Recent Work and Updated Pictures
Since this blog is new I figured I should post some images of my current generation of whips. A few are no longer in my possession but I retook the photos of some that are to take advantage of my light tent.
Shaving Horse
Next weekend I start taking an introduction to old English longbow making. I had a free day last week and decided to cobble together a simple, semi portable shaving horse. It's essentially a manually controlled clamp to hold materials while you use a spokeshave tool. The project could have been done more quickly and neatly had I not lost my jigsaw so I had to make due with a rougher cutting spiral cut saw that I couldn't be neat or precise with. However, the end result seems to work and it's actually great for whip making. Whether it is robust enough for bow making, well, I guess we'll have to see.
UPDATE: Construction details HERE.
Whip #58
6′ snake, hefty core made with a lot of BBs, ending in a section of ball chain, 10 plait belly with a 12 plait overlay in black, gray, and white. The knob foundation is lead sheeting and lead tape. Decided to practice a pineapple interweave on the knob knot as I hadn’t done that in quite some time. Instead of cutting of the hanging loop, I decided to make it a feature at the last minute after seeing Stormdrane’s video on Celtic Button knots. The loop is now reminiscent of a snake’s tongue. The whip itself is heavier than I've been making them recently, but it's not too heavy at all. But that extra weight gives the whip a little extra oomph so cracking is easier. I hope TJ likes it.
I haven’t made a snake in quite some time and I really like how this turned out. When I finish my current commissions and the sample whip(s) for evaluation by Rhett Kelly I’m gonna try and make me one of these.