Club Obi Wan

Hey Guys,

I have been cracking whips for about 5 months now, and I wanted to start making my own cow whip. Now I know that everyone loves leather, but I love money and want to keep as much of mine as possible, so I decided that i was going to make one out of nylon parachute cord. I have found a place on the web, www.parachute-cord.com, but I have yet to know how much cord I need, and also how to make the whip. I know basic plaiting, but nothing in field of 12 or 16 strands. I also know nothing about how to make the belly, or the handle. I would really appreciate it if all you pros out there can direct me to a book or website that can help me with this problem, or simply give me some directions though Club Obi Wan. Thanks,

Yoyoyoman35

I'm not big into the nylon whip making but I do use paracord a lot and I use lapolicegear.com to buy mine from. They are fast and a bit cheaper than that website. Though I will say they don't have near the amount of colors. But lapolicegear has some colors that you would find in a whip. Good luck with this project

Thanks, and please talk to anyone you know in Club Obi Wan that could help me!
I really really really need some help

Hi,
I buy my para cord from http://www.supplycaptain.com/index.cfm? ... gory_ID=19 Go to this link for a tutorial on a nylon snake whip http://www.whip-basics.com/gallery.php its at the bottom of the page. Using this tutorial you can work out lengths you need and such. Go ahead and buy 1000ft spool. You may get a few whips out of this.
Hope that helps
Graeme

Thank you so much man! Much appreciated. I am going to start with a snake, but my goal is to make a 6 ft stock whip. Wish me luck, and thanks.

Hi All,

I have been watching this post and it got me thinking again of releasing a dvd series of how to make a nylon bullwhip again (possibly how to make a cowhide and kangaroo bullwhip in the future). I was woundering who all would be interested in this. Prices for video turtorials may range from $60-$100 per style (nylon, cowhide, kangaroo). So let me know who is interested, try to help out those who want to get into whipmaking.

Keep Crackin,
James

I'm personally on a tight budget, so I can't really afford that, but I would definitely suggest making your own post on it. And when the time comes i can afford some cowhide, I'm definitely going to need some instruction. I think that it would be a great thing for the people in COW that are new to whip making.
-Grant

What is the best color to purchase to get a more Indy-looking bullwhip?

Tan
Chocolate Brown
Dark Brown
Coyote Brown

Probably the chocolate brown for a Raiders - Crusade look. For a more Crystal Skull look definitely dark brown. Hope that helps,
Grant

Yoyoyoman35 wrote:Probably the chocolate brown for a Raiders - Crusade look. For a more Crystal Skull look definitely dark brown. Hope that helps,
Grant

Agreed

Thanks a lot for the whip tutorial link, G-Rob! I am planning on starting my Indy whip in April. Anyone with estimates on total length needed for different sizes of whips (eg 6 foot, 8 foot, 2 bellies, etc)?

I would probably say that you should just buy a huge spool, because if you plan on making a couple it will be easier. Im not really sure about lengths, but i would suggest perheps making a topic about it.
Best of Luck,
Grant

there is a new whip making DVD on its way into the world most likely by the end of the month. Not sure on the price yet.
but i have been talking with the maker of the whips and the DVD he is a very very nice guy. This DVD is on how to make nylon whips. It has fancy knot tying in the dvd and it has all the knowledge you will need on making a nylon whip. all you need to do is buy some para cord and buy the DVD.
here are the links for you to check out and on may first you should definitely be checking these out.

http://www.miwhips.com/ (the whipmakers website)
http://store.nexternal.com/shared/Store ... =545997262 (one website to get para cord)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd2VkuXShUU (a "trailer" to the DVD)


thanks very much i really hope that you all like it and buy it. He has a disease called COPD. a very very nice man. and his wife is very very nice aswell.

thanks a million

Clarke Bynum



Hope you can wait a little bit before you make your first whip but with this mans teaching style and his talent i bet you will have a cracking whip with your first attempt

What material is usually used for the BB chain? Is it the same as those used for army dog tags or is it the bigger kind that's used for window blinds?

My first whip I used lamp chain that I got at Home Depot.
Overall, it worked ok, but I thought it was a bit too light.
I'm going to try some heavier shot next time.

For light whips I recommed ball chain (~3mm), for medium whips - lead shot (2-4mm) and for heavy whips BBs (5mm).
Hope that helps!

Good info. I've got plenty 'o paracord, so maybe I'll try each and see which I like.
Now that the weather is warm again, I can work out in the garage undisturbed for hours on end!

How do you drop the strands? Say from an 8 to 6 then to 4. Do you take out the bottom strands? That's what I did but I it didn't come out very nice.

This has been bothering me for some time now...

When I plait 8 strands, I drop second strand from the bottom on each side. But for 6 strands I plait "under 1, over 2" on the left side and "under 2, over 1" on the right side. I find it works better than "under 2, over 1" on both sides. Then at 6 to 4 strand drop, I drop also second strand from the bottom on both sides. I also drop one strand at once, and few centimeters further the second one.
When it doesn't come out very nice, rebraid it, and try again. Practice makes perfect

The main problem I have with dropping strands is going from 6 strands to 4 - you're starting from 6 strands braided around the core (1 strand for an arbitrary example number) and if you drop 2 strands at once you're suddenly going to 4 strands braided around 3 strands as you tuck the dropped strands under to join the core.

The core suddenly jumps in size while you're left with not enough strands to neatly cover it
I find that if I only drop one strand at a time instead of 2, leaving a couple of inches in between drops, I can get it looking a lot neater.

I go from 8 strands (4 each side - under 2, over 2 on both sides)
to 7 strands (3 on left, 4 on right - under 1, over 2 on left and under 2, over 2 on right)
to 6 strands (3 on each side - under 1, over 2 on left and under 2, over 1 on right)
to 5 strands (2 on left, 3 on right - under 1, over 1 on left and under 2, over 1 on right)
to 4 strands (2 on each side - under 1, over 1 on both sides)

However I still struggle with it, especially towards the end of the whip when each strand dropped is a larger percentage of the braid, so I'll be keeping a close eye on this thread in case any more experienced whipmakers chime in with their wisdom

Nice info. I'll try those techniques on my next whip...

The other problem I have is making a turk's head knot. I have downloaded a video on youtube, made by a whipmaker (can't remember who), but I only have parts 1 and 3, not part 2.

fenris wrote:The other problem I have is making a turk's head knot. I have downloaded a video on youtube, made by a whipmaker (can't remember who), but I only have parts 1 and 3, not part 2.

Hi guys, I'm a n00b here & this is actually my first post (as the staggering amount of knowledge floating around this place makes my posting seem kind of pointless ). I was also having A LOT of difficulty completing a Turk's Head Knot, until I found a pictorial online showing how make one [type]. After following the pictorial a few times, I can now build this knot without even paying it too much mind. I saved the photos & put them in a .pdf (adobe) document. If you like, you can download it HERE. (<--clickee)

Hopefully, I'll be able to participate more as I feel my way around this place; the Indy films (particularly RotLA) have been a HUGE part of my lifetime movie-viewing entertainment. Anyway, hope this post is helpful.

Here's a couple of photos of a nylon whip I made, trying to imitate the style I've drooled over so many times on Bernie Wojcicki's site:



On this whip, I built up the base of the THK a little too much, so when I went to complete the knot (using the above instructions), I had to make an additional pass to get full coverage. Just an FYI.