I'm trying to thread paracord through one end of the whistle. I tried the split soda straw trick -- no joy.

Any other slick ideas?

tie a piece of thread to the paracord and pull that through like threading a needle, that works for getting a lanyard on my knives

There was a small brass split ring on mine -- I kept it attached and just ran the paracord through that.

Or you might try something smaller, like 3mm accessory cord. Found some in the climbing section of my local outdoor store, in wild neon colors.

Use a small split ring. Tie the paracord to the ring. Failing that: heat seal the end of the paracord. Use a scalpel to trim the end so that is no wider than the diameter or the cord. If the paracord's diameter is greater than that of the lanyard hole,you are, I'm afraid, on a hiding to nothing.

Paracord is overkill for a whistle lanyard, as far as strength goes. You can always remove the inner strands to make it more compressable. Use one of the removed strands to pull the outside through. You could also heat up something like an old table knife and use it to melt the cord into a stiff cone.

Thanks for all the ideas.

In the end I cut the paracord at 45 degrees, slowly melted it with my BIC, and as it cooled kept using my fingertips to keep the point and size small.

Paracord is overkill but I'm using this for flying. If I have to "depart" the airplane I'll have the lanyard around my neck and underneath my clothing.

I'm going to carry the whistle, small BIC lighter, one or two LED lights and some sort to knife. Still not sure about the knife -- the lanyard is starting to get annoying in size.

Instead of burning your fingers forming the melted plastic, heat up an X-Acto knife blade and cut/melt the end of the paracord to the desired angle you want.

This is the only way I cut synthetic rope or cord anymore.

Regards,
Steve

Another way to do it is take a lighter and a thin piece of folded cardboard (or a piece of paper folded up a couple of times).

Heat the para cord till the end melts, then sandwich it in the folded cardboard and squeeze the melted end, pulling it from the cardboard. Repeat one or two times while the melted end is still pliable.

Works great -- a couple times of practice and you're making perfect bullet-shaped tips on the end of your para cord that won't catch on anything.

Are you using some sort of break away safety on the paracord lanyard? Even under a shirt there is the possibility that it wlil not stay under your shirt and could snag on something in a quick exit situation.

I've seen a lot of cool neck rigs. I can't stand to have much around my neck, especially in hot, humid weather. I'm very hot natured though.

Yes, I always use some type of break-away connector. Long ago I unfortunately saw the results of having long hair not tied up while the person was working in machine shop.

I use either shrink tubing or http://www.lighthound.com/sales/lanyard_supplies.htm

I've been meaning to try some of those connectors from Lighthound. They would look a lot more refined than some of the homebrew methods.

I'm sure that machine shop incident really stuck with you! <img src="/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> It gives me the willies just thinking about it.

Also check out this page for EDC lanyards. I bought a neck lanyard myself and am fully satisfied:

Wrist and Neck Lanyards