Whip Basics. The Forum

So, I tried out some Dacron with help from Tyler.

The first project was a 7 foot woody with a carapace to bridge the the gap between the handle and thong. The construction was a 3 layer one with a 8 plait belly, 12 plait belly, and 16 plait overlay. The weight in this one comes largely from the wood which is Lignum Vitae, and as such in handle heavy but it flows very nicely.



The third project (I scrapped the second one for now) is a 6 foot woody with a 10" handle, which was saved from the wood splitter and looks like Ash. This whip has a 8 plait Nylon belly over a shot loaded core with a 12 plait belly and 16 plait overlay both in Dacron. There is also a 4 to 8 plait round English Eye on the thong, and I am becoming quite partial to doing the overlay from tip to heel. The grapevine is in Goatskin and the knot in Kangaroo lace. The construction ended up a hair shy of 5/8" so I made a slimmer handle for this whip and as such the handle is directly glued to the thong. Despite the lead loading and wax bath, the whip remains quite light and speedy.


My impressions of Dacron are quite positive. I love the way the material plaits up to a stiff braid, but remains very flexible and fluid. The material is also rather slick compared to Nylon and as such the braid of the cord will expand more, making it easier to load a steel BB into 1/8" Dacron than the larger Nylon paracord, and this slickness also makes it easier on the hands. The slickness does have a downside in making added strands and dropped strands more prone to slippage, as well as making it more fiddly to plait with compared to similarly sized roo lace. My hat off to Tyler for managing complex pattern work given the size and slippery nature of the strands. Overall the only real negative aside from the slippery aspect, is the size of the strands in that it takes longer to plait as opposed to paracord, however I like the results of the finer plait and higher strand count that can be had at the point so I do not consider it an issue.

Ooh! Between you and Tyler I have got to try dacron... or at least PET. Tell me, do you know if it can be ordered in 100' hanks like paracord can? Or do you have to purchase an entire 1000' spool? Either way, who's your supplier?

Devin - Those whips are so very professional looking and rather handsome.

~T.

Thanks for the compliments Terry.
As far as I know the minimum order quantity from Cortland is 3000' for the black. I do t know about anywhere else. I have ran across some stateside web sites that carry polyester paracord in small quantities. The manufacturers I have seen of the polyester Paracord are rothco and Rhode Island textile.
camping survival

Great work Devin. I want to try my hand at dacron someday.

I like the idea of the accents in leather!
Have been thinking if that but you got there first.
As most will know I am already a Dacron convert!

Thanks Keanu, I think it would be worth your while.
Carl, I have done leather accents before, but the reason for the goatskin in particular is how nice it looks when waxed, whereas the kangaroo looks a little rough.

I did do the dipping prior to gluing this time and it works fine as the Dacron doesn't seem to wick the wax upwards. Oh, and doing the wax over 220 degrees Fahrenheit really makes it penetrate quickly and leaves no waxy surfaces.

Have not tried the waxing thing. Good to know that the dacron did not melt! It does melt easier than paracord.

Good looking whips!

Thanks Bobbi!
Carl, the melting points vary for different formulations of Nylon and Dacron, so one can be higher than the other or vise versa, but all of them are higher than the flash point of paraffin, so you are more likely to catch your wax bath on fire than melt the whip. I'd be curious to know the formulations used for Dacron and Nylon cordage.

Did you try the Dacron whips b4 waxing and after? I would be interested in the differance.
Also: I never would have thought that you could fit a BB into the dacron!
I use #9 lead shot which is a lot smaller. I have the problem of keeping them in a single row!

Nice job Devin. They look good.

Interesting point on the flash point of paraffin and such. Yet, last week I got my wax too hot, close to boiling and melted paracord strands for about a 6 inch length of the whip.

~T.

Thanks Johnathan.
Terry, that is surprising, I have yet to melt Dacron or Nylon in a wax bath.
Carl, I notice with Nylon the flow of the thong changes a little but the only difference I could immediately notice with the Dacron is it becomes a little heavier, though the second whip was still not heavy enough for my tastes. I loaded the core for my stockwhip thong with a strand of BB's inside a Dacron strand, though that prevents me from putting an extra sheath over the core. I usually use #4 lead shot, I have some #8 that I found to be way too light.