Whip Basics. The Forum

In this thread I may need the help of Tyler Blake. Because he was the artist who made them.


From the beginning... I asked Tyler for a heavy fall. And when I say heavy, I mean heavy.
And Tyler came up with three different types of weighted falls. If he likes, it would be cool, if
he would share the exact specifications with you. I think, this could be an interesting subject.

The fall is often underestimated. In fact it is what the feather is for the arrow. It can stabilize
the flight or make it a useless piece of wood with a metal head.

In the beginning my plan was, to make an exact list, which fall would do what on what whip.
It became obsolete instantly. Because when you keep an eye on how the fall behaves and ignore
the braided part of the whip, you will experience some funny moments.

Okay. Interesting scenarios.

So I tried different falls on the same whip and observed different characteristics. When the fall
was too light, it begann to to stutter. Not really a surprise. But when the fall was too heavy, the
whip started to stutter again! It was like a car, running out of gas. The energy that was transferred
into the fall was not enough. When the fall was too light, the amount of energy was too much -
so the whip ended in a kind of hiccup. The middle weight - and everything was fine.

But now the fact which surprised me. I used exactly the same falls on another whip, and the results
were totally different. Most of my whips have the english eye - so it was easy to interchange them
all the time.

That little experiment with different falls tought me this:

Even if two whip makers create the same whip - same plait count, same handle length and so on -
it will be always two different whips. The character of the whip maker, the way he/she is plaiting...
all those things influence the process of creating the whip. But - always a but, right...? This applies
only to the very good whip makers. To those representatives of the craft, who found their very own style.
Whip makers who make whips, because they have seen a tutorial and try it now, or have no real passion
for the craft, will always make ordinary whips. They may crack, sure. But they will never talk to you.
I mean the whips. Not the whip makers...

And when I talk about whips, I mean whips. Well made whips. And not ropes, wrapped with lots and lots
of Electrical Tape. May it be normal or "High Quality" E-Tape (what a bullshit...). Only whips from
passionate and caring whip makers! - will be fine and sensible enough to become influenced by different types
of falls. The E-Tape nylon ropes will work perfectly with any kind of fall. Because they don't have enough
inner structure, balance and sensibility to "feel" the difference.


I started this as an experiment on falls. It ended as a lecture for me in how delicate the differences are,
when whips are really well made. And how dead a whip can be right out of the box, when it's not
more than a plaited pile of nylon strings and E-Tape. No soul. No life. I became humble, when I realized, how
much personality a whip maker can put into a whip. How much life and soul a whip can have.


Robby

I agree completely, on all points-
It's really interesting just how complex each whip is. The change of weight in the fall- and a tapered fall versus a non tapered, so many differences.

I agree about the soul of a whip, it's either alive or not. It might need some TLC to find the right balance, but if it's dead and has no feel it's useless.

Ahm, Rachel... What is TLC, please...?

Robby

Tender Loving Care, I'm sorry, Robby!

Robby, you are so right! Different whips will always need very specific falls to perform best. The right fall can make even a poor whip better, though of course it can never impart 'soul' if the whip hasn't got that. But there seems to be no hard and fast rule to know which fall will be best for which whip. Only trial and error will tell....

And your explanation of why falls of different weights may not work - receiving too much force, or too little - is very helpful.

Which is why I believe that any aspiring whip enthusiast (maker or user) should handle as many well-made whips as possible. You can see videos all day long, but until you actually feel how the whip responds in your hands...you do not know.

Question Robby, are we talking falls for just nylon whips? Falls for leather whips are a whole different thing.

The "Life" in a leather whip is also affected by the weight of a fall. Too heavy a fall and it will "pull" the whip along. Too light and it will just float and flop around. Neither is good. A decent whipmaker will strive to get the fall just right to suit the whip. A fall should be an extension of the whip itself and about the same diameter as the end of the whip. It will be as round as possible, but I have also seen "flat" falls word too. There is also an ideal length. Too long or too short and performance is affected.

I have at times after testing a whip have found the fall too heavy. Being leather I can place the end of the whip on a hook and carefully bevel the corners to take just a little bit of the edges.

It is also possible to have leather falls the same diameter and length weigh differently depending upon the type of leather used. I use Australian whitehide, Latigo, and Alum tanned redhide. the first two types came very dry. They need a lot of grease when being made into falls. Redhide is a lot more pliable and easier to work with and is by far my favorite.

In my post I was referring to nylon whips. But you are absolutely right on the leather falls. A leather whip is like a suit, individually tailored. Evereything is made to compliment the other. What you say about the materials, I second. The worst material for me was whitehide. Dry, dry, dry. My best experience I had with heavy red hide/Latigo falls. On a leather whip, the making of a perfect fall is a science of its own.

Robby

I'm still trying to make a weighted fall. I think it would make my heavy whip feel a little better. I can't figure out how to get the weight bits and the needle to double up the fall through the cord at the same time. It all just wont fit, yet I watch Tyler's video and he does it without any effort. Hm. He said he was shat on by a unicorn as a wee babe...I believe him.

I personally like heavier falls on my whips. Even the ones I consider light are heavier than most nylon. However, I have recently lightened the Valkyrie fall just a touch and I think it is better.

Thank you for the information, Robby et al. Now I'm starting to wonder if putting a weighted fall on Frankenwhip might save it.

Craig, it's always worth experimenting. It's relatively quick and easy, and can reveal a lot about the whip itself.

Thank you for detailed explanation of this issue Robby !!!

I've made my first loaded fall for my donation whip using Tyler's tutorial. I didn't crack it because I want the new owner of the whip to break in the whip but I've done the roll out test as well as the wave test before waxing the whip. In both tests the loaded fall seems to have a very positive effect onthe performance of the whip and I will try to make an English eye whip soon in order to experiment with different fall weights.


@ Jessie Edwards:

There might be two reasons why you are having a hard time fitting in the loaded paracord portion of the fall into the paracord again (doubeling it up).

1. The diameter of the ballchain might be to big - Tyler did mention that he uses a ballchain with a smaller diameter than the average "bathroom sink" diameter.

2. The paracord itself. It's the same with loading the paracord with BB's - in some paracord they will slip right in and in some paracord it's impossible to fit them in (althuogh both are 550 paracord with the same tensile strenght and the same weave).

To sum it all up I would recomend to try out which type of paracord that you have is having the best "filling qualities" and use a ballchain with a diameter of 3/32 of an inch to fill it.

All the best
Ben

Thanks Ben! I think, since I have so much of this ball chain, I misght experiment on my own and do what i can with what i have. I might just sew up the fall on the sewing machine instead of trying to double it up. I'd hate to waste all this ball chain.

Robby, i think this is a very interesting topic and i'm still amazed at how much work goes into making a whip and how every little detail affects the way the whip moves once completed.

Jessie, i thought Tyler doubled up the part after where the ball chain ended. I think some brands of paracord are pre-shrunk by the manufacturers so they might be a little tighter then other brands as Ben mentioned.

Howdy!

Robby, Thanks

I sent 3 separate falls- one was the same weighted type I show on the video, the other two had different ways of tapering weight. I didn't have a chance to crack with them, except flicking the falls (with crackers on them, of course) in the air. so, the two ways of tapering ( I can make another video on this but I want to experiment with it more before I do- I need a deeper understanding of it before I start flapping my gums :P) are here:

1. I connected the 3/32" size chain to the next size up- I don't have that number handy, but it would be the standard size for light bulb pull chains. For the weighted section, the thinner chain was 2/3rds the length, and the thicker chain was 1/3rd. I was hoping it would be a subtle difference.

2. On the other, I used the same length of thin chain as I would if it was just a weighted fall, but then I added some leaded fishing line. I folded the fishing line unevenly, so that the short end was 1/3rd the weighted length, the long end was 2/3rds the weighted length, and the chain was the full weighted length. Again, I was trying for a subtle feel- there's so much to experiment with here, we could do additional lengths of lead line, we could combine the lead line with the tapered chain, etc.

I find that standard falls are more forgiving than weighted ones on length, and I also find it's easier to go too long than too short with a weighted fall. The first weighted fall I tried on the Seahawks exosnake stuttered, just like Robby said. I tried a shorter fall and it was fine. Also, a few years ago I did a video about a customer's whip where he wanted a very short, like 8 inches, fall- I tried that on some longer whips and it cracked fine. It's not my preference, but it did crack OK. It had more energy after the crack, I guess you could call it "rebound".

Jessie, I actually said the Unicorn peed on me. Totally different. I think that Ben is correct, and your cord is the issue. I've had the same color do this differently in different lots, but exhibit A would be that I got the larger size and the connector inserted, and I can also thread that medium size through wave lace. Exhibit B is that I use a still thicker size chain for my cores, so two sizes thicker than 3/32" , and I insert those into paracord. It doesn't work with every color, I just always try to have something on hand that it will work on.

Jeff, you're right- My first Roohide whip stuttered, and I thought it was me because I was just learning. But one say the last few inches of the fall wore off, and when I put a new cracker on it felt much better.

Craig, I would encourage you to try it- it can be surprising what a difference it can make.

Bobbi, when you say you think the new fall on the Valkyrie is a little better, do you think it's just the way it feels, the accuracy, etc? I have a hard time finding the right way to explain the difference sometimes.

But, I enjoy the word shat. It's fun.

Like I said before - I was sure that I would "only" have to test three different falls. But Tyler gave me the opportunity to explore a small but whole new world. Falls can make a whip excellent. They can destroy the performance of a whip completely. That confirmed me in my idea of "stay a beginner as long as possible". In this case I discovered, how small my knowledge really is. And that's fantastic! Because that means that I have still more to learn than I imagined. That will keep me alive and young! At least my mind

So - thanks again to Tyler. He really helped me to improve my understanding of whip/crack/roll out mechanics!

Robby

I love those little surprises. Like when I discovered that there were better pliers for my maille, and that using them improved my assembly speed. Or, when I discovered that the timing mechanism on my ring welder was actually hindering my progress.

Never take anything for granted. Always ask, always investigate. Always be willing and prepared to face the possibility that a new idea can change everything.

You're welcome Robby, and thank you! So... did you have a favorite fall?