Bolsters in nylon whips

tomek9210 · Post by **tomek9210** » Sun Aug 31, 2008 11:47 am

Did you ever noticed a nylon whip with bolster? What material it was made from? Are they necessery in nylons? Or same binding with artificial sinew or electrical tape is fine?

PyramidBlaster · Post by **PyramidBlaster** » Sun Aug 31, 2008 12:17 pm

Me personally, as a nylon whipmaker, use a sleeving material called Techflex for bolsters---and it's worked wonderfully. I use two bolsters in every whip.

tomek9210 · Post by **tomek9210** » Sun Aug 31, 2008 12:22 pm

It is something like that - http://www.vhaudio.com/expandablesleeving.html ?

rjallen70 · Post by **rjallen70** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 12:44 pm

I used to bolster with 3m electrical tape. I now use 3m vetrap.
Ron

Alkali Jones · Post by **Alkali Jones** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 1:00 pm

Hey all,

rjallen70, do you mean this stuff? http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/e ... SHCMRQXXgl Do you wrap it (seems likely) or, since it comes pretty wide, do you use it like a bolster and cut it to shape? Why did you stop using electrical tape?

Dan S

tomek9210 · Post by **tomek9210** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 1:32 pm

I use electrical tape and I wrap it around the bellies and transition zone, but I'm looking for some good materials to make bolsters like in leather whips. The tape give stiffness but the real bolsters give stiffness and natural curve of the whip.

Indiana_Hall · Post by **Indiana_Hall** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 1:40 pm

Myself, I generally use electrical tape, but I have used 2" hockey tape in the past, as well as plain old duct tape. If I really want to add a bit of weight (as well as thickness, I'll wrap the entire length of my core with a single, hollow strand of nylon paracord, wrapped in electrical tape to hold it in place. The last method burns through material faster, but it does a nice job. There's my two cents....

Highest Regards,
- Chris

rjallen70 · Post by **rjallen70** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 2:06 pm

Elec tape works fine, but The vetrap is more flexible, thicker and the whip looks better coiled IMHO.
Your link is the exact stuff. I use 2" and wrap it, cause it is what I have on hand.
I must admit, PB's advice and Indiana_Hall's is intriguing.
Ron

tomek9210 · Post by **tomek9210** » Thu Sep 04, 2008 10:21 am

And you PyramidBlaster just cut open the techflex sleeve and put it on the body like in leather whips?

PyramidBlaster · Post by **PyramidBlaster** » Thu Sep 04, 2008 4:22 pm

No, I slip it over the end and pull it really, really tight so that it not only snugs against the underlying layer, it adds some stiffness. A dash of nylon medical tape (Like that 'Vetram' or whatever) or thin shrink tubing at crucial points helps keep the stiffness.

The reason I started using Techflex in the first place is that it conforms so well to the shape under it, and it's really durable...Plus it's already braided, so it 'fits right in'.....Like I said, i've had really good results from it.