Whip Basics. The Forum

Well, it has been about 2 weeks since I had time to work on this whip. I was out of town for a bit. I spent about an hour last night cutting out a 12plait overlay, and during lunch today I stretched and beveled strands. Next step will be to start plaiting the overlay.

Instead of beveling by hand I used a bevel tool I made and explained in this thread: viewtopic.php?id=4179

Strands were cut out, briefly soaked in cool water, stretched, and beveled. I will use a small amount of plaiting soap to condition the strands. They started out 10ft long and after prepping were about 11.5ft long. I planned for this and cut strands wider than necessary.

The strands are joined with a keeper that tapers into part of the bolster. I will also split this part of the bolster.

Awesome Jeff- I'll always be in awe at the amount of effort that goes into leather just with all of the prep. I can see your skills are climbing, and I still treasure my whip I got in the last swap

Well, the whip is packed and will be heading to its new owner tomorrow. I hope he/she likes it. I am always nervous at this point. I've only had 1 whip returned and that was for an exchange (stockwhip => bullwhip). The stock is 22" long, the thong 6ft, and the fall is 36" redhide. I really like redhide falls. They seem to be more durable than whitehide and latigo. They are also easier to cut out. I gave the whip a good coat of Pecard's Leather Dressing and 5 light coats of shellac with another coat of dressing in between. It gives the whip a nice shine. Here are a few more pictures of the finished whip.

Jeff, that's really fine! It also looks as if it would be very lively in action - a very good balance of thong and handle. I hope it's going to a good home!

Jeff, you're going from strength to strength with the leather.
That's a very good looking whip, I really like the detail either side of the keeper.
Well done

Jeff that's really beautiful! It's new owner should like it, well done!

Jeff, as others have said, lovely work and great looking heel knots. One day I'll try a stockwhip...

Thanks for posting Jeff - this looks really nice! Great work!

-C

Thanks all. This has been a fun whip to make. I've tried a few different techniques that I've been developing over time. Strand drops were almost seamless this time. I had to unplait a few sections to go back and fix issues. I beveled strands with my strand beveler instead of by hand. That made for a more uniform strand. I also divided belly strands into two and tapered them to create a more gradual taper. I had to unplait and trim the bolster. The whip was getting close to the end and was still too wide.

For the handle I wrap sheets of newspaper around a fiberglass rod. I used a bit less paper this time to get a narrower handle, and changed the taper a bit. I split the keeper where it attaches to the handle to make it narrower also.

Knots weren't too bad. I had initially used narrow strands and a high count turks head on the heel but didn't like the way it looked. The heel also had a weird shape. I undid it, removed the sinew and leather wrapped around the handle, and replaced it with a single wrapped piece of leather and a bit of sinew to round out the shape. I used wider strands and a smaller count knot to cover the foundation. The strands were almost the same width as the plaited strands on the handle. it made a big difference. I was able to use the previous narrow strand on the keeper knots instead and they turned out. All three knots are 6x7 turks head knots with the only differences width and the thong knot being a single pass instead of two. I was also able to tie the knots directly on the foundations this time.

This brings up an important lesson I learned tying these knots. After the first pass make sure the knot is even around the foundation. This helps the finished knot look better and eliminates bunching up of strands on one side and gaps on the other. Also make sure you have the correct size of knot and correct width of strands.

Jeff that is some fine looking work indeed. I am jealous of its new owner

Roy Partin wrote:Jeff that is some fine looking work indeed. I am jealous of its new owner

ROFL : : :

Postman just picked it up by the way... I feel like a parent sending a kid off to college. (sniff )

Very fine work indeed Jeff! I should certainly hope the new owner likes it!

Good work Jeff, there's no doubt whether or not the new owner is going to be pleased.
I think it will put a huge smile on his/her face.
***************** will be a happy camper.