Lanyards and knot efficiencies -- not!

So you have a 20ft lanyard? This is the actual usable length? If so how long is the actual rope? They talk about knot efficiency -- the percentage of rated strength retained -- but what about the other knot efficiency? What about the length of rope that is gobbled up by the knot and the necessary tail? Is this length less for thinner ropes?

\"Knot\" sure why this is important to you, but...If you want a true 20 feet; Tie your knots in a similar dia. rope, untie them and measure the length of rope used by the knots. Then, add 20 feet and buy/cut that length of rope to get what you need for your lanyard.

Now here's another \"just as important\" question...
If you order a 20' eye spliced lanyard, is the usable length 20 feet, or is the length measured before the eye is spliced? Hmmmm?
Here's a secret... I'm not loosing sleep over this one either.

Baker wrote:
If you order a 20' eye spliced lanyard, is the usable length 20 feet, or is the length measured before the eye is spliced? Hmmmm?

I would hope it is the finished length because how would you know how much extra to order?

I had been looking at a new hank of 1/2\" rope yesterday and trying to decide what to make out of it. I should have accumulated some measurements beforehand as you suggest because the results just seemed a bit surprising -- for example a double-overhand stopper with a 4 inch tail is 19 inches of rope.

When I ordered my lanyard, I told them I wanted to end up with a 24' lanyard.
I was told that I needed to order 27' of rope because they used 3' to make an eye splice.
I was also planning on tying a stopper knot in the end. I was pretty sure that I was going to have enough left over to tie the knot because I ordered the eye splice \"carabiner tight\" and I was right.

I think after everything was said and done, I had a tight eye splice, a stevedore's stopper knot, and really close to 25' usable length. (I haven't officially measured it yet)

Carl

Well, I don't know much about splices but I'm certainly going to write up a table of the common knots so I don't ever misjudge this issue again. OTOH I had originally thought I wanted a lanyard of 20ft or longer but now I'm just not so sure. I'm wondering how much I will use it if I stick with double-ended DdRT, so I really ought to pick a length that can hang unused on my belt and not be annoying.

Culinarytracker wrote:

When I ordered my lanyard, I told them I wanted to end up with a 24' lanyard.
I was told that I needed to order 27' of rope because they used 3' to make an eye splice.
I was also planning on tying a stopper knot in the end. I was pretty sure that I was going to have enough left over to tie the knot because I ordered the eye splice \"carabiner tight\" and I was right.

I think after everything was said and done, I had a tight eye splice, a stevedore's stopper knot, and really close to 25' usable length. (I haven't officially measured it yet)

Carl

What is a \"stevedore's stopper knot\"?

emr wrote:

What is a \"stevedore's stopper knot\"?

It's a variation of a figure eight. Nice and bulky, good stopper, won't slip through gear.

http://www.ehow.com/video_4468121_tie-stevedores-knot.html