Club Obi Wan

Hello everyone!

Last week I was commissioned by our own InexorableTash to make a nylon Indy bull whip for him. I thought I would use this thread to post the progress of his whip. Here is the very beginning.



There is the eight inch steel spike and a sixty-two inch cord stuffed with approximately 282 BBs. The four bundles of cord will make up the eight plait belly.

This past Friday (October 30) I began working on the first belly, but had to stop because I wore some skin off my pinkey and ring finger of my left hand. I think this was compounded from raking leaves the previous day (from around 11:00 am to around 8:30 pm).

My goal is to finish the first belly today. I'll be wrapping my fingers so I can do it. I will keep posting my progress.

Dangerman

Awesome! I was just going to PM asking for some in-progress shots so I could see what it looks like on the inside.

Er, and: don't aggravate the injury on my behalf!

The fingers are much better today. If I wrap them up, they're alright. Once my hands toughen up again, things will go easier. This nylon cord is much more abrasive than leather is.

Unfortunately I didn't complete the first belly yesterday. The yard demanded attention again. I'm looking to finish it today and will post pictures.

By the way, you're getting # COW0001.

I finished the first belly!



The first belly extends out around 45" from the base of the spike. As you can see the BB cord sticks out from the first belly. The extra strand length will provide filler for the second belly, so there won't be a sudden drop in thickness. Speaking of that, I also built up the transition area from the spike to the lash. There was a sudden drop coming off the spike onto the BB cord, it was expected. I used duct tape to smooth the transition and then gave it a tight wrapping of twine in order to strengthen it.

Next stop, the second belly. Starting with twelve strands and tapering down to four. It will extend past the BB cord with the remaining strand length left over to provide filler (again) for the overlay.

I started the second belly today while I was loading tapes into my computer. I was going along happily until I got to the handle-lash transition. The taper wasn't as gradual as I wanted, so I'm going to have to undo it a little and smooth out the transition area a little more.

I think I might be done for the day as my fingers weren't very happy with me toward the end. I'll give them a rest and see how they're feeling later on.

I smoothed out the transition area, so it's more gradual now. I worked on it (the second belly) for about an hour last night. I'm letting my fingers rest today and will probably work on it more tomorrow. I won't post any pictures until the second belly is done.

GO MAN GO!!!!!

Allen

Indiana County Jr. wrote:GO MAN GO!!!!!

Allen

Ditto that! (lol, i had to remove a part of a nylon whip from my keyboard to write this (Go Nylon! ;D)

ps. indy county, i'll check your posts out later... if i feel like it, expect a pm! ;D same goes for Dangerman009! ;D;D

Thanks for the encouragement you two , I appreciate it.

In spite of the yard and my fingers this past week, I FINISHED THE SECOND BELLY!


I applied the duct tape merely to ease the taper from the handle to the thong.

Next, I cut out eight strands of cord totaling somewhere in the neighborhood of 260 ft. Even at this point I can tell it's going to have a nice action. If all goes well I should finish the overlay this week, then it's on to the fun of doing the knots.

Until next time...

I'm just past the four foot mark on the whip. You may be wondering what's taking sooooo long. I've got to give my fingers a rest every now and then. Everything's going smoothly and I hope to have it finished before the end of the month.

I finished the whip! It's time for a celebration! And pictures of course.


The finished handle area showing the decorative ring know separating the handle area from the thong/lash area, and the Turk's head knot at the bottom.


The traditional Australian-style fall hitch.


The finished whip.

IT (InexorableTash) should have it in his hands on Friday.

I'm sure some of you are wondering about how stiff it is. I'll put it this way, when I hold the handle parallel with the floor, the middle (or so) of the whip touches the floor. If I hold it vertically, with the handle pointed straight up, the end of the whip touches the floor. It's stiff, but flexible. The plaiting is tight and hard. I haven't had a chance to test it out yet, and maybe that's a good thing. I wouldn't want to form an attachment with it before I have to send it out into the world.

I have to catch up on some other work, but I will be starting an eight foot whip in the next week or so in case anyone is interested.

InexorableTash's whip is in the mail! I can hardly wait for him to get it! Before I sent it off today I took it out and gave it a couple minute workout. It was beautiful. The way it threw reminded me of a leather whip. I'm going to leave complete review up to IT when he gets it.

Fine whip! What did you use to hide nail's head? I mean what is between wrist loop. Leather, plaited strap? I can't see it correctly.

tomek9210 wrote:Fine whip! What did you use to hide nail's head? I mean what is between wrist loop. Leather, plaited strap? I can't see it correctly.

looks like there's something white there.. am i right?

anyways, i followed this thread all the way(sounds like it took years heh) and i wish it was going to me, InexorableTash must be happy
Good job!

Thanks for the comments!

The bottom of the knob is covered with a small square of light-colored denim fabric (I probably should have used something darker, but didn't have anything else on hand). Check out this link:

http://s592.photobucket.com/albums/tt3/ ... number.jpg

It should get to him tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to what he has to say about it.

Danger,
That looks fantastic! Someday down the road I am gonna have to get one too!
Again great job!

Crack On!
Allen

I'm sorry, but i really dont like that white filler at the TH knot.. try to get hold of something else, like brown leather with gold writing(like the liners in fedoras) that would be sweet!
or my idea, have a coin there, would be sweet to.
or just skip the whole filling thingy and let the turkshead cover it up, like most whips do

other than that, it still ROCKS!
how much did you charge?
and why didnt you go with a 20plait and make it thicker like tomek9210's KOTCS(preferably with a taper handle) ? (see pic(no tapering handle there thou =/))
again, sorry for the critics, but i consider them more like positive questions

EvilDean wrote:...try to get hold of something else, like brown leather with gold writing...that would be sweet!
or...have a coin there...
or just skip the whole filling thingy and let the turkshead cover it up

This was the first whip I used the scrap of fabric with. I considered using leather but I couldn't get my mind around the leather/nylon clash. I believe (if I'm wrong, someone please let me know) that the Turk's head knot on most leather whips doesn't cover over the whole thing. It seems that there is usually a solid piece of leather covering the bottom. I'd do that knob any way it was ordered (provided I knew or could figure out how to do it).

other than that, it still ROCKS!

Thanks!

how much did you charge?

$14 per foot plus shipping.

and why didnt you go with a 20plait and make it thicker like tomek9210's KOTCS?

I prefer the Raiders proportion/look whips, so unless someone tells me to make it differently, that's the way I do it. That is one MASSIVE looking whip. I thought starting the overlay in 16 plait took a long time. That would take a lot longer.

again, sorry for the critics, but i consider them more like positive questions

Don't worry about being critical, good questions. I just hope InexorableTash likes it.

Dangerman009 wrote:This was the first whip I used the scrap of fabric with. I considered using leather but I couldn't get my mind around the leather/nylon clash. I believe (if I'm wrong, someone please let me know) that the Turk's head knot on most leather whips doesn't cover over the whole thing. It seems that there is usually a solid piece of leather covering the bottom. I'd do that knob any way it was ordered (provided I knew or could figure out how to do it).

such a small piece wouldnt matter, and the TH is as easy as yours, here's a pic(didnt find the one i was lookin for though :/) :


(remember, it was my first knot, the paracord wasnt decored, and there was no foundation, and it might be another TH then yours, cause i simply just dont remember which kind u did... but still, u get the point)

Dangerman009 wrote:$14 per foot plus shipping.

wow, cheap dude :S (starting to save up for next year ;D;D)

Dangerman009 wrote: I thought starting the overlay in 16 plait took a long time. That would take a lot longer.

for me, i think the more strand u have, the faster it goes, 8 took forever for me, but then 16 went rather quickly, until dropping strands(successively) down to 8 again, then it was sloooooooooow >< dont get me started on 4...

For me, I can do a foot of 4 plait in around ten to fifteen minutes. Doing a foot of 16 plait (remember the pattern on the handle is different than on the lash/thong) can take me thirty to forty-five minutes or more.

As for the Turk's head knot, like I said, I'd do it how the customer wanted (that goes for the rest of the whip too). As for my rates, I thought it was a fair price, for now. If I were to get a backlog of orders, the price would probably go up.

It's here! I won't be able to go out and crack it until tomorrow, but I'll provide a full report then.

Some first impressions follow. Bear in mind that these are NOT CRITIQUES in any way, just what stood out in comparison to my 7 footer. After I've thrown it a few times, though, the proverbial gloves will come off.

* It's pretty! I was a bit worried that my choice of Chocolate Brown would be drab, but it has that orange tint to it that a nicely aged leather whip has. Also... single color nylons don't photograph well, but this one looks great in person.
* Big turk's head (compared to the 7 foot nylon I have)
* Small transition knot (compared to the 7 foot nylon I have)
* Feels nice and smooth in my hand; I was slight worried about this since my other whip is waxed, and the only other nylons I've thrown were IIRC not coreless paracord (random whips from Andrew Conway's http://www.bullwhip.org/ bag-o-whips).
* Doesn't feel heavy in my hand. Having thrown some of DarenHenryW's SA-ish 8- and 10-foot whips then gone back to my 7-foot nylon, the 7-footer felt like a tiny toy. I was therefore expecting this one to feel hefty. All that said, this is from a 60 second fondle and brief compare with my 7-footer before I hung them both up until tomorrow.

I'm looking forward to seeing what it can do tomorrow! Assuming the weather holds, I'll also let folks at the Bullwhips by the Bay http://www.laughingbear.org/whippery.html take a crack at it next Sunday.

Whew, I'm glad it got there safe and sound. I'm looking forward to your impressions of it after you use it.

Okie dokie, first field report from an hour spent at Fort Mason. First, photos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/inexorabletash/4161010078/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/inexorabletash/4160254703/

Although the ground was moist with dew, I don't think that affected the whip or my impressions.

• The whip felt pretty much the same as my (brief) experiences with some brand new 'roo whips - hefty and stiff. Cracks, definitely prefers to work with the natural curl. Breaking in will be required!
• After a brief adjustment period, I was doing most of my regular cracks. (The "fast figure eight" doesn't get the second crack reliably, but that's timing/strength adjustments on my part, not the whip.)
• The large turk's head will definitely take some getting used to. Going back to my 7-footer after using the 9-footer felt just like returning to the shorter whip after trying a SA 'roo whip. So... on that basis, I have to say "thumbs up!" for accuracy.
• Dangerman009 had warned me that the popper *might* not be up to snuff as it was an experimental popper material. After several throws, I swapped the popper he sent for a mason cord popper I made (same as on my 7-foot; yellow as seen in the second photo). I noticed absolutely no difference in throws/cracks except that the strands tangled more, so I'd say the popper it came with was just fine.
• I did find the handle slipping in my hand occasionally. We'll see how it goes, but I may be tempted (after sufficient break-in time has passed) to try rubbing beeswax into the handle to increase friction. (Advice I picked up from someone at a whip gathering hereabouts some time ago.)
• As warned, there was a kink at the 6-strand to 4-strand drop. (There's a kink at the same place in my 7-foot Rhett Kelley whip as well.) This does not appear to affect the action of the whip at all. That's the only visual detraction I noticed.
• Suggestion: in Kelley's fall, the last 1/3 of length was (partly?) de-cored to add a taper to the fall. This might be something to try next time, Dangerman009, but I can't say whether or not it would be noticeable.

So overall: I'm quite pleased. Like any new family member, we'll have to adjust to each other for a while to know how things really stand.

InexorableTash, thanks for the suggestion about the fall. I'm glad you're pleased with it. If you've had that seven footer for very long and used it exclusively, it will take a little adjustment period for longer and slightly heavier one.

I'm not sure if I told you, but I nearly had the bottom Turk's head completed once but had to undo it because it was huge. It was about as big around as a tennis ball.

I like the pictures too, especially the second one.

I'm glad you liked it.

EvilDean wrote:

At $14/ft, I'd like an 8-footer that looks just like this one. Are you in the US? How do we do this?

If it's working with it's natural curl, it's doing what it wants and how it works best. I say skip breaking it and try training it Congrats on a new whip!

scottyrocks6 wrote:At $14/ft, I'd like an 8-footer that looks just like this one. Are you in the US? How do we do this?

not my work nor my whip, as i said, tomek9210 made that whip.

I wrote you a PM Scotty about such kotcs whip.
Nice idea to write serial number on that fabric. It could be a bit darker, but it looks ok.
You can try to use flat strap of plaited paracord to hide bottom of buttknot.

tomek9210 wrote:You can try to use flat strap of plaited paracord to hide bottom of buttknot.

I tried that one time but didn't like how it looked.

I wrote the serial number with a 'permanent' marker. It started out darker but seemed to absorb into the fabric.

The next whip I make will be going to scottyrocks6. He and I talked (pm'd actually) extensively about options and he decided what he wants. Basically the same whip I made for InexorableTash, except it will be an 8 footer, with a brown fall and the Turk's head knot at the bottom will cover the whole knob (no contrasting fabric down there).

I'm going to start on it in the next week or so while my fingers and hands are still toughened up.

Im very excited about it. Josh was as patient and helpful as is humanly possible (I ask a lot of questions, but I now understand much more about these whips as a result).

Dangerman009 wrote:The next whip I make will be going to scottyrocks6. He and I talked (pm'd actually) extensively about options and he decided what he wants. Basically the same whip I made for InexorableTash, except it will be an 8 footer, with a brown fall and the Turk's head knot at the bottom will cover the whole knob (no contrasting fabric down there).

I'm going to start on it in the next week or so while my fingers and hands are still toughened up.

Hey, Dangerman! Do you think you would be interested in making a Young Indy whip for me? Black with the red handle from LC? I'm thinking 6 foot.

DarenHenryW

I'd be interested in giving it a try. I gotta finish ScottyRocks6's whip first. I don't know how to do the transition from red to black though. That'll take some thinking. I'll be in touch.

Dangerman,

That looks Fan-Freakin'-Tastic!!

I have been looking into getting a nylon whip myself.
Dangerman, Let me know it you are up to making one more 8 footer?
I sure would like one.

Thanks kwad! I'll put you in the queue.

Sweet, PM sent

Scotty,
Have you got yours yet? If so, let's see some pics mate!

Crack On!
Allen

Indiana County Jr. wrote:Scotty,
Have you got yours yet?

No, he doesn't have it yet. I'm still working on it. He should have it before the end of the month.

GO MAN GO!!!!

Cheers!
Allen

Well, I finished Scott's whip and mailed it this past Wednesday (3rd of March). He should have it by now, but I haven't heard anything.

Somebody's probably come up with the idea already, but I just discovered a new way to make a MUCH better nylon fall.
-First, I take a length of cord that has not been de-cored.
-I pull back the sheathing past the halfway mark, and cut off half the core.
-I seal the end that still has the core in it, and crimp it to a point.
-Through the de-cored end I feed a doubled-up wire (I used florist wire) and using a pointed object, make an opening an inch or so in front of the section with the core. I feed the wire through this opening.
-I pull the other half of the wire through and then push it through the sealed and crimped end.
-Then I (cautiously) feed the wire back through the de-cored section until both ends are well past the opening.
-Using the pointed object (I used a nail set) I get the other end started through the opening.
-I attach the wire to something solid, like a door hinge, and gently work it through until there is a little loop at the end nearest me.

That's it.

I thought this fall worked much better than any other nylon fall I'd ever attached to a whip. It was denser, a bit stiffer and a touch heavier. I was very happy with it.

Josh,

I just tried your idea and replaced the fall on my 4 foot mini indy (just finished it today ).

Man! What a difference! I cracks with much less effort and very loudly.
Thanks for the idea!

Dangerman009 wrote:Well, I finished Scott's whip and mailed it this past Wednesday (3rd of March). He should have it by now, but I haven't heard anything.

Somebody's probably come up with the idea already, but I just discovered a new way to make a MUCH better nylon fall.
-First, I take a length of cord that has not been de-cored.
-I pull back the sheathing past the halfway mark, and cut off half the core.
-I seal the end that still has the core in it, and crimp it to a point.
-Through the de-cored end I feed a doubled-up wire (I used florist wire) and using a pointed object, make an opening an inch or so in front of the section with the core. I feed the wire through this opening.
-I pull the other half of the wire through and then push it through the sealed and crimped end.
-Then I (cautiously) feed the wire back through the de-cored section until both ends are well past the opening.
-Using the pointed object (I used a nail set) I get the other end started through the opening.
-I attach the wire to something solid, like a door hinge, and gently work it through until there is a little loop at the end nearest me.

That's it.

I thought this fall worked much better than any other nylon fall I'd ever attached to a whip. It was denser, a bit stiffer and a touch heavier. I was very happy with it.

Hi Josh,

I got the whip Saturday. It looks great. Very stiff. Havent had a chance to attempt to crack it yet. Is this new fall used on my whip? Ill post again when Ive had a chance to use it (complete novice here). Hopefully someone will be able to take a pic or two of me in 'action.'

Don't be too concerned about the stiffness of the whip Scott. When you actually start to use it, it won't seem stiff. And yes, you have the new type of fall.

Okay, then. My gf's boys have been eyeing the whip and asking when Im gonna try it. As Im gonna get home late every night this week, it may first be Friday afternoon before I try it. Being a novice, I think I wanna do this the first time when its not dark.

FYI, the whip that's the subject of this thread got a little action in the last few weeks. This is mostly a rehash from over on The Raider Forums, but might be of interest here:

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to be kayaking with my wife, my son and a tour group up the Hule'ia river in Kaua'i, Hawai'i. The river was a stand-in location for a certain river in Peru where in 1936 a notable archaeologist once had to swing into a river and swim to a float plane to evade some angry Hovito warriors. I flew my geek flag and wore a straw fedora ("officially licensed"!) and brought the 9' nylon bullwhip by COW's on Dangerman009, documented in this very thread. Apart from the guides - who asked good questions and had gotten a demo before we set off on the trek - the rest of the group was... unimpressed with the latent geekyness. Until, that is, until we reached an open area on a hike and I did some cracking. That got some applause from the Hovitos, er, normal folk.

Here's the bank of the Hule'ia. On the extreme left edge of the photo you can just make out a dangling rope. When we got here with our kayaks some kids were playing on it, but they'd left by the time we returned from our hike. This is from the end of our trek - unfortunately, we didn't have time to actually swing into the river!



For reference, Kipu Ranch (where the chase down the grassy hillside was filmed) and Kipu Falls (I believe where the Barranca disarm was filmed) is about a kilometer to the west. I'm not certain, though, and happy to be corrected.

After disembarking from our kayaks we hiked into the woods for a picnic, then arrived at a pond. That's at about the point where someone asked if I was carrying a real whip. I was happy to oblige. Here's the least-worst picture of the whip cracking. Everything is blurry except the whip!



And finally, here's an establishing shot. In hindsight, there's no reason I couldn't have grabbed a victim, er, volunteer to participate in the whippery:



If I look a bit disheveled, it's because my son and I had just used a different rope to swing into this pond (me: once; my son: 3 times), so I've recently emerged soaking wet and just slipped back into my clothes. I was hoping we'd come to a more open area later and I could give some whip cracking lessons, but that was not to be. There was also no swinging from the whip - as a demo I did whip some vines to show that yes, it was possible, but no, you really don't want to put your weight on a quarter-inch vine wrapped by a single strand of paracord. As it was, I was having to carefully aim my cracks to avoid getting hung up in the vines. The whip also dragged through the water; this let each crack generated a huge puff of spray from the popper which was unexpectedly impressive to the audience. (I'll have to remember to play that up next time.)

Alas, this was my first real performance with an audience so I didn't have any banter. In hindsight I could have used a couple of volunteers to re-enact bits of the film (Barranca disarm, etc).

Once again, kudos to Dangerman009 on his whip!

Very cool IT! Looks like your having a fun vacation (I'm assuming that you are on vacation, if not, I'm REALLY jealous )

Hey DangerMouse, you can now say that one of your whips was on the set of Raiders! (You might want to leave out that it was 3 decades later )

I had made and posted a video in another thread back in March. Looking at it now, Im embarrassed to repost it.

Im still getting used to the whip. My main problem is that, between 1 1/2 jobs and endless house repairs, I have like no time to practice. I am, however, getting better at an overhead-type of crack, though Im sure theres a proper name for it.