In this tutorial we tie a paracord knife lanyard/key fob.
I have in the past covered a variety of paracord keychain designs (found in the paracord projects section). This is another design that can be used for the same purpose. Using a smaller loop it can work as a key fob, with a larger loop you can make it into a knife lanyard.
This design is easy to do and really fun one as well. I could not resist making at least a few different color combinations.
In closer inspection you will notice that the knot used for this fob is a 3 pass gaucho fan knot. Not all of the passes are made with 550 paracord though. Two are, while the third is made using smaller, type 1 paracord, giving you a really lively design.
As you can see, these fobs are made using three colors. This makes them perfect for representing various country flags.
It is really hard to settle on just one color combination, this is why you see so many examples :).
I have taken a few images of the knot patterns up close to help you selecting color combinations:
In any case, in this post I will show you how to make one. First let’s take a look at the supplies used, then let’s move on to a video tutorial covering the entire tying process.
Supplies
For this project you will need very little cord. Use the following:
- 2 pieces of paracord 550 each 3.2 feet long
- 1 piece of type 1 paracord also 3.2 feet long
- 1 additional piece of paracord 550 for the core of the key fob and the lanyard knot- at least 2.5 feet long if you are making a key fob, longer for a knife lanyard
- a mandrel. This is usually a dowel rod. In my case about 0.4 inches in diameter
- lacing needle. You can make one yourself quite cheaply
- scissors
- lighter.
With these supplies ready, we can begin with the tying tutorial.
Tying the paracord knife lanyard
The first thing we do is tie a 3 pass gaucho fan knot onto the mandrel using the three, 3.2 foot cords.
We then take the other piece of paracord 550 (at least 2.5 feet long) and tie a lanyard knot onto it (this knot prevents the gaucho fan knot from slipping off). This will be the core for our fob/lanyard.
Finally, we slip the gaucho fan knot off the mandrel and onto the core then slowly tighten it. Snip the ends, melt them and you are done!
Naturally, this description will work for a few people. The video should be more useful, covering all the steps in detail:
Hey Mark,
Thanks for the beautiful and helpful tutorials. Can you make the knot a bit shorter?
Hey!
Sure you can!
You need to tie a 9L2B turk’s head base knot instead of the 11L2B used here.
Mark
If one wanted to make this for a smaller knife (2.5″ long and 0.3″ thick) what size Paracord would you recommend to scale it down accordingly?
Hey!
Type 1 paracord should do well.
Mark
This was an awesome project. Took about two hours start to finish but we’ll worth it.