THO Game Calls Forums
The Art of Handcrafting Custom Game Calls => Handcrafting Custom Lanyards => Topic started by: schwert on February 09, 2009, 06:41:13 PM
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About a month ago I was hunting around in a local GI Joes and ran across a blow out price on a duck call with a calling CD.
I bought the call and CD…and started listening to the CD.
I dug out my ancient Olt D2 and started blowin along with the CD as I drove to work.
I searched the web looking for lanyard making instructions and finally stumbled across this site. I found the nice article on lanyard making and decided I would give it a go.
I am a leather braider and decided to try my hand at making a paracord lanyard, so Friday night I dug out a hank of green and a hank of black paracord and tied up a lanyard….I am sure my calling instantly improved too.
So here is the complete thing. I followed a pattern I found here…with a couple of changes of my own.
(http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/398/calllanyard0849xf0.jpg)
Right now I tied this as a 4-Call, 8-Drop Lanyard, with an additional single whistle drop. I will likely cut off one of the lower drop sets later, as I don’t think I have enough cord to keep two calls from banging around there now.
This was way easy to tie with just 5 easy knots in it.
I started out with 1-25’ green and 1-25’ black string, and 3-7.5’ green strings. The first knot is a cobra braid over a single core for 20 knots, then I added in 2 more short strings….which form the drops shown here….
(http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/3306/calllanyarddrop0850pf6.jpg)
I then tied 80 more Cobra knots, but now over a core of three strings to make a wider neck band. On the other side, two strings are dropped out for a call to match, and then 20 more cobra knots are tied over a core of one string to complete most of the lanyard.
This leaves 6-strings at the bottom. These I joined in 6-plait diamond braid, which I terminated with a crown and wall knot. (This is a departure from the published instructions which super-glued and bound this termination).
(http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/754/calllanyardcrownwall085eh9.jpg)
I cut off short two of the strings out the bottom; the remaining 4 more were tied with hangman’s nooses for two calls…one of these I will likely remove later.
I then added in one string high up on the left for my 6-n-1 whistle drop. The cobra braid allows one to weave a string under the loops for a very secure and neat addition.
(http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/5990/calllanyardwhistledrop0xu1.jpg)
I had to buy a nicer call to go with the CD. (That loop should be in the groove).
(http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/6595/sortasingle0857co9.jpg)
And just for old time sake my old Olt D2….defiantly not high tech but I like it.
(http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/9792/oltd20853mw1.jpg)
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Very nice schwert especially if that is your first one. Keep em coming.
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I'm glad the lanyard tutorial helped you out and thanks for sharing your "twist" on it! Your lanyard looks really nice! Great job and thanks again.
Oh, and welcome to the site!
AL @ THO
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Thanks guys. Yup this is my first one, but I have been doing leather braids for years. The only thing about this that surprised me was how abrasive the cord was on my fingers. Should have taped them up sooner.
Next time I think I will make it 70 knots for the neck part as this one is a bit long on me. I think I will also loop out two whistle drops rather than adding them later.
BTW, there is an amazing wealth of info here.
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First off it is a proven scientific fact that a good lanyard will improve your calling...( a confidence thing,..look good call good shoot good ) :2up:
Second ,.. (it ain't about being good you just have to look the part theory) why have all these nice calls,guns and other gear and a store bought $12.00 lanyard when you can make a piece of art like this one you have here ? ... :bigup:
Also it is nice to see a wall & crown combo added to Al's excellent tutorial the variations are endless and the calluses will come with the next few lanyards you do...it is abrasive on your hands yet slippery as far as holding knots I don't understand that but small clips are handy
Welcome to the board, pour a cup and stay awhile and most of all have a blast :gunsmilie:
John
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I do have a question or two on lanyard setup...
I left my call drops on the side rather long. Lifting the call to blow it does not have to lift the whole lanyard set. The lower drops will lift the bottom of the lanyard.
Most of the lanyards I have seen for sale at various places keep these drops pretty short. It just seemed to me that longer drops would make using the calls easier....except for locating the call blindly.
Any rhyme or reason to having short or long drops?
The cobra braid over a single core is still pretty stiff in the lower section...4-plait round or a twist knot might make the lower section "softer", making lifting the lower calls a bit easier. I may try this on the next one. Again any thoughts on where a lanyard should be stiff and where it should be soft for ease of use would be appreciated.
I am thinking about a neck section that is Cobra over 5 core....will the 5 strands lay flat enough for that? Or would a cobra over a cobra be a better idea for a wider strap?
My fingers are almost healed up....time to cut some more cord :up1:
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I believe the main reason for the drop lengths being shorter is to eliminate swinging around and tangling when moving and to keep them (on the gun side) from hanging up on the stock when going from a call to shoot situation,.. on my lower loops I tend to offset with a long and a short to keep them from clanking together again usually longer on my non gun side.
Tricks to get loops consistent :
look lower down and find a post by BigB on "how I tie my hang mans nooses" he made a jig and it works like a charm...you could make it adjustable and get really involved or just use screws like he did..makes it easy to get them the same length... However there is a catch....look at most duck calls, if you make the loops the same the call hangs funny because the barrel and mouthpiece are different diameters. enjoy figuring the offset for that cause I can't,.. I just move my drop on the barrel out to the end and justify it to my calling buddies by using the loop as a lip stop :rofl:
As far as lifting the lanyard set I usually drop my head forward and look down under my hat brim when I call so they don't see the whites of my eyes ( duck hunters are a superstitious bunch..) my chin tucked in which probably affects my calling quality but the ducks here don't seem to know.....until its too late :gun_bandana:
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Well done indeed! :bigup:
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Thanks. I am planning another one with some more modifications.
I did see the hangman's jig post and may give that a go. I must have tied these 3 or 4 times each trying to get these calls to hang the way I wanted. I added the twists to keep the double lines from being messy and hold the calls with the stoppers hanging to my left.
I have a new idea that I may try out using 4-plait leather braid between the stopper and body of the call then girth hitch it into a single drop line on a lanyard. I think that would be a fairly neat join.
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so the call would have its own lanyard for both halves (the 4 plait) then mate to a single drop from the lanyard,..
sounds good, I think I saw a post about a similar idea somewhere,might have been here.... with the lanyard having snap swivels so you could reset quicky if you had too many calls I don't know how they rigged the calls to take the snap ..
Ummm too many calls???? :no: never happens it is a case of not enough lanyards :yes:
a girth hitch ?? I shall have to consult google sounds horsey,..more of a sailor here,. a new knot to learn :bigup:
lets show them callmakers what a few old rope benders can do... :rofl:
Ahhh,..it is also known as a Larks Foot Knot, or a cow hitch.. I like girth hitch too
John
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Yeah each call would have its own leather braid from body to stopper....this then could be tied into a single drop.
I don't have any pictures showing exactly what I mean....but a short leash like this with a loop back upon itself on both ends to "noose" the call.
(http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/9363/elnathbraidfull3068eo1.jpg)
The the single drop could be tied around this leather cord with a half a double fisherman, or girth hitched into a loop.
This little clips would work nicely on the Cobra knots too. I may try and do the double loop string this weekend and then see how I would like to incorporate it into a lanyard.
I am thinking of adding a couple of loops out of the Cobra braid as tie on points too.
Lots of idea...but will they work :whistling:
This stone is girth hitched to the main neck cord with a twist braid loop. And this lanyard has the sort of tied-back-upon-itself braid termination I am going to try (in this case making this neck cord adjustable in lenght, but something slightly smaller should work as a choker for the stopper and body of the call....I hope).
(http://img267.imageshack.us/img267/5402/stonelanyardfull3086qr7.jpg)
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(http://img505.imageshack.us/img505/1636/whistlelanyarddone1785ek8.jpg)
This one shows more clearly what I call a girth hitch on the whistle ring.
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Wow, that is some beautiful work with that leather. Just great. I love the leather leash.
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Y'all have some REAL talent> I've told AF a couple times that the best knowt I can manage is a granny knot and then ONLY on a good day with the wind right. You have some beautiful work there. :thanks: I appreciate the chance to see it and look forward to more.
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What kind of stone is that ?
I have never worked leather before so my scale is off,.. how big is the stone and is it ornamental or symbolic of something? The lanyard is amazing and nicely compliments the stone
John
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Those are really nice and I know for me Leather is a pain to work with, I rather be working with WOOD!!!
Larry
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That stone is about 3.5" long. It is a very hard sharpening stone that is more of a decoration than a practical sharpener. Ragnar, a fellow that runs ragweedforge.com sells these as "Viking Stones". Apparently they are cut from actual sharpening stones that the Vikings moved mostly to the UK.
Good story and good "hard Arkansas" type stones, but mostly decorative.
The leather braids are all done in kangaroo...my normal "medium" of choice. Thanks for the kind words.
I am still working out my mixed leather/paracord ideas for a call. I have one of Watkin's Swamp Bores on order that deserves a nice lanyard.
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I have heard of folks working leather both wet and dry,...
I have never worked leather lacing,..is there a preferred method?
John
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I braid my leather greased with braiding soap (a mixture of lard and ivory bar soap). David Morgan has a couple of books that teach the technique I use mostly and Bruce Grant's Encylopedia of Leather Braiding is my other standard text.
I use 1/8" kangaroo...either hand cut or machine cut for all my projects. I buy from David Morgan. He is just up the road from my house and taught me to braid in his stores backroom.
David's first book on Whip Making is good.
http://www.amazon.com/Whips-Whipmaking-David-W-Morgan/dp/087033557X/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1235092474&sr=1-6 (http://www.amazon.com/Whips-Whipmaking-David-W-Morgan/dp/087033557X/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1235092474&sr=1-6)
His second on braiding is superb...this is the one to start with.
http://www.amazon.com/Braiding-Fine-Leather-Techniques-Australian/dp/0870335448/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1235092474&sr=1-10 (http://www.amazon.com/Braiding-Fine-Leather-Techniques-Australian/dp/0870335448/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1235092474&sr=1-10)
And Bruce Grant is a must have for a host of projects.
http://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-Rawhide-Leather-Braiding-Bruce/dp/0870331612/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b (http://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-Rawhide-Leather-Braiding-Bruce/dp/0870331612/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b)
All these can be had from David Morgan's on-line catalog, but Amazon is cheaper. Morgan's machine cut kangaroo lace is superior stuff though and well worth the money. His hand cut is even better, but most projects work out very well with the machine cut stuff.
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I have braided a couple of baldrics for knives using this kangaroo. It would make for a nice call lanyard but the amount of leather needed and the cost would be very high.
(http://img115.imageshack.us/img115/575/widebaldricdark3629dl7.jpg)
An overhead comparison.
(http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/3086/wb203619cu5.jpg)
Skookum Baldric from the side…
(http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/8638/baldricside13483vc8.jpg)