Tip of the Week: Fixed Blade Lanyards

Somedays I’m a lanyard guy, somedays I’m not. On any given day you may or may not find a paracord lanyard or fob on the slipjoint, modern folder or fixed blade I’m carrying. I put them on … I cut them off. And over again.

Not so with my backyard knives. My backyard knives are what I use to keep my sprawling suburban estate pruned and tidy. Okay, my backyard isn’t sprawling, it’s more like small and menacing. Think a veritable hydra of English Ivy, Virginia Creeper and grape vine … all slithering towards my house all seeming to multiply when cut. In the dog days of summer you can note their daily advance towards the castle. It’s creepy.

To do battle with such a force of nature, my backyard knives must remain razor sharp and equipped with a lanyard.

On my hip when mowing, trimming and maintaining is the exceptionally tough TOPS Tex Creek. In wing roles are the serrated and sinuous Cold Steel Vaquero Grande for cutting in tighter spots and the classic-for-a-reason Ontario Standard Issue Machete for whatever refuses to cooperate. They see a lot of action—tree limbs, vines, tall grass, fire-pit logs—and they are very dangerous tools when accidents happen. So in no instance can I afford to lose my grip, (I have seen what an ESEE Junglas can do to a lower leg and it’s dramatic). So the lanyard stays and gets used … every time. But not how you may think.

I do not loop the lanyard over my wrist because if I lose my grip I’ll have a sharp knife dangling freely from my wrist, which will tend to swing out and back in, out and in at me.

What I do — I think I first heard this attributed to Ray Mears — I make the lanyard long enough to loop over my thumb and gird the back of my hand, so that I can hammer-grip the handle.

With the lanyard deployed over the back of the hand, you get a sureness of purchase on the knife, it also allows for a looser grip when enhanced leverage in chopping is needed.

Here’s the safety part: If you lose your grip on the knife — because it is suspended over the back of your hand — it will swing side-to-side in front of you like the pendulum on a grandfather clock. This continued contact with the hand allows you to gain control of the swinging knife faster.

Take it from me who took it from an expert, try this lanyard trick … you may find the tension of the lanyard across the back of your hand is reassuring and aids in finer control. Or maybe you don’t … try it out and let us know!

This “Tip of the Week” came from The Knife Junkie Podcast, Episode 03.