Tying a lanyard (wrist strap)

I have an inova X5 and I almost dropped it into a dumpster the other night while I was looking for a cardboard box. I decided that I needed a wrist strap.

I bought some 550 paracord and tied a piece on with a regular square knot but its just UGLY.

How do I tie a much more attractive knot into my lanyard?

As it stands now, I just ran a piece through the lanyard hole, gathered both ends, and tied them off with a square knot.

You could take both ends together & tie in an overhand knot. I like figure eight knots myself.

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif try here web page

Welcome to CPF, Mr_Dove,

Check out this knot that Chris Reeve uses for his knives:

How to Tie Chris Reeve Knives Knot

It's pretty simple and works well with 550 cord.

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Britt

BC beat me to it - the hangman's noose that CRK uses on their knives is now my 'lanyard standard', and their instructions on tying it are very clear and easy to follow.

What I did was use the lanyard supplied with a Japanese made Miltech brand LED light and it works well. The Miltech light that I bought is so hopeless that I gave it to my brother in-law to be.

Andy Ho

Yeah, I had seen that Chris Reeves knot but I could not get it to work on a flashlight. It requires you to work with the middle of the rope rather than the ends. Every time I did the Chris Reeve knot I ended up with a nice knot in the middle and the two ends still dangling free. That didn't help me.

Forgive me for having never been a boy scout.

Mr. Dave:

The figure 8 knot that you can find somewhere on the web works fine to attach the two ends. Leave a lot of extra line to trim off to your desired lanyard length when tying the "hangman's knot", which I believe actually pre-dates Mr. Reeves by a considerable number of years /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

For the Inova, and others, I use black 550 paracord, melt and smooth the ends, and terminate the two ends together with a Duraflex ZIP CLIP, #s 5938 and 5939. You've probably seen these on zipper pulls and shoelace toggles. The adjustment on the lanyard is by a B-LOK toggle (the same little spring-loaded balls that SureFire use on their lanyards, but they use a pair). I use a 3/4" black plastic sleeve, like tubing, near the eyelet on the flashlight, to keep the two strands of paracord together (you could use vinyl or latex dive tubing, which is softer).

There are many vendors on the web for the B-LOK and ZIP CLIPS. I've ordered mine from Homa Locks.

I've seen some people use tube heat shrink wrap for the ends. I'll give this a try and report back (I dislike the lanyard on my Tec40)

Chris' hangman's knot is intended for withdrawing knives from sheaths or a pocket. It makes for a neat lanyard for flashlights but as Mr. Dove found out, it's not a "wrist" lanyard. By the way, welcome to the forums Mr. Dove!

my method for lanyards is this - get a length of paracord - put it through your lanyard hole or clip etc (if you are using a keyring dont worry about it yet.
with a sewing machine set to a zigzag stitch, stitch both ends of paracord together.
if you want a loop on the other end then you cut one free end shorter than the other and melt them together - then stitch down past the melted bit

i will try and borrow a digital camera and take some step by step photos

Newbie here, first post. This'll make me sound cheap, but I found it efficient and comfortable. Went to the local 99 cent store and got a package of girlie hair tie things which are elastic loops wrapped in a layer of thread, made into a loop (about 10 inches end to end) with a small metal clip. I just loop it through my infinity ultra. The elastic makes it comfortable to wrap around wrist, fingers, etc. Package holds 10. Added bonus (?) is many colors to go with many colors of flashlights (e.g. ugly green on the ultra), downside is few black ones. Just my 2 cents worth (almost literally)

Welcome nerdgineer. I'm glad to see someone else who has no shame!