loop whatever accomplishes the goal of a lanyard's job. Typical examples are belt worn, or neck-tied.
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This. I used to not use a lanyard because I didn't want it in the way. Now, on my work knives, they always get a lanyard. When I'm working in the air 8-100+ feet up I sure as hell don't want to drop my knife, either on the ground, or on someone else's head.
 
I use lanyards on my choppers when I'm picking a spot to place my tree stand for hunting. I use the lanyard to keep from dropping my knife when I'm chopping branches to make shooting lanes.
 
I make Lanyards to sell and give to my friends, but I use them on key rings and for zipper pulls on packs. Lanyards will get nasty when cleaning fish or game: so I don't use them on my knives. I will put a lanyard on a knife for a picture it ads a little color. Orange lanyards are good on ATV key rings as well, you can spot them easy in the leaves. I have one hanging from my HD leather vest they are popular for this.:D
 
I use lanyards mostly to prevent knife loss when I am skydiving, ski jumping, trampolining, spelunking, kayaking, dirt biking, pogo sticking, jumping rope, you get the idea. I attach the nonknife end either to my belt or over my shoulder and under the opposite arm (don't want to get accidently choked). On the knife end I place a push pin which inserts in a hole in the handle of the folder. I don't use the rig on a straight knife because of the possibility of a loose knife with exposed blade bouncing around while attached to me. When I am ready to use the folder, I depress the center pin and remove the push pin and lanyard from the knife unless I am working at the rail of a boat or over a latrine.
 
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