How To Make A Lanyard with THO (Finally)

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TheHuntedOne

TheHuntedOne

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Let's Make A Lanyard !!!

(There are 5 separte Posts to these Instructions so make sure you scroll down to get everything)

It's easier than you think to make a nice looking, very functional, and long lasting lanyard. This one is going to be a 4 strand two tone braid, and I will show you how to do the braid. If you can do a three strand braid, you CAN do the 4 strand because it is EASIER than the 3 strand (trust me)

As we go through this post, look for the

Secret Technique!!!

notes that will make your lanyard look really professional and give it added strength.

You will need the following itemes.

One length of lanyard material 12 feet long

One length of lanyard material 13 - 14 feet long

(for a three strand lanyard, the same basic techniques apply, only the braiding is different. For a 3 strand you will need one length of lanyard material 12 feet long and one length 7 feet long)

Two lengths of Lanyard Material 2 feet long each (for a 4 or 5 drop lanyard only)

Braided line - bow string serving, fly line backing or ice fishing line will all work

Super Glue

Devcon Two Ton Epoxy (because it is strong and most importantly, water proof)

You will also need something to cut the string with.

OK - let's get started.


The first step is to take your two lengths of lanyard material and fold them each in half so the ends are even.

One is going to be longer than the other, and it is supposed to be. This is a SECRET TECHNIQUE

Now take both lenghts of lanyard material and put all 4 ends together. It should look like the picture below.

The secret here is that you are going to have a lager loop at the end.

When you get ready to finish your lanyard, this loop will be a refference. You will end up cutting all but 1 or two strands of excess off the end of your lanyard so you have the proper number of drops left over. The loop will be the last one you cut. This will give your lanyard strength as it provides for a length of material on each side of the braid, making your lanyard much stronger. If that did not make any sense, it will at the end. For now just make sure that your lengths of lanyard material look like the picture below.

l001.jpg


Our next step is to tie the ends of the lanyard material together so we can start braiding them.

You will need about 10 inches of braided string, and about 12-15 inches of braided string.

Lay everything out as in the picture below. Look closly and you will see the tan braided line above the gray braided line. I am using the gray so you can see how the loop we use to make the nail knots works. You don't have to use two different colors.

l002.jpg


Double over your short stand of braided string, and then take your lanyard material, and set one loop ON TOP of the other. Then lay your doubled over length of string on that, and then lay your long length of string on top of everything else so that you have about 4 or 5 inches of the long length going to the left and the rest, the longer part going to the right. You are going to use this longer section to WRAP BACK OVER the lanyard material and loop of string. It should look like the picture below. The red arrow shows the long length of string hanging off the end that you use to wrap.

l003.jpg


Now, take that long length of string hanging off to the right and start wraping it around everything working from the right to the left. Make about 8 to 10 wraps, and try to make them tight, but not too tight. Once you have made your 8 to 10 wraps, take the end you were wraping with and stick it through the loop of string you laid on in the begining as in the picture. The red arrow shows the string going through the loop. When you finish, it should look like the picture below.

l004.jpg


Now, take the ends of the loop that are hanging off to the right and pull them to the right. They will pull the end of the string you used to wrap around everything back under the wraps. It should look like the picture below. Pull the tag ends tight as you can.

l005.jpg


Soak the wraps in thin supper glue and trim the tag ends off.

l006.jpg


Ok, that was the hard part. If you can master this section, all you will have to do is repeat it two more times to make a lanyard. We will go through the rest of it after we get done with the fun part.

Ready to strart Braiding? It really is easier than you think, and you do not need all your fingers /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
OK, let's learn to do the 4 strand braid. I suggest that for your first few, you use two different colors of lanyard material. It will make it much easier for you in the beginning. After a few times, you will be able to do this with your eyes closed.

If you can remember just a couple of things, this braid is much easier than the 3 strand braid.

First - when using two different colors of lanyard material, the same color strands will ALWAYS be together.

Second - Repeat after me, Top under bottom, top under bottom, top under bottom


The frist step is to hang your lanyard by the loop.

Next, separate the 4 strands so that you have two like colors on each side. For this lanyard, I have the Olive on the left and the Tan on the right. Remember, the colors will always be together from this point on

Then pick a side. It makes no difference which side you start with, just pick one. In this post I am starting with the right side. I am going to start with the strand on the outside right hand side. You ALWAYS start with an outside strand. The red arrow shows the strand I am starting with.

b001.jpg


Take that Outside Strand and bring BEHIND the two middle strands - Remember, Top Under Bottom

b002.jpg


and then over them and back to the side. Your TOP strand is now the BOTTOM strand on that side, and both colors are still together. Simple right?

b003.jpg


Pull the strands tight, and now look at the BLUE ARROW

b004.jpg


We are now going to take the strand the blue arrow is on and bring it behind the two middle strands and back over the top to the left. Follow the RED ARROW

b005.jpg


b006.jpg


All you are doing with this braid is taking the Top Outside Strand, and bringing it around behind the two middle strands and then bringing it back over them to the same side it started on, where it becomes the Bottom Stand that the other side will now wrap around.

The top strand on one side becomes the bottom strand on that side after each pass.

You are just wraping the top strand around the middle strands over and over until you get to the propper length.


In the picture below, I have made a few braids, and you can see that the red arrow is pointing to TOP olive strand.

b007.jpg


I bring that Top Olive Strand Arond Behind the Two Middle Strands and then over them and back to the same side where it is now the bottom Olive strand (blue arrow) and the Red Arrow now points to the Top Tan Strand that we will bring behind the two middle strands and then over them back to it's side where it becomes the Bottom Tan Strand.

b008.jpg


You always work with the top strand bring it around behind the two middle strands and then over them back to the side it started from. It is just a matter of actually wrapping the strands around each other.

You will want to continue braiding until you have a braid about 34 to 36 inches long.

This braid is very easy. Give it some practice and you will have it down in no time flat.

Now that we have learned to braid, and it is the propper length, we will finish it of.
 
Now we have to tie our braid off, and then tie the ends of our lanyard together.

Lay out the materials like we did to originally tie our lanyard strands together. We will need a length of string about 10 inches long and a length about 12 to 14 inches long.

b009.jpg


Double over the short strand to form the loop

Lay them on the lanyard strands just below the last braid and wrap from right to left for about 8 to 10 wraps.

Put the end you were wrapping with through the loop and pull the tag ends of the loop to the right so that you pull the string back under itself again.

b010.jpg


Pull the tag end tight, and soak the wraps with some thin Super Glue

b011.jpg


Bring the ends of your lanyard together, making sure that it is not twisted, and position the wraps that we made so they are next to, and NOT ON TOP of each other. If you put them on top of each other, they will make a bluky knot that your keeper might not fit over, and it will look bad.

Also, by putting them next to each other, when you wrap the ends together, the string will have something to bite into as one side will be paracord, making your lanyard much stronger.

b012.jpg


Use the same technique with the two lenghts of braided string to bind the ends together and then soak them in Super Glue to dry.

We are almost finished. All we need to do now is put our keeper on, tie off our end drops and add our side drops.



b013.jpg
 
OK, the super Glue has dried on our wrapps and we are ready to finsih off our lanyard.

Since this is a Finsihing Stage of our project, there are some things we need to pay attention to to make our lanyard look professional and give it strength.

Again, Please watch for the Secret Techniques as these will greatly add to your lanyards overall appearance and life.

The first step is determining how many drops we want on our lanyard.

For this one, I am going to make it a 4 drop lanyard with two coming out the bottom and two on the sides.

We will do the bottom first and then tackle the sides.

The first thing we need to do is to cut the excess ends off the lanyard, leaving only the number we want for drops out the bottom.

Since this is going to be a 4 drop lanyard, with two on the bottom and one on each side, we will cut all BUT the one strand that is a Long Loop and one other. I like to leave one of each color. Since the loop is Olive, I will leave one tan strand also.

Secret Technique

The reason for havaing the loop at the end of our lanyard was to make sure that when we cut the strands, each side of the "U" that forms the lanyard before it is tied together, will have one dropper hanging off it. This is much stronger than having all the drops coming off just one side of the "U". We will cut one side of the Loop close to the tie off point.

We want to then fluff up the remaining ends. DO NOT make them neat cuts or try to melt them to keep them from fraying.

This is another Secret Technique

When we put the epoxy in the keeper, we will push it down into the frayed ends of the paracord, making for a much stronger bond and sealing the end of the cord also.

This picture shows what it should look like after you have cut the excess material off leaving only the number of drops you want hanging off the bottom of your lanyard.

l013.jpg


Next we will slide the keeper on, and push it up over the wraps. The keepers are Step Drilled so there is a small ledge inside them that prevents the keeper from sliding up the lanyard.

l014.jpg


I like to orient the grain of the keeper with the lanyard so that it looks a bit more pleasing to the eye, and not so haphazardly done. It just makes your lanyard look better.

l015.jpg


Next, we will pull the bottom drops to one side and tape them so they do not get in the way when we put the epoxy in them. Masking tape works well for this. You might be tempted to use Scotch Tape, and if you do more than one lanyard, you will only be tempted to do it once. The stuff leaves a goo on your keeper that is really tough to get off. Masking tape just comes right off with little or no clean up.

l016.jpg


This next picture shows where we are going to put the epoxy.

l017.jpg


I use a tooth pick to put the expoxy in, being careful not to get it on the drops. I fill the keeper about 2/3 full and then hang to dry for about 4 hours.

In the summer, or if you are doing this where it is really hot, put just a small amount of epoxy in the keeper at first, as if it is hot, it could cause the epoxy run out the bottom of your keeper ruining your lanyard. Let it dry and then add some more when it is hot outside to prevent this.

l018.jpg


Once this dries, it is just a simple matter of tying in some hang mans nooses for your dropers. Cut the excess off after you have the knots where you want them, and then burn the tag ends to seal them and keep them from fraying.

Next we will add the droppers on the sides and we will be done.
 
Adding your drops on the sides can make or break your lanyard.

These instructions will help you add them in a way that will make them look like they were braided into the original lanyard loop, and will be very strong and secure for your calls.

First, select where you want the drops to be. I like to have them about 4 inches up from the top of the keeper.

Use an awl or small philips screw driver to carefully loosen one of the braids on the otside of your lanyard.

Secret Technique

Choose a color for your dropper that is the same color of the strands you are loosening on your lanyard. This will make the drops look like they were braided into the lanyard.

In this case, I am loosening an Olive loop so I am going to use Olive for my dropers

l019.jpg


Push your droper strand through the area you loosened, and then using your awl, loosen a loop next to the first one you loosened.

l020.jpg


Slip your droper material through the second loop.

Secret Technique

Make sure the loop that forms by putting your droper material through the loosened braids is to the INSIDE of the lanyard. If the loops points to the outside, your lanyard is not going to look as nice.

l021.jpg


Bring the tag ends of your dropper strand up through the loop and pull tight. You should have one side of your dropper strand about 6 to 8 inches long and the other 12 to 14 inches long.

l022.jpg


If you did this right, and used the same color droper materail as the braids you loosened, your attachment point will look like the picture below. This makes for a very neat and pleasing attachment point.

l023.jpg


Next, lay a loop of spare lanyard material about 10 inches long, on the two strands that come out of your attachment point.

Secret Technique

If you use the side of the lanyard as a gauge for where you lay the loop, the knots you are going to tie in the next step will be possitioned at the same point on both sides of your lanyard.

l024.jpg


Now take the short strand that comes out of your attachment point and wind from the right to the left over the two strands from the attachment point and the loop you layed in.

Make three wraps and on the 4th time around, slip the end through the loop. Pull the tag ends of the loop and work the strand back under the wraps. Tighten the knot by pulling on the tag end and the attachment point.

DO NOT CUT THE TAG END OFF YET!!!

l025.jpg


Do the same for the other side of you lanyard.


Secret Technique

The reason we left the tag ends on the knots is because once both sides have been tied, you want to bring them together and hold the knots together and cut the tag ends off about 2 or 3 inches above the knots - you want both tag ends to be the same length as in the picture below.

l026.jpg


Now take the long ends of your dropper strands, and using the tag ends as a guide, bend them over so that the loop is even with the end of the tag end. Tie in your hang mans noose on each side. By cutting the tag ends even, and using them as guides, both your droppers will be the same length. Now trim the tag ends and using a lighter or match, melt them so they do not fray.

l027.jpg


That's it. Put some calls on your lanyard and go hunting.

Remember - NEVER run through the woods, climb trees or other things while wearing a lanyard.

NEVER LEAVE A LANYARD WHERE A YOUNG CHILD COULD GET IT.




If you have any questions on this, please drop me a line at THOGameCalls@AOL.com or post here.

For those of you who want to make your own lanyard but do not have anyway of making a keeper, I sell the keepers as well as complete lanyard kits on my web site, www.thogamecalls.com

Good luck and good hunting

Al
THO Game Calls
 
Al, That is awesome. I will say it for everyone else here. This had to take you all day to prepare the pictures and instructions. great post and thanks for your time to do this. Randy
 
Thanks guys.

Randy, I got up to go hunting around 4 AM. It was 7 degrees and we had a 25 MPH NW wind.

Decided this was a better use of my time this morning.

Getting wimpy in my old age LOL

AL
THO Game Calls
 
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif
Hey Al. I have an even better idea for a follow up on this thread. Send me one of them and I will make a post showing how to attach the calls, proper attire while wearing it and even give some in the field pictures and instructions on how to pick the right call from the drops while on a set up.
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif
 
Thanks Al,

I've been scouring the web for info on how to do this when lo and behold you post it for all to see. Very informative too.

One question, how do I get my fingers unglued from the string whipping the cords together??? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif

Cro-mag
 
What? You want me to reveal all the secrets??? LOL

Once I get them wrapped, I use an old Kleenex box to lay the lanyard on when I glue the wraps. I cut the plastic out of the openeing and lay the lanyard over it to dry.

Al
THO Game Calls
 
Ahhhh, Thanks Al.

After getting that "you better not glue that thing to the kitchen table" look from the Mrs., I can now procede without whittleing each lanyard from my fingertips. LOL

Cro-mag
 
I hadn't messed with superglue for years, then one night I decided to glue some teeth back into a fox skull. I nearly glued my fingers together! Now if I have to mess with the stuff I use latex gloves as a sacrificial skin, just in case.


Quote:
Ahhhh, Thanks Al.

After getting that "you better not glue that thing to the kitchen table" look from the Mrs., I can now procede without whittleing each lanyard from my fingertips. LOL

Cro-mag

 
Great post, first you post on how to make calls and now lanyards, you're going to put yourself out of busniness lol
I"ve been wanting to make a lanyard and now it looks like it can happen /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif
I have one question, can you use different diameter cords? I got some cord that is thinner but don't want all of them so thin.

Thanks,
Mike
 
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