Have you ever worn out a Lanyard through normal mean? I have personal seen a few Lanyards break down over normal wear and tear, but what about under extreme elements? Well, I started out one day with the goal in mind to see how much a Lanyard could take.
I picked up a few Lanyards from the local store; purchasing a few leather, clothe and plastic retractable.
Experiment 1: Lanyards Vs Fire *** warning do not perform this unless over 18 ***
After taking some time to pull out my grill I finally got the grill going to a temperature over 150 degrees. I then put on my eyes protective gear: gloves, glasses and a jacket. Next, I place each type of lanyard on the grill and let it sit for 3 minutes. To my surprise, all the lanyards were holding up just fine.
Then, the melting began, first the plastic retractable lanyard started to melt into the grill, causing quiet a smell. The green and blue colors radiated around and then the Clothe Neck Lanyard started on fire. Just when I thought that the Leather Lanyard was safe it too started to smolder and well… these Lanyards were toast!
Experiment 2: Lanyards Vs Water, Snow & Ice
Living in a rather cool climate this experiment was rather interesting. First, I decided to place the Lanyards out in the rain. It was a rather soggy day and it rained for a few hours. All the Lanyards seemed to fair pretty well, the leather & clothe just got heavier and the retractable had a few more problems but it still worked.
Them the next day it started to snow and so I left the lanyards out in the snow until the storm passed. By the time I got out to shovel the snow away there was 8 inches on the ground and the Lanyards were nowhere to be seen. I rallied some troops to assist me in finding them and within an hour we found all of the lanyards.
The condition of the Lanyards was much worse than I thought. Since they were already on the ground they had become encased in some ice; having the likeness of ancient Mammoth fossils. After making small snow sculptures of the Lanyards I chiseled the ice away; breaking the retractable lanyard in the process but the leather and clothe Lanyards were still in good shape.
The experiments weren’t as controlled as I would have like but the end result is, under extreme conditions most lanyards don’t fare so well.