Whip Basics. The Forum

Hi everyone !

I will start this thread by posting pictures of a short "experimental" whip.
I usualy don't make short whips because I am whipcracking beginner but I made this one to show the "KAMFT" visitors how much faster a short whip performs in comparison to a standart 6 foot whip.
The length of this whip is 100 cm (or 3,28 feet) it has a led core, a 8 inch handel, one 12 plait belly and a 16 plait overlay.
For the heel knot I have tried to make the same 7 bight gauch knot that Erik Torpström has used on one of his whips:







Here is a picture showing how the core is constructed - the pictures of the core construction are from "experimental whip #2" but I have used the same method for "experimental whip #1". This picture is also showing the reason why I am calling this whip experimental. I have used spring steel with a small diameter (4mm) as handel. The idea was to achive the same effect as the g10 handels in the "Cirque" whips by Stephane Normand. The concept of making a core like that is a sightly modified version of the method taught in Tony Layzells DVD tutorial (I bought it in 2015).





As you can see I've ground down a part of the spring steel in order to bind it with artificial sinew after putting the entire handel into the paracord core. I then use a needle to connect the burned end of the led string with the paracord sheath and tie a contrictor knot to secure it.










I have used the "flip and shake method" for stringdrops on this whip which turned out okay for most parts (I was having trouble with this method before) but there is one gap in the overlay.





The initial heel kont of this whip had been white but it got an ugly yellow "stain" after waxing and I therefore decided to remove it.




All the best
Ben

That green knot looks really good, Ben, This is a very cool experiment, Well Done!
How do you think it cracks? Very fast, I would guess!

Good job Ben. Thanks for sharing the photos with us.

Ron

That looks really cool, i like how the heel knot turned out.

@ Rachel McCollough:

Thank you very much Madam !!!
Yes the whip performes very very fast - a little too fast for my personal taste.
I can feel the effect of the spring steel handel a little bit but not to the extend that I wanted to achive.


@ Ron May:

You are welcome and thank you very much for your compliment!!!


@ Philbert Lim:

Thank you very much !!!
I realy like how this heel knot feels in terms of size and shape.

All the best
Ben

Ben, that looks like very fine work! You are clearly a perfectionist, sir!

Ben! This is lovely! I could never have a white whip. Well, after it managed to turn a sensible brown it would be okay, but until that happened? I have this infuriating habit of spilling something down my front the second I put a white shirt on. I assume it would be a similar experience with a white whip. I do like the contrast of the green there though. It's fun. You did such a lovely job on the plaiting. Really, really nice.

Well done Ben. It looks good.
Christophe

Ben - great details in you pictures. Thank you for sharing.

Thank you all for your friendly comments !!!

@ Robert Gage:

Thank you very much Mr. Gage - you don't have to call me Sir - please call me Ben !!!


@ Jessie Edwards:

Thank you so much for your compliment Madam !!!
The whip is already a little green and brown on the last three inches of the thong (white paracord and wet muddy grass aren't a good match ).

I got the Idea with the green heel and transition knots on a solid white whip from Rhett Kelleys webpage (credits to Mr. Kelley) !!!


@ Christophe Mechain:

Thank you very much Sir !!!


@ Craig Frank:

Thank you very much Sir !!!

All the best
Ben

Love it! The white and green are quite attractive.

@ Bobbi Holyoak:

Thank you very much Madam !!!

Ah, I thought the knot looked familiar = D Altogether it looks good to me and the contrasting colors are nice. Also I like the thought that you used metrics creating it!

@ Erik Torpström:

Thank you very much for your compliments - I would have never thought of using a 7 bight gaucho knot as a heel knot on my whips but then I saw it on one of your whips and I really liked the way it looked - my compliments to your work Sir !!!


All the best
Ben

Hi again !

I have noticed that I made a mistake on one of my comments in this thread:
I have written that I copied the idea for the white and green whip from Rhett Kelley but I have noticed that Mr. Kellys bullwhip is done in white and purple.
I had written down in my "want to do list" that white and a contrasting color looks great and that it was Rhett Kelleys idea.
The notes had been written down by me more than a year ago and I mistakenly thought Mr. Kelleys whip had been white and green.
I apologize for making that mistake but I am sure to say that I wouldn't have thought of that combination myself if I hadn't seen Rhett Kelleys white and purple bulwhip before !!!


Here are some pictures of a 5 foot target bullwhip and this time I'm 100 % sure that the combination of solid band / stairstep and checkerbord is a Rhett Kelley invention:














As you can see the solid band next to the heel knot is more exposed than the solid band next to the transition knot (notes have been taken and I will do a better job on my next whip).

All the best
Ben

Ben, that's very, very stylish work! You are clearly a perfectionist to worry about the unequal bands: they don't bother me at all. What I do notice is the extraordinarily neat plaiting, the fine knots, and the excellent taper. Well done!

Mr. Robert pointed it out well:
What I also notice is how everything just fits and looks like it would flow nicely. Beautiful, well done!!!

Ben, nicely done.

Ron

@ Robert Gage:
@ Rachel McCollough:
@ Ron May:

Thank you very much for you compliments !!!


Here are some pictures of a current whip order. I have posted these pictures in the "roll call" before. The pictures show the whips before waxing (I will also post pictures of the waxed whips soon).

The coyote brown / OD green Bullwhip is a 5 footer with 2 plaited bellies and a 16 plait overlay.
The black / charcoal grey is a 8 footer with the same specs.
The combination of colors as well as the overall design has been selected by the customer (I really like it).













All the best
Ben

I really like it, too! It is a beauty!