Club Obi Wan

So I have been using electric tape for balusters in my nylon whips. I am wondering how long the tape will last before it breaks down. I was wondering if any one has used the heavy cloth medical tape.

hit80s wrote:So I have been using electric tape for balusters in my nylon whips. I am wondering how long the tape will last before it breaks down. I was wondering if any one has used the heavy cloth medical tape.

I've seen people do that, but never have myself. On my first whip i covered the core in duct tape then electrical tape, and it did

weaken quickly. Why not instead of bolsters, just do another layer of plaiting ?

there is a huge difference in the added girth a few layers of tape will add when compared to even one extra layer of plaited strands.

Its not the size of the thong i am worried about it want to add some stiffness to the thong ?

I've tried the tape bolster thing and did not care for it. The tape made the whip stiffer, but, made it less fluid.

Instead, I now use either artificial sinew or the inner strands from the paracord (it also makes fine crackers!) to tightly bind the whip.

First, I attach the bb loaded core to the handle foundation, then add a layer of tight binding.
Next comes the first 8 plt belly, followed by more binding. Then the second 12plt belly and, yep, more binding, then finally the 16plt overlay.
I also pull the strands as hard as humanly possible when braiding.

To get the binding nice and tight, I tie one end of the sinew/cord to a doorknob and the other to the whip. I then pull the string as taught as possible and begin to slowly twist the whip in my hands, causing the string to wrap itself tightly around the whip.

I end each layer of binding slightly farther out on the whip than the last. This both helps build taper and gives the whip a gradual flexibility (stiffest at the handle/thong transition, becoming more flexible towards the tip).

kwad wrote:I've tried the tape bolster thing and did not care for it. The tape made the whip stiffer, but, made it less fluid.

Instead, I now use either artificial sinew or the inner strands from the paracord (it also makes fine crackers!) to tightly bind the whip.

First, I attach the bb loaded core to the handle foundation, then add a layer of tight binding.
Next comes the first 8 plt belly, followed by more binding. Then the second 12plt belly and, yep, more binding, then finally the 16plt overlay.
I also pull the strands as hard as humanly possible when braiding.

To get the binding nice and tight, I tie one end of the sinew/cord to a doorknob and the other to the whip. I then pull the string as taught as possible and begin to slowly twist the whip in my hands, causing the string to wrap itself tightly around the whip.

I end each layer of binding slightly farther out on the whip than the last. This both helps build taper and gives the whip a gradual flexibility (stiffest at the handle/thong transition, becoming more flexible towards the tip).

this tools is PERFECT for wrapping binding quickly, efficently , and tightly. They come in many qualities and what not, you can decide which one you want, but check it out. :

http://www.3riversarchery.com/product.asp?i=3205

Reason i found them was a few years back i made wooden bows, and i wanted to make strings also, this was one of the tools.

Neat little tool there Riku. Thanks for posting it.

kwad wrote:Neat little tool there Riku. Thanks for posting it.

I have kept been meaning to and this reminded me It has adjustable tension, so as you kinda swing it around it keeps it

really tight.

I'm getting ready to make my first nylon whip and also had concerns of tape breaking down over time. Has anyone used heat shring tubing instead of tape?

kwad - With your binding, is it bound with gaps between the sinew so you can see the plaiting underneath? Or is it continuous binding so the plaiting is not visible?

Thanks
Jeff

JeffB wrote:I'm getting ready to make my first nylon whip and also had concerns of tape breaking down over time. Has anyone used heat shring tubing instead of tape?

kwad - With your binding, is it bound with gaps between the sinew so you can see the plaiting underneath? Or is it continuous binding so the plaiting is not visible?

Thanks
Jeff

I've never used heatshrink for whips, but i have for sleeving my computer's power supply cables ( man i seem to get around, computers, bows , whips, whats next? ) I think it might work for you.

The heat shrink will be way to stiff, but I like the idea of thde power cable shielding.
That's the white cloth stuff, right?

Dalexs wrote:The heat shrink will be way to stiff, but I like the idea of thde power cable shielding.
That's the white cloth stuff, right?

Well the actual cable sleeving wouldn't work because it can't taper, but i a real thin heat shrink on the area where cable goes into the connector so that it won't fray. Here is the stuff i use :

http://en.mdpc-x.com/mdpc-sleeve/sleeve ... -black.htm

that's not the actual heatshrink, but it's on that website, like i said it has very thin walls, so i don't know if it would be too stiff or

not, only way to know would be to try it.

Thats exactly what I was thinking of. I usually see it here in the states in white on a lot of light fixtures.

Interesting idea...

Hey guys, figured that I would throw my 2 cents in. I would recommend avoiding tape for binding/bolsters whenever possible, with use of the whip tape will start to break down and not hold its stiffness as well as traditional binding of the transition zone (plus who know what the tape glue will do over time). While Kwad suggests you can use the inter strands of the para cord I would recommend avoiding that as well (better than the tape), the nylon of the inter strands can not hold the tension that is required for binding (some of the first whips I ever made I used this method and while they were fine at first over time they developed the noodle effect at the transition) Stick with the traditional method of binding with artificial sinew or waxed nylon flat lacing tape (its not tape its just called that, this is what I use and it works great) Other than that stick to what Kwad said in his construction decriptions, I have to say his way of construction is nearly identical to mine and it seems to produce very nice nylon whips.

Construction Info Quoted from Classicbullwhips.com
"Nylon Para Cord
Handle is a steal spike attached to a weighted core, this helps in giving the weight and feel of a natural hide whip. Next follows a single layer duct tape bolster for smoothing/stiffening the handle to thong transition. (This is the only time I use tape in my nylon whips, there construction is as close to my natural hide whips as can be). After the bolster is an 8 plait belly and then binding at the transition zone. A 12 plait belly follows with more binding to help stiffen the transition so that the whip does not take on a noodle like feel and look off the handle, some nylon whips tend to have this problem. The final overlay is 16 plait and all nylon whips have my twisted fall design (it reacts more like a leather fall then a single strand para cord fall designs)."

Hope that helps out to explain a little more of my construction. If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask by shooting me a PM or e-mail I would be happy to help.

Keep Crackin,
James

James,

Thanks for the tip on the inner strands.
Luckily, I only used them on one whip and it was only one layer (I ran out of sinew and got impatient )

I don't think heat shrink tubing would be stiff. We use it all the time in car audio to keep the cables neat and organized especially for competitions. The heat shrink tubing is very flexible and somewhat strong because we do route the cables around the car in different twists and turns.

Although I don't think it would be strong enough for the transition part of the whip. Although we'll never know until somebody tries.

My thoughts would be instead of putting them on as one whole tube, maybe it should be put on like overlapping rings. Cut the tubing into smaller parts and put them on piece by piece, overlapping them as you shrink them down to size. ...OR... install the first layer as a whole tube and use the ring method on the transition area.

Just throwing out ideas. Would be really interested if it can work.

Yeah i guess some of the heatshrink that has been used by you guys is really stiff, but that stuff from MDPC that i linked earlier

was especially made for professionally sleeving computer cables, ( the sleeving frays at the end so you use the heat shrink at the

ends of it ) and it has very thin walls and it's very flexible, it might be a good bolster, i don't know, if you live near where

mdpc is located ( not US ) you should buy some. ( I say that to avoid the $25 international shipping, which is very cheap for

international , but it's still not worth it for testing with 1 or two tubes )

I also found this site (in the US) that sells the same type of stuff.
Not super cheap, but the shipping is decent.
http://www.electriduct.com/PET-Expandab ... eving.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;"

Dalexs wrote:I also found this site (in the US) that sells the same type of stuff.
Not super cheap, but the shipping is decent.
http://www.electriduct.com/PET-Expandab ... eving.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;"

No, this stuff from MDPC is made by this guy that runs MDPC, nobody else has the same stuff, and like I said, he make's the walls

of the heatshrink especially thin to make it easy to work with, and it's plenty flexible, yes when it first hardens it might be a little

stiff, but that will be part of breaking in the whip.