Whip Basics. The Forum

Devin,
Thank you for the advice. I have some math to do.
Grant,
Thank you. I'm always attempting new colors. I just ordered a bunch more paracord that I will be using sometime in the future.

Now that I've got posting privileges, I specifically wanted to come here and find this thread, to comment on that handle design. Something about the way it almost ends up looking like multiple interwoven squares totally works for me. I love it.

Ian - thank you. That was actually totally by accident, but I liked it too.

Craig that whip is very nice.
In one respect it just shows how much I have to learn.
At least I know where I am aiming for now at least as before all I had to go from was youtube videos and the odd webpage here and there.

Nice work, I like the handles
but hockey tape makes a bad replacement for sinew, it's quicker to apply, but doesn't give you the same result.
Binding tight with sinew stiffens the transition out of strength and the next layer will be plaited over a tight surface that doesn't give, but hockey tape stiffens it because the transition becomes fat and spongy, which results in differences in tension of plaiting along the whip. You can see that in the picture where you have the whip in the vice and it's squashing the thong together. It gives quite a lot and forces gaps in your work.

A well bound transition with sinew will give you a lot more energy to power the thong forward with a clean action. I've found that with hockey tape it has more of an effect of a fat person with tight jeans trying to tie their shoe-laces ( sorry, I couldn't think of a better analogy)

Craig, I have to agree with Fritz. And Fritz, that's actually a very good analogy!

Fritz - yes, about the hockey tape causing a squishing affect in the vice. However, I actually use both. I wrap the layer in hockey tape and then do a four layer binding in sinew. Lately, I also add another layer of hockey tape over the sinew.

P.S. - the sinew was the same color as the hockey tape. It's hard to see it in the pictures, but it's on the ladies. You can see the two spools on the table.

On the ladies? What the hell was I trying to type?

Craig, Autocorrect will be the downfall of mankind. I'm sure of it.

I've never used hockey tape. I will admit to a kind of prejudice there, after dealing with e-tape on a few of my whips. I just don't believe any tape can replace a proper binding. I welcome the opportunity to be proven wrong, naturally.

This statement may fly in the face of my beliefs against taping, but...I've discovered that most of my whips get "squashed" in the vise. I rely on my weighted rolling board to smooth it out, but it got me wondering...do I really, necessarily know that I'm plaiting correctly?

The whipmaker has a thousand things to keep track of, all of them important. The only truly effective method is to start with basic knowledge and improvise improvements. Each design takes you further toward your perfect whip.

David - thank you, as always. Yes, I do make sure to roll it until the squished parts are round again. I personally prefer to wrap the layers in hockey tape before the sinew so that I'm wrapping the sinew over a generally smooth surface.

David Cross wrote: The whipmaker has a thousand things to keep track of, all of them important. The only truly effective method is to start with basic knowledge and improvise improvements. Each design takes you further toward your perfect whip.

David, I sometimes remember reading that the great Australian whip-makers like Cecil Henderson all did a rigorous apprenticeship under the eagle eye of a master, lasting several years! Nowadays, very few makers have the advantage of learning their craft under constant expert tutelage. (I've got an idea that Simon Martin did, but I may be wrong.)

I would have preferred to learn under a master, but those days are long gone. There's just no infrastructure to support it. Everything these days is unions, or corporate-controlled events. The only recourse for the average citizen is DIY.

That's why the internet is so powerful. They'd like nothing better than to keep us all in the dark, but we have The People's Tool to teach us. It's not as potent or powerful as a master, but it's something.

That, and places like WB. They're rare, but useful. The craft lives, despite all efforts to extinguish it.

I think I failed to mention that I entered this whip into the army MWR arts and crafts contest. I just got word this afternoon that I took first place for the entire army in novice textile and fabrics category.

WOW congratulations Craig, that's outstanding!!!

Outstanding is correct

Thanks to Google, I've just deciphered MWR.

Well done, Craig: many congratulations!

Thank you, everyone. Sorry about that, Robert. To many years of death by acronyms (and PowerPoint).

No need to apologise, Craig. These challenges expand my horizons!

Congratulations, Graig! It's a very special effort to put together a bullwhip out of paracord and I'm not surprised it had appealed to the judges.