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.
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.