Club Obi Wan

Here is a picture of a small whip that I made out of nylon rope. I was just trying to learn a braiding pattern. I braided it over an 8" long steel rod for a handle, and then used a piece of paracord for most of the core. It is extremely hard to keep the rope tight enough to make a decent looking whip, but in the end, it actually cracks pretty loud. The whip looks a little different now. I actually melted the ropes at the end of the handle because they kept coming loose. I have tape on the end where the fall connects, because again, after a few cracks, the ropes kept coming undone. I would eventually like to try something with leather, but as you can see, I need to get a whole lot better before I spend money on better material.

http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj85 ... dewhip.jpg

Don't give up man! You are off to a decent start.
I picked up paracord at the army surplus store for my first. Not too expensive that way. Having flat material to braid will open a lot of doors for you.
Ron

Get some para cord and keep trying. You'll improve the more you do. Also, look at some sites that explain the construction of a whip if you haven't already done that. Bernie has a good one on Em Brand Whips and there is also another here: http://www.dittmer.ca/whips/bullwhip1.html

The construction of a para cord whip is similar to a leather, except I never used bolsters between the layers of para cord like you would with leather.

Keep it up, your off to a decent start just by learning to plait.

Yes, I concur with Ron. Go get some paracord and strip the center cords out of it...It also helps to wet it, flatten it, and let it dry before you braid it. Trust me, your next whip will be endlessly more satisfying.....Just hang in there!

First whip I may was out of nylon cord. I too found I could not pull it as tight as I would have liked to. It was very hard to braid. If you move up to para-cord it is the difference between night and day. It lays flat and is a dream to work with. Good luck and don't give up.

That's exacty how I experimented at first. I used a clothesline cord, 1/4" I think, and plaited that around a bolt to see if it would keep my interest. From there I got two books by Edwards and Morgan, some tips from some of the whipmakers here and my first whip turned out pretty good.

Well, I have tried again. Well, I started a second whip anyway. Today I experimented with an 8 plait. I am still using rope, but I found some nice brown craft rope in hobby lobby today. Afetr a few hours of braiding, and several blisters, this was the result. I still need to add a turks head, fall, and cracker. This whip is actually for my six-yaer-old, who loves Indiana Jones.

http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj85 ... wwhip1.jpg
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj85 ... wwhip2.jpg
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj85 ... wwhip3.jpg

It's coming along...But I can't stress enough that you'll get a MUCH better result using some sort of flat media...Like nylon paracord with the core stripped out...You may have to use more layers, but patience, patience, patience!

When using materials, such as paracord, how do you taper it? You obviously cant cut it thinner and thinner like a piece of leather.

With Paracord, you drop laces to taper...It works for Paracord because you have to use more laces to achieve the same result (I use 10-12 strands for the belly and 16-18 for the overlay)... Also, you build taper in to every layer of the whip....So the Core is tapered (with materials to shape), the belly laces drop off and taper, the bolster provides some taper, and the overlay laces drop, as well....

Leather whips typically use less strands (I think the standard 'Indy' whip is a 12-plait overlay) and taper those strands to make the overall taper smoother. Not to mention that the more layers (many of the finer whips have two, not one, plaited bellies) provide more opportunity to built taper into a whip.

It's much harder to get a truly smooth taper with Paracord, but it makes great, utilitarian whips...They work great, and you can work on important skills for whipmaking on the cheap....So that when the time comes to work in Leather, you have a better skill set so not to waste $$$....

I've worked with both Latigo and Paracord, but have yet to work with kangaroo. Of course, any of you more experienced whipmakers can chime in to correct or add at any time....

Thanks for the info. I have not tried dropping laces yet. I just read about it in my David Morgan book. Each attempt I am learning new tricks.

For what it's worth, I prefer the strand drop method in Morgan's book over the way that Ron Edward does it in his book...but try both ways.

xoxo

Louie
http://www.bullwhips.org