Whoa, is it August Already?
Apologies to all who visit my site. As I mention in my last post, I am in school right now and I have had less time for projects than I used to. Not that I haven't done any projects, but they were small and I didn't take the extra time to document them. I expect this lack of availability to continue at least until the end of 2012, but if you check back occasionally, you never know. Something might pop up.
In any case I have a few weeks off and I am finishing a couple of whips for an order so I'll post those this weekend. One of the girls in my class browsed my old project photos on Facebook and saw some of the bracelets I made a few years ago and she asked if I could make her one. I spent the day yesterday practicing and I made up a few for my son to wear. Most use a knot button type clasp, but there was one that I made as a slip on solid ring (not pictured). While I prefer the solid ring look, I personally find them too loose. I ended up making a two tone Solomon bar button clasp bracelet for my class mate.
Lastly, someone named Gary contacted me asking about stock for fighting sticks. Gary, if you are reading this, I got your message but your reply address bounced. Feel free to contact me again if you like, but I'll post my reply here:
"For the batas I use in Irish stick fighting I look for 1" thick pieces. Where I get my hardwoods from they seem to have extras and off cuts that are actually 1" and not 3/4". I don't have the tools to re-saw my own stock so I take what I can get. Beyond that, I use a circular saw and jig saw to rough cut the stick and knob then I use a spokeshave on my shaving horse to shape it. Stationary belt sander to clean things up after the shaping. Hope that helps. Send me some pics of your stick when you get done."
Whip #70
Pretty busy the past couple of months. Only managed one whip build amongst all my other projects and the other demands of life. So I close out the year with whip #70, which is an 8' bull requested by a client. I used all of the fundamental techniques I had worked on with the last couple of whips I made, with the exception of adding another belly layer: 10" steel handle, BB and ball chain core, 6 plait and 10 plait bellies with a 16 plait overlay in red and black. The first belly was more for tapering and general strength at the transition and it ended up working well. Overall, I think the balance and weight of the whip could be better. With a second belly I think I need to scale back on the amount of BBs. Otherwise it flows and cracks well.
Starting in January I will be attending school part time so I expect to have less time for projects in general, but I should be able to manage to sneak in something here and there. I have been experimenting a fair bit with food recently so do expect to see posts about food and cooking sometimes, mixed in with my other projects.
Happy New Year everyone!
Whip #68 & #69
After making the Kelly style whip, I wanted to incorporate some of the essential construction methods I learned with a few other ideas I had simmering on the backburner. I made whip #68 (pictured on the right, black with red) a couple of weeks ago, just after completing the cow whip. 7' with a 9" handle, BB and ball chain loaded core, 10 plait belly with a 12 plait overlay in black. Keeping the core and belly simple really made a difference. I finally have a fluidness to the thong that has been eluding me. Part of this whole process was to also try and develop a kind of scalable standard method for myself that would be practical and efficient. Making whips is somewhat labour intensive.
So I just completed whip #69 today as a follow up (pictured left in all black) to see if I could essentially replicate what I came up with. 7' with a 9" steel handle, extra bolstering for thickness at the handle and more tapering of the core, BB and ball chain loaded core, 10 plait belly with a 16 plait overlay. Overall it seems like I certainly can replicate things and maintain the flow I've been wanting. I'm still experimenting with a few things so my standard is almost there, but I still some ideas to hash out.
One thing I borrowed from another whip maker is rolled paracord covering for the end of the knob. I call it the "Susanka Swirl" after the original whip maker. It turns out to be very simple to construct and it looks sharp. I will be applying this to many whips in the future.
Battle Sticks
So my 5 year old likes to play fight, or "battle" as he calls it. Usually it involves me or his mom getting whacked with a toy sword or something. To tide him over before going out trick or treating, I figured I'd make a couple of training sticks out of pvc pipe and a bit of pipe insulation. I put on my lacross gloves and hockey shin pads and we went into the back yard and I let him have at me. The boy cheats a little with his score keeping and calling his hits but for the most part he tagged me legitimately. I guess I'm out of practice.
A Bevy of Blanks
Weather was still good so I decided to cut a bunch of stick blanks. 4 ash wood, 2 yellowheart, and 2 Indonesian kayu. Slowly building up the armory.