Isn't the lanyard the little length of cord affixed to the cannon that, when yanked, causes the cannon to fire? Believe me, you don't want to be yanking anything else while you're using the planer.

Cheers,
Bob

I just noticed yesterday that LMII now has a series of short videos on various aspects of guitar building by some guru (small g). One of them shows the Wagner safety planer in action. Might want to take a look at how he (with a helper at gunpoint) use the device. It'll give you some sense of the action.

Cheers,
Bob

P.S. I didn't see a lanyard. Would hate to speculate.

Regarding thte concrete, glad to hear it got you where you needed to go. Won't be too tough to get it to conform to an arch, will it.

Bob