My newest Indy whip - A 6.5 footer

[bearbeast]

This is the longest roo-hide whip I have made so far and I think the nicest 'cracker'. It is very easy to get a nice pop out of it.

It is six and a half feet long, which I found is a great intermediate length. I really enjoy shorter whips, even though they might not look so nice on the belt.

The style I built this whip in is LC, but it has three bellies, instead of two, so in the end the thickest portion is ~25 mm in diameter. The handle is slightly thinner.

I used 0.8 mm thick roo-hide. I have never worked with thicker roo-hide, but I hope to someday. This hide is much better than cowhide, but still it tends to break sometimes. During the plaiting I need to take care a lot, but usually I stretch the strands with such force that if they do break it is during the stretching.

Unlike most of my previous builds I abandoned paring the strands completely. I like the look and I find it takes nothing away from the finished whip:









Here you can see the taper:



You can see the nice high-resolution pictures (as well as a few additional ones) here:

https://imgur.com/a/6npo51A

And a video of me cracking it here (don''t forget to choose 1080p resolution):

https://youtu.be/QQiUBCzb5bA

Thank you for checking out my stuff!

Cheers,
Bear

[IndianaJustin]

Another great job with great taper. Why 3 bellies? How does that affect the feel?

[bearbeast]

Thank you, IndianaJustin!

The third belly adds some weight to the whip and also makes it a bit stiffer, giving it a nice curve.

I used a third belly instead of a lot of binding. Honestly, I will have to see myself what all the effects are, over the lifetime of the whip.

Cheers,
Bear

[whiskyman]

You say you had problems with breakage - are you cutting away the weaker parts of the hide? Scars? Also are you greasing the stands enough? Generally, after cutting the overlay, I would generously grease the strands and leave them overnight befgore stretching and skiving. Then while braiding, be sure to keep the strands well greased so you can get a tight braid with less risk of breakage.
Keep up the good work!

[whiskyman]

Also - I never needed binding. Good tight braiding is enough

[bearbeast]

Thank you for the tips, Whiskyman!

Usually, I leave the hide with grease overnight, before cutting the strands. And I use a little grease when stretching... I will have to try your way, it sounds very promising!

I take care for defects in the hide as much as possible, but I am sure I do not catch all.... I must be more careful...

Regarding the binding.... I have been using less and less binding in my whips. Most of the tutorials I have seen are for binding... My plaiting is quite tight and I would like to forgo binding as much as possible! I am so glad to hear you don't use binding, as well!

Thank you again,
Bear