Hi guys, here for your perusal is a 6'6" Bullwhip witha 10" 5mm steel bar handle. The core is a 4-plait Twisted Taper with drops accordingly, 6- and 12-plait bellies bound with sinew and a 16 plait overlay in Dark Green, Brown and Grey. I didn't really plan the overlay pattern apart from the double diamond handle, I just let the rest make itself. I used Bernie's double dropping method all the way down to a 4-point hitch.
It has a lovely taper, rolls out really well and I can get a circus crack with minimal effort. The transition binding still needs to be tighter and progress further down the thong as I've whipped my own head trying the horizontal overhead but apart from that it may very well be the best whip I've made to date. I like it.
Be happy with that one, Roger. Straight, clean plaiting, all the way to the tip, an even taper, and your point work is certainly better than mine. The only points to change are aesthetic, in my opinion.
I remember you talking about starting this whip. You had mentioned you were going to try the twisted taper for the core. Looks like you finished yours first! How do you like it? The core, I mean. Do you find that it allows for a better primary shape and taper? How is it for weight?
Here's wishing you find time for the things you want to do, and for the things you need to do.
We see ourselves in our children and hope for a better future.
Not waxing at the moment Pokkis, Don't have the facilities/equipment but it's on the cards.
David, the twisted taper core is just so easy! No fannying about with BBs, worrying about weight distribution and the sudden loss of weight where the BBs stop.
The way you reduce the cords from 4/3/2 means you get a really smooth taper which is very easy to calculate and with outside drops on the first two bellies, it stays smooth for the overlay.
Weight-wise, it seems to be ok. With no BBs, it's obviously a fair few grams lighter and I reckon I need to adjust just a couple of aspects (transition binding mostly) befoer I'm ready to go commercial.
Yes, I'm feeling I'm just about ready to start offering whips for sale!
Robert Gage wrote:Roger, that looks like a real improvement on your previous work. Very attractive! 6.5 ft is a very good length, too. What does this whip weigh?
Total weight is 450gm. No idea how that stacks up against a 'great' whip. Personal preference obviously comes into it somewhere.
Thanks, Roger. I think weight is very largely a matter of personal preference. I'd regard 450 grams for a 6.5 footer as pretty light - but of course the whip may well handle beautifully. The real test is always to hold it in one's hand and see what happens!
The taper is excellent Roger, that's why I love that core. It builds the whips taper from the get go. I think a good waxing would be a night and day difference for that whip. Well done sir
450 gr. is a good - but very light - weight for a 6,5 footer. I agree with Roy that waxing would round it up just perfect. Talking about perfect... The taper in that whip is remarkably good. Very even from the transition down to the tip. And the color - I think every time I see a new design, that now there can't be any new patterns/designs in a whip. And every time one of you introduces a new whip, I learn that there is new patterns and designs
I had a feeling that the taper was just right as the whip came together. Having a few experienced eyes pass positive judgement (obviously not as good as holding in your hands) gives me a rather warm fuzzy feeling inside
Waxing is next on the 'skills progression' list. All I need is a pan big enough to take a whip and a good thermometer (oh and some wax of course!). Do we use parrafin wax or something a little more esoteric?
Wax and a pan are not as important as to call the god of all whip makers. The pan and the wax are just the ritual items you need to do the calling the proper way. Heat the wax, put the whip into and that will give the whip god a good and peaceful mood. And by saying the magic words "Humada, humada, humadadaduda" three times a minute, 12 minutes long (not more, not less!) the whip will change in the pan. The result will have nothing to do with the pan, the heat or the wax, of course! It is only the magical words!
It's not surprising that most of the people who don't wax their whips seem to live outside US. How nice it would be to just walk into a store and buy a turkey roaster for less than what we pay for a 1000 ft spool of 550 :P
Yeah, I don't get it, Pokkis. It seems like those appliances should be available, at least. What, nobody in the world but America wants to roast turkeys?
I don't buy it. ^_^
Roger, I agree that waxing is recommended on a whip that light. The leather Indy whips were about 1.1lbs (or half a kilo), so waxing could take you up to -or over- that benchmark. That's the one I've been using, anyway.
I don't know how to explain it, but it's not just the weight that makes a waxed whip better. It just seems to have more "life" than an unwaxed whip. Nylon ones do, anyway; no idea if you could even try it with leather, and I wouldn't be the one to suggest it.
You and I are on the same page as regards the initial taper. I spent the majority of the last five years searching for a tapered core which had weight, and I went through just about every design you can think of. Now that I've found the twisted taper, I think I'm ready to settle on a production model.
Having completed 2/3 of a 6-footer, I don't yet have the right to say exactly how it will perform, but I know how it reacts from a test flick on the second belly. That bit of information is enough to get me excited. I would recommend this style of construction to anyone; even if they just try it one time.
Naturally...the weight issue...gotta wax it. Bring that weight up. But that's really the only issue I see.
No, really, I've only seen an entire turkey on a table once in my life. So not much market for an appliance meant for something that's not exactly common and can be done in a regular oven too. A shame really.
I've wanted to try the twisted taper core for a while now, but haven't done that mainly because it appears to need the wax to work. But maybe it could work in a performance type whip, I guess that's worth a shot. Seeing these results makes me want to try it even more.
[quote="Antti "Pokkis" Mäkinen"]I guess the rest of the world just uses ovens :P
No, really, I've only seen an entire turkey on a table once in my life. So not much market for an appliance meant for something that's not exactly common and can be done in a regular oven too. A shame really.
- Pokkis[/quote]
I only saw 2 frozen turkeys my entire time in Finland. They were the US equivalent of over $100, more than 10 times what they would cost at the time here!
As for turkey roasters, get a large flat metal pan, something you would see in a buffet restaurant, and put it over a heat source.
Here's wishing you find time for the things you want to do, and for the things you need to do.
We see ourselves in our children and hope for a better future.
