Differences between whips

[Kiscien]

Hi!

I was thinking about whips, and to my head sneak one thing.

What differences are between all those whips selling by famous whipmakers. Theoreticly most of them, has core 2 bellys 2 bolsters and top plait. But they have differences. I got only Bernie's whip in my hand, and couple whips of Polish makers.

I myself making stiff beggining and very flexible end. Inside whip are: ore, 2 four plaited bellies and 2 bolsters made with 2 source of leather. Top plait with of course 12 strands drops to 8.

How are made your whips(question to makers), and how are they cracking(this question is to all users ).

I'm attaching two photos of my Indy styel whip. Light and heavy version(heavy has thicker bolster and bigger difference between handle and the thong).

I hope that every user, and specialy that who has many different whips, could share his knowdlege in that topic .



Regards,
Karol

[Cracker]

Kiscien, I make my whips pretty much the same as yours. The only difference in construction is my first belly is 6 plait and the second is an 8 plait. I really don't know if that makes any difference in performance or not though. Both belly's end in a 4 plait and 5mm strands.

[Canuck Digger]

I have made long whips with three bellies in the past and no bolsters and it worked ok, but the only thing is that when I had to drop strands from the overlay, I had to be very careful that they did not affect the shape of the thong.

This is partly why I've switched to the 2 bellies & 2 bolsters approach, because with this technique I only drop strands after the second belly so the dropped strands go into the core instead of lying between the last belly and the overlay as with the previous method.

I now use 4 plaits for my bellies and find that the wide strands make for a strong whip overall. It's also faster to make...

I would really have to wait 10 years to see how these two different whip constructions age to be able to tell you which I think is best.

[Kiscien]

thanks for the answere

I use bolsters, but I don't loose strands like you canuck. It is big different?

Regards,
Karol

[Canuck Digger]

thanks for the answere

I use bolsters, but I don't loose strands like you canuck. It is big different?

Regards,
Karol

I'm sorry but I'm not exactly sure what "loose" strands means, but I'll assume it means dropping strands in the overlay.

You can certainly make a whip without dropping any strands at all and there is nothing wrong with that if you keep a good shape.

The reason for dropping strands is so that you don't have to taper all the strands to where they would be so narrow as to not have much strength left in the point of the whip, where all the stress happens. So by dropping strands, the strands that are left in the point are wider and so stronger.

But I've seen some very nice whips with few or no dropped strands, though they tend to end with 8 strands at the point, which makes them a bit more delicate than a big 'ol bullwhip with 6 wide strands at the point.

[Kiscien]

Hi,

Yes Canuck, I mean dropping. I'm droping from 12 to 8 strands and taper them too.

My way of dropping is that I'm simply put strand on bolster, without binding it to it or put strand under bolster like you. Just cover it by the layer.

Regards,
Karol

[Canuck Digger]

Yes that is pretty much how I used to do it. I just found that the strands that were dropped has a tendency to be felt when I rolled the whip as small bumps. They weren't really visible by eye, or even to the touch so much, but you could feel it when the whip was being rolled. So I opted for the "Morgan" approach, because the dropped strands go under the bolster and mix with the other loose strands leftover from the second belly and this way it becomes more seamless (at least for me). But you know, to each their own.