Whip Basics. The Forum

Stinking phone posts before I finish!
The snake looks good in the video, and it looks to me like you've really done a fine job!

Rachel - thank you. This is only the second snake whip that I've ever made. The first was for my daughter and it didn't have any tape or sinew at all. This one is a lot stiffer, but I think it cracks a lot easier. I also think that my cracks are getting a little better thanks to people here constantly drilling into me to not try to muscle the whip so much.

Those really look the business, Craig!

(I'm not at all surprised that this stiffer snake cracks better than a limp one. To translate weight into speed, and thus produce the crack, the whip itself needs to do most of the work - not your arm!)

They are superb Craig, I was thinking exactly the same as you that the knots or tape to mark the centre of the cord could be improved. I was thinking of using a small amount of permanent marker or paint & hadn't thought of a small crimp heated with the lighter. Superb idea.

I really wish I could get the hang of heel knots as mine always end up going wrong in a big way.

Paul - thank you. I'm not happy with my knots either. They may look nice in the photo, but in real life they are always bunched up at the top and have gaps on the sides. I often end up having to go with extra passes in order to try and fill some of the gaps. On my snake whip, I finished the third pass, and then went about 1/4 further into a fourth pass. As a result, the number of strands is uneven. The alternative would have been huge gaps and there wasn't enough room or paracord left to do a full fourth pass.

I'm pretty sure my problem is always a lack of consistency on the dimensions of my knot foundation, but I really don't even know what right looks like in that area.

Glad its not just me Craig, yours do look nice in the photos no matter what.
Mine look so bad that I take them off. Hopefully some metal rods Ive ordered will arrive sooner rather than later and I might have a go at a bull whip instead of a snakewhip to see if that helps me knot.

And...they're shipped!

Congratulations to you Craig, that was well done! Congratulations to ******* too, whoever it may be!

I love the secrecy... This it too much fun

Cool, well done Craig.
Someone's going to be happy to receive them bad boys.

Someone visited the post office today



Didn't go out cracking them yet, that will have to wait for now. The snake is small enough so I could give it a couple of cracks in my living room, and gotta say it works pretty damn well. It's only about 3 feet and 4 inches plus a 12 inch fall, but really easy to crack. First thing I tried was an underhand to slow figure eight combo and it worked like a charm. So ten points for that, Craig. Balancing a pocket snake is not one of the easiest things to accomplish and I'd say you did a very nice job at that.

Of course I have constructive criticism to share about both of the whips, but I'll leave it to when I get a chance to crack them both properly. Just came to mention that you can stop holding your breath any time

So here they are:



And the main attraction on its own:



Thank you, Craig!


- Pokkis

ohhh!!! fun!

Awesome, cant wait for review. Hope they work at least half as good as they look

Wow, Lucky!!!!! Congratulations both to you, Pokkis, and Craig!! Beautiful whips!!!!!

I add my heartiest congratulations to both of you! Terrific!

Pokkis - so glad you received them. The waiting was killing me. I honestly look forward to your review.

I'll do my best to provide an honest and constructive review tomorrow.

Craig, I think we have a good example of how cool this event really is. You've been trained by the Army to "hurry up and wait", you're working in a DoD tech-toy environment more strict and complex than I have words for, your job comes bundled with security clearances, oaths and an employer issued sidearm, and after all that you are still as excited about the whip swap as the rest of us. Seriously, how awesome is that


- Pokkis

BTW, the significance of the colors is that the snake whip is in Universal Camouflage Pattern, the one that we are transition away from, and the Bullwhip is in Operational Camouflage Pattern (aka, multicam), which we are transitioning to.

Love the colors!

I know you said black and cam but on my computer it looks blue.
It shows me that the blue and the camo would go pretty good together.

I think you did a good job in hiding the bulge and I really like the design a lot!

Craig, have you or anyone ever thought of using a tube or small pipe inserted into the core and adding BBs
using a funnel in the end of the pipe? Then just pull it out when the pipe is full or pull it out a little at a time as you progress up the length of the core.

I have not tried this but it's a thought I had. Kind of like installing pistons in an engine. There's a band that
holds the rings to the piston then once you get the piston started you pull the band out and push (read pound with a mallet ) into the engine.

It might work better than pouring then into the core and working, pushing, "forking" them into place.

Just a thought.