What is 12 plait? or 16 plait?

Colby · Post by **Colby** » Fri Jul 18, 2003 2:39 pm

Ive just been wondering exactly what that means since Im deciding on getting a whip from EC Whips and I saw that they had a 12 plait and 16 plait versions.... I would just like to know what this means... thank you..

Mola Ram · Post by **Mola Ram** » Fri Jul 18, 2003 2:47 pm

It is how many strands are used for a 12 plait there are 12 strands of
lace and in a 16 plait whip there are 16 strands. In a 16 plait whip the
work is finer and more complicated so therfore it costs more. 12.....
was the plaiting on the whip used in all of the indiana jones
films.
Mola

Pyroxene · Post by **Pyroxene** » Fri Jul 18, 2003 2:49 pm

http://www.bullwhip.org/faq/buying.html wrote: Steve:

The higher the plait count, the "livelier" your whip will be. Imagine a two foot long chain. Which will be livelier (a) the two foot chain made from three links, or (b) the two foot chain made from 400 links? You can directly interpret this to the number of plaits. A 12 plait will be more supple than an 8, and a 16 more than a 12. But of course the time and skill required to make a 16 plait whip is FAR MORE than that for an 8... and you are going to pay for it!

Cooler King · Post by **Cooler King** » Fri Jul 18, 2003 2:50 pm

This might be an interesting question:

I have a 6 foot 12-plait Joe Strain whip, and at the end where you attach the fall there is of course left-over plaits, but there's only 8 plaits. What happened to the other 4 or is it a completely different concept that I'm missing?

Always been curious about that...

Colby · Post by **Colby** » Fri Jul 18, 2003 2:51 pm

ah I see... Thanks alot Molorom!! I kinda thought it had something to do something like that but I wasnt sure...

Ill be getting a 12 plait 8 footer then... Thank you for your help!

Indiana Texas-girl · Post by **Indiana Texas-girl** » Fri Jul 18, 2003 3:17 pm

DrJones56 wrote:This might be an interesting question:

I have a 6 foot 12-plait Joe Strain whip, and at the end where you attach the fall there is of course left-over plaits, but there's only 8 plaits. What happened to the other 4 or is it a completely different concept that I'm missing?

Always been curious about that...

I'll take a stab at this, however, I could be off on this so please correct me if I'm wrong...As the whipmaker is braiding the 12 strands together, in order to get the taper, he has to decrease the # of strands. How he does this, I'm not really sure, but I know I'd like to see someone doing it one day.

The_Edge · Post by **The_Edge** » Fri Jul 18, 2003 5:33 pm

DrJones56 wrote:This might be an interesting question:

I have a 6 foot 12-plait Joe Strain whip, and at the end where you attach the fall there is of course left-over plaits, but there's only 8 plaits. What happened to the other 4 or is it a completely different concept that I'm missing?

Always been curious about that...

Theoretically if one were to cut out an overlay and have each strand taper perfectly the whip maker could braid all twelve strands right to the end. The problem with this practice would be that in order to have the point end in a fine taper each of the twelve strands would be incredibly narrow and weak leading to easy breakage. So in order to comprise the point of wide enough strands that can withstand constant flexing and hitting the ground half (half is a general rule of thumb) of the twelve strands need to be "dropped" at some point along the length of the thong.

Dropping strands consists of removing two strands at a time from your braid and this occurs by taking one strand on the left and one strand on the right and tucking them underneath and continuing your braid over them. After a few turns these two strands are tapered with a sharp knife in order to assure the final taper of the thong. These inner strands also serve to fill the core of the thong so that even though you are now braiding less strands you are not losing any material abruptly. In a twelve plait whip the whip maker will at some point transition to braiding ten strands and then drop down to eight strands until finally finishing the point of the whip by braiding only six strands. A sixteen plait whip will generally end with an eight plait point. (While this is the common practice there are some whip makers that choose to end a twelve plait whip with eight strands instead of six.)

So when you look at the fall hitch and count six strands protruding from the end, these are the final six strands that comprise the point of the thong and were used to tie on the fall. However, often times there will also be additional core material coming out of the hitch which is why you may have eight or more strands even though it ends with just six.

Make sense?

Cooler King · Post by **Cooler King** » Fri Jul 18, 2003 6:38 pm

Perfect sense! Thanks guys for the information!

Very interesting information, I've been considering getting a whip making book, might end up being a cool hobby if I can pull it off!