Sprig Whistle LanyardI ordered one of TheJesters Sprig Whistles. See his post up above
http://thogamecallsforums.com/index.php/topic,5039.0.htmlWhile he is making it, I have been thinking on how to carry it….I wanted several options.
Today I decided to braid a short lanyard for it that would allow me to:
1) girth hitch it to my main duck call lanyard
2) girth hitch it to my neck knife lanyard
3) button it into my shirt placket, pocket or collar to keep it handy
4) who knows what else
So I cut and greased four strings of 1/8” kangaroo lace, about 18” long (I should have cut it about 24” long though)
[/img]
To make taking photos easier I clamped these four strings about 5” down to the table…a clamp helps braid tight but is not necessary.
[/img]
I started braiding 4-plait, a very easy under one-over one braid.
After about 4” of this braid I did a join to form a permanent loop. Carefully following the under one-over one pattern is key to a neat join here.
Once I have the join pattern worked out….
I start round 8-plait…again under one-over one pattern bringing the “highest” right string around behind the join, and then weaving it properly…then the “highest” left string. I repeated this 2 times. Even though the photo does not show it, 4 of these strings are short…the other four long. Tighten these up neatly before moving much beyond this point.
The short strings are going to be “dropped” into the middle of the braid. So I taper them to make a neater continuation. Just ignore the short strings and restart 4-plait braid. 4-plait braid is actually not full enough to completely cover the four strings dropped, but it is close with the taper. Keep braid tight here.
Continue on with 4-plait until the lanyard is as long as needed, or you have at least a couple of inches of lace left to form the termination knot (here is where I needed a bit more lace…I cut this a bit shorter than I should have for easy braiding and I could have used another inch on the lanyard too).
This end is going to form a braided slip knot….the Sprig call will be slipped into this loop and the braid pulled tight. This join is just braiding 4-plait around the standing part of the braid.
To finish this slip knot loop up I terminate with a Crown and Wall knot….form the wall by laying the four strings over each other….
I could not actually show the next step as I had cut my leather too short…but to Crown this knot each of the strings goes around the “leg” of its neighbor and out the top of the knot against the standing part of the braid.
Now tighten everything up all the way back to the wraps that formed the slip knot…use an awl to pull each string around neatly and securely.
Soak the lanyard in water, roll, pull, and tighten anything that looks loose….trim the tag ends and get ready for the Sprig Whistle