by Woodsbum
Many people have different uses for lanyard holes on a knife. This is how I use a lanyard hole more often than any other.
Especially with bushcraft knives, sheaths are made to cover most of the handle. There is usually just a little bit showing to allow you to pull the knife out. When you have large hands or are wearing gloves, this can be a pain in the rear end to deal with. It is easier than many other retention systems such as snaps, straps or toggles. Here is how the normal bushcraft knife looks in its sheath. This pictures does have a leather lace started in the lanyard hole.
SPL Knife in a Skab Leatherworks sheath
As you can see, there isn’t that much available handle to get bear sized paws on. I build myself a leather “toggle” as I call them. This is what it looks like when I am done.
Ready for use
As you can see in the pictures, I not only have a good deal of leather to use in pulling the knife out of the sheath, but I can also use that leather to allow me to choke down on the handle for chopping. Since it slides to create a larger loop if desired, I have also been known to wrap my wrist so I can loosen my grip when carving or processing firewood. Although many of you see this knot and already know how to tie it, I figured I would give those that don’t a little tutorial.
The first thing I do is pass the lace back in upon itself to make a loop. It should look like this.
The start
I then wrap the free end around the bottom of the loop to build something similar to a noose. When you get the desired number of wraps just pass the free end back through the top of the loop and slide everything together to make a tight knot.
Start of the wrap
Make sure you keep everything tight and slide the free ends down upon itself to make the cleanest knot possible. You don’t want the knot coming loose.
Finished
I have seen people put epoxy over knots like this, but I don’t recommend it. If you keep everything tight and clean there should be no issue during use. Sometimes knots do slide loose. If that happens to you, then just retie it. It really isn’t a big deal.
Over the years I have seen a multitude of different knots used. It really doesn’t matter how you put this together, in all actuality. The big thing to remember is that the lanyard hole on a knife can be used. So many people just ignore them and complain when they have problems drawing their knife or with their knife slipping while chopping. Remember that these knifes are tools like any other tool. Use them and their features as intended when needed.
Good luck!!
