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.
Yellowheart Sticks
Yesterday morning I bought some short hardwood boards, including a piece of yellowheart. I was quite anxious to work with the yellowheart and the weather today was perfect for working outside. I figured there may not be too many more days I can take advantage of before winter, so I spent this morning shaping two sticks out of this board and I even have a blank for one more. The one on the left I'm keeping for myself and the other one I will either try to sell or keep it as a spare. My stick has a narrow leading edge, which makes for a great indexing reference and it fits nicely in the hand. The other stick has a rounded rectangular profile. Once I finished sanding them and putting on a coat of tung oil, they came out to a gorgeous golden colour. The wood was pretty hard, but it wasn't too bad to work with at all. I like it.
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.
Birch Sticks
A friend of mine had some pieces of birch he was saving for bow making and he decided he wanted to use one for some sticks instead. The piece I used had lost a big chunk along about a quarter of one end but I managed to get two 38" walking sticks and two 28" straight sticks. One of the straight sticks has a weird little taper on one end because it came out of the section that had lost some wood, but it's long enough.
Got to use my cheap bench top belt sander and it really helps, but making an even cylinder shape is pretty tough with just hand tools and no lathe. Even so, they came out okay.
The density of this birch seems a little less than the hickory I was using for my previous batch of sticks so I'm not sure how well they will take being banged around. However I am pretty happy with the walking stick's overall shape. The blank had a wide rectangular shape so I shaved off the edges along most of the length to make it more square but left the knob end wide. It has a nice feel for a practice stick.
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.