Where can I find the best lanyard?
I really don't know where to put this, so feel free to move, but I have this issue. I carry a LOT of shit on my keychain. Two sets of keys of four each, a SIM removal tool, a tiny retractable box cutter, a USB drive full of installer ISOs (you never know), an AirTag, a CPU with a hole punched through, a 3D printed whistle, and that may very well grow.
Now the problem I have is that the lanyard that I currently have has, over time, widened the gap on the karabiner to the point that I'll regularly lose a key ring in my pocket when pulling it out. Nothing major's happened yet, but it's a matter of time.
So, clearly, I need a better one. A higher quality one. But going on the eTailers of today I really only get garbage. A pack of 20! For ten bucks! Well, thanks, but we all know they'll suck. And frankly, I really don't know how to get my hands on a high quality one. I bet they're out there, I'm sure, but where do I look? What's good, what's bad? I really don't need the high-end climbing gear, or do I? Is my key lanyard a candidate for buy it for life, and if so, am I ready for that commitment?
Looking for any and all advice on this.
PS: I don't wear the lanyard. I'm one of those assholes that puts the active end in my pocket and lets the lanyard itself dangle out.
Do you need a lanyard or a carabiner? I’ve had pretty good results with the Nite-Ize carabiners.
Sorry, should have been more clear. Yes, I guess I just need some way to keep all my things together and tie a ribbon loop to it. I'll check out Nite-Ize, thanks
My key chain is a carabiner I got from Home Depot (not Nitize but I second @r3qn65 's recommendation). The rest is a woven section of paracord about 6" long which is perfect for pulling them from my pocket. I'd say paracord is perfect for what you described because it will be very strong and unlikely to break. There are about 10 million paracord keychain videos on youtube you could adapt to your needs, so you can really customize how long, how thick (by braiding or weaving it), etc.
Mine is a "survival keychain" because the weave is a kind of double interlocked crochet that is held close by a single knot. If I need the cord more than I need the keychain, I can undo that one knot and quickly unravel the whole thing. I made it ten years ago, so I'd have to sit down and figure out how again. But it's nearly perfect as a keychain.
Offtopic, but I made my belt the same way. It's woven from paracord, but the weft is a loop pulled through, and then the free end is caught by the next loop, and so on. So in a pinch, I could pull it out into 160 feet of paracord. It's the most comfortable, durable belt I've ever owned.
In regards to the belt what did you use for a clasp?
My first iteration was a buckle from a belt where the strap had started to flake, later I used a belt buckle I ordered online.
Here's a picture
The warp and the weft are all one continuous piece. It's hard to explain with words, but I start by making long loops through the buckle that become the warp, then I start weaving loops the other way.
Pretty much any spot on the belt can hold the pin of the buckle, so it's very adjustable.
I'm interested in trying my hand at this but I have zero fiber skills. Is there a tutorial I could follow somewhere that you know of?
If you don't care about being able to unweave it quickly, here are two nicely document documented techniques:
Both of these have the advantage of working from one end. As long as you make the strands long enough, you can braid until you're happy with the length and cut ofd the rest. My technique, which I've tried to explain below, requires you to start with the warp loops about 120% longer then the target length, and if you get it wrong, you pretty much have to rip it out and start all over.
Also, here's a video that details of a lanyard making process that's very similar to mine.
First-Must-Burn's survival belt
I sort of made it up as I went along, and I've never seen anyone else do anything like it.
This video has a similar setup to the rig I use for weaving https://youtu.be/0BRRKFi9cdM
The viedeo shows you how to loop the cord through the buckle to make the warp, then the free end becomes the weft. The ha seat thing about lopping the warp is keeping the strands from getting tangled.
The difference in my technique than the video is that rather than taking the weft back and forth through the weave, I pass a loop through from one side. Each loop catches the end of the one before it.
Here's a very bad illustration: https://ibb.co/XrvxLpvf
The green, yellow, red are the same piece of cord, just using the colors to illustrate. The black marks show the alternations of the warp:
One other difference from the video: I found that to get the tightest weave, you must let the warp shorten as you weave. Think of it as going "back and forth" through the weft, so it can't be as long as it was origjally. So instead of zip-tying the buckle end, I'd secure it with some cord or a strap that you can lengthen as the belt shortens. I fins that the warp needs to start out about 120% longer then you want the finished length to be.
Why go through this trouble?
Sounds like you mainly use it as a long ribbon attached to your keys. You can probably just get a fairly nice carabiner, tie some rope to it or a ribbon, and call it a day.
To simplify even more, do you actually take things off of the lanyard much? If not, you can probably get away with just not having a karabiner and attaching some kind of loop directly to the keychain.
They’ve got pretty heavy duty carabiners with AirTag holders
And it seems like for the rest of the stuff, you’d probably benefit from putting them on some kind of quick-release keychain. This would save you putting wear on your carabiner spring. They have magnetic quick-release ones too, depending on how much you trust magnets.
I imagine you can probably consolidate some stuff into a multi-tool as well. Like they make combination box-cutters + sim ejector tools. I imagine there’s stuff out there that will include a bit driver too if you dig enough.
In terms of “the best lanyard” I think that’d probably be a length of nylon paracord tied through a decent carabiner.
At this point, it sounds like you may be closer to needing a pouch rather than a lanyard. I have to drag around all kinds of crap with me, mostly lens wipes, hand sanitation wipes, my cell phone, my keys, my wallet, and a few other things. I personally gave up and got myself a messenger bag that I sling over my shoulder. But for a while, I did experiment with a fanny pack (the giggles you’re hearing are coming from our British residents) and while I find it useful for the basics, there was not enough room for me to keep going with it. Still, for you it sounds like it might do the trick.
When I was elementary / middle school aged, I non-ironically carried all kinds of things around in a fanny pack that I wore everywhere for many years. We called it my "pouch". It started because I didn't like wearing real pants, and putting lots of things in the pockets of sweatpants is a recipe for injury or embarrassment. But it survived the transition to jeans. I was very socially awkward, so while it certainly didn't help, this was probably not the weirdest thing about me.
On the plus side, I always had bandaids, lighter, duct tape, pocket knife (ironic), pliers,
trip wirestring, etc.Doing better than me, I used to wear an outdoorsman vest, I guess it would be called? It was a vest that had all kinds of pockets and pouches on the front of it. I word everywhere and kept all kinds of geegaws and doodads in there. I wrote that all through junior high. For me, it was never about fashion. It was always about practicality. I in a lot of ways it still is for me.
I mean, you said it yourself, you can get cheap carabiners. You'll use them for a while, then they'll break and you'll lose something, then you'll get another cheap carabiner and repeat.
It sounds like you are actually at the buy-it-for-life phase. Just go ahead and buy a proper climbing carabiner. Sure they can be expensive ($50-$100), but it will probably outlive you. Add in some paracord to loop it all together and you're golden.
As my mother-in-law always says: ""The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten"***
*** Yes, I know that's a quote from someone else, but I hear it from her constantly, so she's the source.
Don't trust the clip on any lanyard. Move to a larger keyring.
Someone on /r/myog mentioned using rifle sling hardware for their random sling/bag thing and that kind of resonated with me. So recently I started a project to revamp all the random keychains in my house and fix the little hook-board that stores our keys. I swaped the hooks for eyelets and I bought a bunch of cheap knock off HK Clips (not my photo) and made keychain/lanyards for all the keys. The big hole in it is so that you can clip one clip onto another but is perfect for a big old keyring. I also bought a bunch of related odds and ends and am now tacticooling random things. I'm now in the process of trying to make an anti-tacticool backpack with that molle webbing stuff in a rainbow of colors.
Anyways. Kind of got side tracked. Get an HK clip, get a big lol' keyring, use it to make your own lanyard.