Effective Large Fixed Blade Lanyards

Thanks for swinging by – I appreciate it!

Not every job with a large, fixed blade knife requires a lanyard, however, they can come in real handy when working in a slippery environment or on heavy blades designed for chopping.  To be clear, SlicKnives’ blades are not designed to be choppers; they’re built to be slicey and to handle a wide variety of tasks including those that can get slippery fast.

Lanyards can be as complex as you want to make them – I prefer simple, effective solutions in everything that I do.  I’ve found that the use of a lanyard over the backside of my hand and around my thumb generally positions the knife to fall back into the palm of my hand if it slips out, affording me with a quick re-grip of the handle. 

Here are my two favorite large, fixed blade knife lanyards that are used over the top of the hand:

Tied Loop – Take a length of cord, place one end through the lanyard hole on the knife’s handle, measure the proper length over to the top of your hand looping around your thumb, and tie a secure knot of your choosing so that it rests just outside of your thumb. 

Take time to adjust the knot’s position for a tight, but comfortable position on the thumb.  Then, cut the unneeded cord after the final position of the knot has been established and use a lighter to melt the ends of the paracord to avoid unravelling.

Pro: Super-simple and effective looped lanyard that’s always ready to immediately deploy when needed.

Con: This lanyard is more prone to snagging items when the knife is belt-carried in the sheath.

Split Loop – Take a length of cord, place one end through the lanyard hole on the knife’s handle, place both ends of the cord through a bead, measure the proper length over to the top of your hand looping around your thumb, and tie a secure knot of your choosing onto each separate end of the cord, so that the knots stop the bead resting just on the outside of your thumb providing a looped lanyard when deployed.  

Take time to adjust the bead’s location against both knots for a tight, but comfortable position on the thumb.  Then, cut the unneeded cord after the final positioning of the knots and use a lighter to melt the ends of the paracord to avoid unravelling.  When belt-carrying the knife in a sheath, move the bead up to the butt of the knife’s handle as shown in the picture leaving two loose ends of the cord.

Pro: Reduces snagging when the knife is belt-carried in the sheath.

Con: This lanyard is a little more finicky to tie and takes a few extra seconds to deploy when needed.

SlicKnives includes a length of black or brown 550 paracord that matches the chosen color and a stainless-steel bead with our Hunter ₅ and Kepper ₅ knives, so that our customers can tie up one of the two options described above and pictured with this post. 

I encourage you to try out both types of these effective lanyards to see what works best for you!

Thank you,
Brendon