Whips by Ethan Mitchell

[Jessie Edwards]

I am really in love with that tan/gold. I think its the same shade as I made the shelter whip last year.

[Mark Elliott]

That's a good lookin' whip Ethan. Nice job.

[Ethan Mitchell]

Thanks Jessie! It is gold 650 coreless from Roy.
Thanks Mark!

[Ethan Mitchell]

Here is a few pictures of whip #15:




And of the build process:

First belly (10 plait) on handle ending in TT core.


Second belly 14 plait.

[Ethan Mitchell]

Here is a video of it in action:
https://youtu.be/6pqvouwsC44
It still needs waxing, but as you can see it is otherwise perfectly functional.

[Ron May]

Ethan, it must be set to "private", because it won't play for me.

Ron

[Ethan Mitchell]

Opps, you are probably right. I'll fix that.

[Mark Elliott]

Hey Ethan, the link still isn't working for me.

[Jyri Haveri]

Well done Ethan!
I cant see the video either.

How did you do that heel?

[Ethan Mitchell]

Ok, you should be able to view it now.

[Sir Roger Tuson]

I can but it's in the dreaded portrait style. Does make it very difficult to see what's going on. Coachman's crack looks good though.

[Mark Elliott]

Looks good, Ethan.

[Scott A. Cary]

I like what you did with the heel knot, Ethan. I am curious, though, why did you opt to go with such a long handle?

[Ethan Mitchell]

Thanks!
Scott,
Because I was interested in the one whip Gio made for Robby awhile ago, and the burgundy whip he made more recently. As well as, the one or two bullwhips Tyler has made with tapered handles.
I originally ordered some ice fishing rod blanks with the intention of using them for stockwhip handles. But I think they are a bit too flexible for that. So I figured I would see how a whip with a longer tapered handle would turn out. And so far I am quite pleased. Because of the long handle it can be cracked in a faster manner, or because of it's length and weight it can be cracked slower. It is really very interesting to handle...

[Ethan Mitchell]

I want to wax it tomorrow afternoon. So we'll see how it handles after that.

[Rachel McCollough]

It is really cool! Tat longer handle definitely makes a much quicker Whip, but it seems to work very well.
Well done!

[Georg Ernst]

It looks like a nice whip. Rolls out nice for my eye.

[Ethan Mitchell]

Thanks Rachel and Georg!
I have waxed it. i tried to get some pictures but it is too sunny out and the whip too bright to get good photos right now. This is the only one that turned out nice:

And for those of you who are wondering how I made that nice braided "concho"... I started with a section of 5 plait flat braid, and folded that over the end and bound it down. Then I took a 6 plait flat braid and folded that over on top of the 5 plait braid rotating it 90 degrees, essentially forming an "x" if they were laid out flat. After those two were attached I just added extra sinew binding(using the doorknob method) and four staples to make sure it would never move, ever. I just used that as my knot foundation as adding anything else would make the resulting heel knot to bulky to grip securely.

[Mark Elliott]

Ethan, that's pretty cool looking, I would have never thought of doing that. Good job.

[Scott A. Cary]

Ethan, thanks for the explanation. I'd love to give that one a try sometime, as I've never cracked a whip with a handle that long. Oh, and that last picture made me love what you did with the heel knot even more. So many possibilities with that... Well done!