Whip #67 – Kelly Style Cow Whip
I like making cow whips and snakes. Generally, they are fairly quick and easy to make. This one is whip #67 and I cobbled it together late last night and early this morning. The handle I already had. I purchased it earlier this year from a fellow whipmaker as I don't have a lathe. It's about 16" long but I forget what kind of wood it is. The thong is 6' long with a two tone 12 plait tan and walnut brown overlay on a 10 plait belly over a BB core. I made it according to Rhett Kelly's construction details except I left it unwaxed. I didn't use a clamp for my braiding on this one. I used the hanging method so I could practice keeping my seams straight and I think I did pretty well. Overall, I'm happy with how it turned out and the work flow was quite streamlined. Rhett's method is straight braiding over braiding so his method is a fair bit different from what I had come up with originally. Generally, I prefer a bit of spring in my whips so there really isn't any of that here. But I learned a lot from this as there are quite a few construction tricks that I will likely start incorporating into my work. All in all, I'm very pleased.
Lead Headed Training Club
I had one last scrap piece of hickory left over from the original board I purchased a few months ago. It was 32" long, which was too short for a full walking stick, but I was inspired today after looking at other people's knot work to just make myself a light club with a lead knob on one end and cover the knob with a turkshead, just like on a bullwhip.
The resulting club isn't too heavy but it's very comfortable for doing shoulder mobility and light wrist/grip strength exercises. It's long enough to be able to do some Irish stick movement practice with as well. And, ultimately, it's a stick with a hunk of lead on the end. What's not to like? No way I'd want to get hit with this thing, that's for sure.
As for the knot, it's my first try at an 8 bight. With two passes, it is just right for the foundation size...just. Problem is, my colour choice did not turn out quite as I had expected. The shape of the knob, the length of the handle and its being made out of wood, plus the red nylon makes the whole thing look like a giant match stick. Not what I was intending at all. 
So, it's a dorky looking training tool, but it works.
Whip #66
Just under 8' bull whip, 10" handle, BB core, 8 and 12 plait bellies with a 16 plait overlay.
This whip was made slightly over spec. A 7' single belly bull was requested, however I had a two belly core already made that I was saving to make an 8'-9' bull for myself. The person ordering this whip is a martial practitioner and wants to do a form with it, so it will likely see some significant use. I put plenty of reinforcement on the transition. The extra belly adds some weight and more taper. Combined with the length it should be sufficiently loud. The overlay braiding is a basic cow tail plait but I used double strands on the handle. Black was requested but I added a hint of red at the tip and in the base of the knob, just to make it unique.
Knot Heads World Wide and General Whipmaking
Stormdrane just posted a link to my blog in a thread on Knot Heads World Wide asking about whipmaking details (still waiting for my account to be activated). I know I don't have too much in the way of specific construction information about my projects, but I would be happy to answer any questions. I know that when I started it was difficult to understand the practical details about how to go about actually making all the parts of the whip. I figured the best way was to ask someone more experienced than me and thankfully, some professional whipmakers were kind enough to set me straight - Steve Huntress, Rhett Kelly and Tony Layzell were all instrumental in helping me get going. Likewise, if anyone out there needs help with understanding the process of making a whip, please let me know and I will do my best to help. I also post on a thread over at EDCForums.com about paracord whips so feel free to post over there also.
But some general info:
I tend to prefer making 6' whips, mostly due to the space I have available for personal practice.
I generally do pretty well making bullwhips with an 8 plait belly and 12 plait overlay, but I understand they are not as durable or robust as a two belly whip with a 16 plait overlay. I have made a few in the past but I intend to be making more two belly whips in the future.
I prefer to do my braiding from butt to point using dropped strands rather than point to butt and adding strands...however I have done both methods and if I were to use the strand adding method I would most likely use it for a belly, but I usually don't
I started using large nails and such when I first began making bulls but I have since moved to using 3/8" rods, usually steel, as handles. They tend to transition more smoothly to the nylon sheathed BBs that I use for the core of the thong. Adding in some staggered lengths of destranded paracord I can create a reasonably smooth core taper compared to other methods I've tried. I used to favour electrical cord cores and I think they are still a very good core material, but I stopped using it due to the lumpiness of the wires as you make the core taper. For a beginner, I think electrical cord is an excellent material to learn with and it's a time saver compared to feeding BBs one at a time into a sheath.
When I make a core, I try to incorporates small steps in the taper that act as natural markers for where a strand drop should occur in the next layer and to help hide the natural bumps that occur when a strand gets dropped.
I do use a portable table clamp to hold my whips and it really does help to keep your seams straight, but using a clamp or vice does not absolve the plaiter from the error of uneven tension. You still have to be consistent with the pull on the strands. Generally I pull tight around the handle, but I've found that on the thong itself, pulling too hard with nylon is detrimental to good flow. Very different from leather.
I have given up on using artificial sinew as I found that when I used it with electrical tape as a binding, the tape would become brittle and eventually crack and split creating a weak spot that will ruin a whip. I use unwaxed heavy nylon thread now.
For crackers, I have come to prefer using polypropylene string.
Practice is really key. I tend to eyeball where my drops are going to be more often now, based on the diameter of the core at a give point. The first few whips will likely be very rough looking, although if it tapers well enough you will probably be able to get a decent crack, but the more whips you make the cleaner your construction will become.
Whip #65
Had a whole day to work on this. Quite a rare event!
Whip #65, 6' bullwhip, 10"x 1/8" fiberglass handle, BB and ball chain core, 8 plait belly with 14 plait overlay in a dark blue with a lighter blue accent stripe and white interweaving for the knots. The core was made at the same time as whip #64 but this one uses less lead tape and has more build up on the handle to make it thicker. Also used the loop ended fall with the overhand knot fastening at the point here. It seems to work well enough despite the added bulk to the point.
The colours were requested to match the Toronto Argonaut colour scheme.
I like doing interweaves on my knots now. I can make the knot foundations a little bigger and any gaps are corrected by the interweave itself and having the extra material causes the main knot to tighten up. I got to play around with using string and glue for the knot foundations as per Rhett Kelly's instructions. Seems to work pretty well and it's no slower than my original method.