Red/Black Snakewhip

[Brandon "Sparky" Lam]

Hey everyone! So I've been busy working on whips for the last 2 weeks, but one of my good fire spinning friends is leaving Aus (he was here only for a short time), so I made a whip for him He needed it to be relatively small and portable, so a snakewhip was probably the best choice for his travels. This one is 6ft, has an english eye, and has a 9L8B TH with pineapple interweave! I did a mild binding to this whip, so I hope he's still able to travel with it haha

So I missed a lot of the process in pictures, because I was so excited to make his whip...woops.

Here's the first belly, entirely in imperial red because I wanted to get rid of my old red for the new "red" paracord I got. I didn't like how imperial red became almost brown-ish red after waxing, and I've found the basic "red" looks so much better


Here is the second belly, with 1 strand of imperial red. Creates a nice contrast compared to the new red ~


Plaiting from the tip is always fun, I actually much prefer adding strands than dropping them!

Finally, here are some pictures of the finished whip (After waxing) -



I'm really enjoying the short herringbone pattern, it gives a much different look compared to the diamond plait, a zig-zaggy pattern that I think is cool :P
Well, I've sent my friend these pictures, maybe I can sneak in a recording of a video of me testing the whip before I give it to him tomorrow~ He's already really happy with how it looks, so here's hoping he likes how it acts!

[Ron May]

Brandon, excellent job.
I too like the short herring bone pattern.
How does it crack?

Ron

[Grant Weaver]

Beautiful plaiting, Brandon!

[Brandon "Sparky" Lam]

Thanks Ron & Grant!

ahaha Ron you might as well turn that into your signature :P I've had a short play with it, and weirdly enough it acts quite similar to a bullwhip (obviously with the difference being I use my arm as the handle). Very nice and fun to crack, but I have no reference (the only other being my HEAVY snakewhips). I'll try get a video up tomorrow

[Matt Henderson]

Love it Brandon, keep up the good work . I've been thinking of trying my hand at a decent-length snake.

[Jesse Bessette]

Brandon, that pattern looks amazing. Really well done, my friend. I'm planning to try the short Herringbone on my personal build. The red and black are an awesome contrast to each other. Snake with an english eye? Beautiful.

[Brandon "Sparky" Lam]

Thank you Matt and Jesse!
I personally prefer snakes longer than 6ft cause then you can see the nice roll out :P Have fun with that build!
The short herringbone is beautiful and easy to do too! I look forward to seeing your build, Jesse~

[Brandon "Sparky" Lam]

Here's a little video of me testing the whip - https://youtu.be/qYcuBfrtTi8
It was a little early and wet, so I didn't want to wake my family up :P

[Ron May]

It looks like it cracks nicely.
Job well done.

Ron

[Jessie Edwards]

Very cool, but I have a question: How come patternwork only extends a certain distance down the thong? I mean, how come, say, a bird's eye isn't carried all the way down? I assume it has to do with the drops making it hard, but is there just no way around it?

[Brandon "Sparky" Lam]

Thanks Ron!

Jessie, that's definitely a good question. From what I can imagine (and this is not a definitive answer, and could be totally wrong), it might be due to patternwork not being as consistent as the herringbone, so the flow of the whip could be disrupted. Drops would make going from 16 plait birds eye to 12 plait birds eye extremely difficult too!
I think it might also be because herringbone is one of the only plaits that consistently and easily accommodates strand drops.
Either way, maybe someone more knowledgeable could help with that question

[Jesse Bessette]

Brandon, I think you probably nailed it. It doesn't seem like patterns would be very conducive to strand drops like that. Multiple strand at once would also probably create a very rapid taper, not as smooth as is usually desirable in a whip.

[Robert Gage]

Brandon, whatever the pattern, I think it's very nice!

[Brandon "Sparky" Lam]

Thank you Robert!

[Jorden Hoefling]

that handle/ short herringbone turned out very nice, man. looks great.

do you add 2 spliced strands at a time to keep the pattern?

also, I can't tell but is your English eye a 3 strand braid going into the plaiting?

very clean work.

[Brandon "Sparky" Lam]

Thank you Jorden!
Yes, I really like adding two at a time, cause then I have full control over the pattern~
And you are right, my English eyes are a 3 strand flat braid into a 6 plait round braid at the tip

[Jorden Hoefling]

I add 2 at a time as well, but I seldom splice them unless a certain pattern is requested. I'll just do one solid unspliced color at a time going into both sides & usually alternate between colors, gives a pretty beautiful pattern on it's own that way as well.

[Brandon "Sparky" Lam]

Ahhh I see what you mean! My pattern is mostly separated, as you can see, so I can't add in an unbroken strand haha

[Jesse Bessette]

Brandon, are you binding the snakes at all? I've seen both ways, so I'm curious.

[Brandon "Sparky" Lam]

Personally, yes. I do a similar binding to what I do on a bullwhip, but maybe 1/2 as much