My Latest Whip

[Ethan Mitchell]

Hey Guys,
Here are some photos of my latest whip. It is a six footer with a twelve-inch handle and a fancy plaited handle. The 3/8" sinker cord turned out to be too big for the BBs. So I loaded a piece of paracord and put it inside of the sinker cord, pulling it out just before the handle and lashing it down. I did a ten plait belly over that. Then a fourteen plait overlay with a under four, over four gaucho pattern on the handle. This time I got more of the transition I was looking for.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/FxIBjSrIQyyOcFPY2

[Rachel McCollough]

Ethan, this whip is REALLY NICE!!!! You ought to be proud of that!

[Ron May]

Nice job Ethan.
You're improving a lot.

Ron

[Sir Roger Tuson]

Very nice Ethan. That's a BIG heel knot though. Something you prefer?

[Mark Elliott]

Excellent work, Ethan.

[Ethan Mitchell]

Thanks guys!
Roger, It is rather big. I just wanted to see what a bigger knot would feel like. I am planning to undo it and the knot underneath so I can downsize it a bit(I have two ungutted five part four bight knots underneath, the first one being glued in place).

[Craig Frank]

That's a crazy long handle. Your knots are fantastic and your braiding is very clean. I love it.

[Mark Elliott]

Ethan, I've never had much luck with sinker cord, either. I can't keep the BBs lined up, so after a couple of tries I gave it up. The last whip I used a TT core and added about 3 strands of leaded line to each of the cords. Worked out really well, I thought. It sure was a lot easier than stuffing BBs in paracord.

[Ethan Mitchell]

Thanks.
Craig, Its just twelve inches long. I want to try eight inch handles next.
Mark, I want to try a fiberglass rod for the handle materiel sometime, along with a TT core. Something like Rachel's steerwhips.

[Ethan Mitchell]

The plaiting on the handle is not that great, its rather 'gappy'. Though you can't quite see that in the pictures. I think sixteen plait would have done a better job on the handle, but as I did not grind the rod down to a taper at all this time, the thong was too small for that.

[Robert Gage]

Ethan, I know this is very subjective, but I generally find the best handle length for a 6-foot whip to be 8 or 9 inches. Even 10 seems a bit too long. (I also prefer 6.5 feet as an overall length: 6-foot seems just that bit too short for me. You might try that some time....)

[Ben Varsek]

I realy like the overall design of this whip, fantastic work Ethan!

All the best
Ben

[Ethan Mitchell]

Thanks Ben!

[Ethan Mitchell]

As most of my whips have had longer handles or no handles at all (snakewhips) I haven't had much experience with shorter handles. So far I like longer handles because it gives me more leverage and just because I don't have to worry about shortening the rods. :p Especially because the blade on my dad's hacksaw is very dull, I need to buy an new blade sometime...

[Sven van Leeuwen]

Beautifully done. I like the subtle color detail. And the whip looks nice and clean.

[Ethan Mitchell]

Thanks Sven! I like whips with a main color and a bold accent color to set it off.

[Brandon "Sparky" Lam]

Nice work Ethan! Very sleek and your knots are amazing~ What did you use as your foundation to get such a huge knot?