I think the argument is along the lines of if a spinning piece of machinery catches both knotted ends of your landyard (very possible, since they are right next to each other) and yanks you, where's the failure point in this case? There is none.

Of course, anything that only pulls on one "side" of the lanyard will cause the loop to open and you're safe.

Edit: Beat me to it!

Good points! I'm glad I posted pics for me to improve my design...

Looks pretty hangman-proof to me now! Is that breakaway point right on the back of the neck, or did you offset it a bit? Can't quite tell from the photo.

It's centered on the back of the neck. Since that pic, I made the knots even smaller by using simple overhand slip loops at the O-ring.

Might I suggest replacing the knots with split rings? It will make for a flatter and more comfortable joint, and make o-ring replacement faster.

You should be able to get very small (6-9mm) split rings at any craft or fishing tackle store. Run about 1-2 inches of cord through the ring, fold it back on itself to make a 1/2 turn, and serve or whip the cord to itself to form an eye through the split ring. Use the paracord internal strands for whipping and use generic tacky glue or Beacon Fabri-tac on the whipping to make sure it won't unravel.

Not to re-ignite an old topic, but I built a lanyard with a 3/4" o-ring as the breakaway. It took about 15 to 20 lbs to snap the o-ring by itself. So, figure aout 30-50 lbs of force on the lanyard before it breaks free. While it won't rip your head off, I wouldn't place money on getting away injury free.

The breakaway buckle I scavenged from a Home Depot lanyard snapped at about a third of the force. I adapted it to a cord lanyard using d-rings, but in retrospect I also could have used a prusik knot.

Here are pics of a breakaway that includes a Double Overhand Noose (ABOK #409) clamped down on a bight. This is the first all-cord breakaway I've considered using. The bight is a simple trick but is necessary. Otherwise, the burned notch on the end gets caught in the noose, and then the breakaway is unreliable.

My solution -

Take one end of the line and tie a uni-knot (or any other form of slip-knot) over the other end of the line and then pull the line so that about an inch or so of line protrudes beyond the knot.

If there is a strong pull on the lanyard, it will pull through the uni-knot.

By pulling on the tag end of the knot, you can adjust the tension.

I've used this for years on lanyards I've used for duck calls and dog whistles and it's worked well.

If the above ideas don't work for you ... I went this more "commercial" route:

http://www.lighthound.com/Lanyard-Break-Away-Connector_p_737.html

This was a very helpful thread ... thanks for the ideas. I put a couple of them into practice and like the results so far:



First, I liked the idea of the small loop where the gear attaches to the lanyard. Second, I thought the idea of using clasps from gloves was brilliant. I found a one-piece clasp from an old pair of gloves and attached it to a couple small loops I made in the cord end.

In all, I think it is a definite improvement over the simple loop of cord I used previously.