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.
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.