Learn how to make an awesome knife lanyard from paracord. Paracord is a lightweight nylon rope that was originally used in the suspension lines of parachutes. It’s also known as 550 cord, which means it has a minimum breaking strength of 550 pounds. It is often used by the military and campers and has even been used in space by astronauts to repair the Hubble Space Telescope. This article will walk you step by step through the process of making a knife lanyard or utility fob with paracord.
The idea is to store paracord for future use (like paracord bracelets) on your knife. You can even add a clip on one end and make it into a key chain. In this article, I’ll show you how to weave the basic pattern and you’ll end up with a short woven fob which can be unravelled to make a utility cord or a longer lanyard for the knife.
IMPORTANT
If you don’t have any paracord, here’s great option from Amazon that’s cheap and not neon-colored!
You need to know what color or colors you want as well as how long you want the lanyard to be. For every measurable inch, you will need one foot of material. (i.e. 4” lanyard requires 4’ of paracord.) You also want to add an extra inch or two to keep you from coming up short at the end of the project.
After you cut your paracord to the correct length, you need to thread the cord through the knife hole as such:
Find the center of both cords and loop cord B over cord A twice as such:
Pull cord A side 2 over the first loop and through the second loop. Another way to say this is, take one side of cord A, place it on top of the first loop and inside the second loop so that it is now on the same side of the knife as the other end of cord A.
Repeat with Cord A side 1 so that, now, both ends of Cord A are on opposite sides of the knife.
Tighten all four strings as this will be the base of the rest of our lanyard.
Loop Cord B and thread Cord A end 1 and end 2 again. Basically, you are doing steps 1 through 5 over again on the other string. Repeat the process until you are at your desired length.
Now to finish it off you will repeat the loops and thread one more time but DO NOT TIGHTEN.
Now thread one side of the protruding cords and thread them across and up through the middle of the knot as so:
Repeat on all four sides and tighten slowly. Guide the knot towards the lanyard as close as you can get it. When it is tight enough cut the remainder cord. You can burn the ends of the paracord with a lighter to make sure it won’t fray.
The finished lanyard should look just like the one pictured above. You can use this lanyard for knives, machetes, balisong, and anything else you don’t want to lose. Read about the pocket knife that was featured in the photos.
KnifeUp was founded in 2010. Today, KnifeUp is the home to knife experts who provide clear, unbiased, practical advice on buying and maintaining knives to make your life easier.
Whether you’re looking to buy a knife, sharpen it or understand the knife laws, KnifeUp’s 11-year strong library of over 300 pieces of professionally researched content will answer your questions with straightforward answers.
© 2022 KnifeUp. All Rights Reserved. Sitemap
You misspelled “through”. “Threw” is past tense of “throw”.
I get my 150 ft 550 lb black paracord in 2 days (Amazon Prime style) along with a Schrade SCHF45 Leroy. I currently have the Schrade SCHF28 lil’ Ricky. It found its way to my “Go to” knife though I have 47 others, about half of which are custom. That aside, I wish for your braided style to slip over my wrist in a fancy look with this functionality. How do I transition the braid into a wrist lanyard?
Nice job Peter, but isn’t this a fob? In my mind a lanyard is longer and would allow your knife to be clasped to something and/or attach to your wrist.
I collect knives but am new to the lanyard thing’ Dave Clifton
Hey Dave;
Thanks for the comment! You’re actually right. Pete just updated the article to explain a bit more! Thanks for your input!
cheers,
J.