whips

[spyderguy]

any of you guys crack whips? I've had an interest for quite a while, but the good ones are pretty damned expensive and I couldn't justify taking cash from the knife goodies budget to put towards something else. I needed something to fidget with at the hospital and I got the feeling that my 42 would turn a few too many heads. I'm pretty good with paracord lanyard making, but you can only make so many lanyards before you start wanting to expand the skill a little. To my surprise people have been making whips out of this stuff and better quality stuff than I would have imagined. So I'm in the process of building my first one. I'll post some pics of how it turns out and maybe a vid if I can learn to crack it.

If you guys have any whips, nylon or leather, post 'em up please.

[droopdog666]

thats a pretty cool idea, i never would have thought to make a whip out of paracord......cant wait to see what it looks like when its done. i had a bullwhip when i was in junior high, but one of my dogs got a hold of it and ate through the leather.

[Bubbles]

Weird that you bring that up, i do have a bullwhip, and ima go make a video.

[1974logan]

I did get chance to train with a whip when i was at a London Shaolin seminar, it was quite fun actually.
I didn't know you could build your own dude I'd be real interested to see one in action though keep us posted man

[Bubbles]

Heres a short video. Im not good at cracking the thing, but its pretty hard to get used too. Its fairly intimidating, and i have cut myself with it before lol

[1974logan]

cool video man, very indiana jones

[droopdog666]

hey steph, let me know how this turns out, and how much cord you need. id like to give this a try too..... i looked up some paracord whips, and they look pretty badass, and i wouldnt mind fucking around with whips again....

[spyderguy]

@ Bubbles-- nice whip man! I've heard that anything over 9-10' starts to get tricky to crack. I'm no pro by any stretch, I only tried it for the first time the other day, but it seems to be all about the timing and less about how hard you throw the thing. Yours seems to crack good and loud.


Droop-- I just finished my first one (minus the handle knot) and it takes quite a bit more cord than I thought it would. It's a snake whip, which has no handle like Bubbles' bullwhip. It took me about 10 hours total to put it together. It has 1 belly over the core (belly is the "guts" of it) which is 3 feet long and an 8 plait. The overlay is around 4feet long and is a 12 plait. A good rule of thumb is to double the finish length to figure out how much to use. 8plait is 8 strands at 6ft each, the 12plait is 12 strands at 8ft each. 8x6 + 12x 8 works out to 144 ft. of paracord for a 4 foot whip. It looks like shit because it was my first time doing anything bigger than a dog collar and that was only 4 strands. My plaiting is much looser than it should be and I had a hard time keeping my strands flat while doing it. Once you figure out the plaiting it gets faster and looks much better.

I've started on a 6ft bullwhip. My plaiting has improved, so my first belly is much tighter than the first whip I did. I hope to get a little better even by the time I do the overlay. It will have 2 bellies and the final overlay will be a 16plait. This one will have a shit load of cord, 8x6 + 12x8 + 16+12 = 336 ft of cord. Two bellies should make for a stiffer end product. The snake whip has a bit of a wet-noodle type action which is not what you want in a whip. I've got some free time tomorrow morning. I'll post up a vid of my shoddy rope work and try to get a couple of cracks out of it for you guys. My second whip should be much better (I hope )

Here's a link to the tutorial I used if anyone is interested, it's a 2 parter.

http://www.whip-basics.de/images/galler ... part_1.pdf
http://www.whip-basics.com/images/galle ... part_2.pdf

there are quite a few videos on how to plait on youtube. I found vids from bernie46 on the tube to be very helpful, he's doing it with leather but it's the same principle.

[droopdog666]

awesome, thanks for the update steph. ill have to see if i can find a spool of para-cord somewhere in town and give this a try.

[spyderguy]

Here's the vid. Sorry it's pretty crappy. I ended having to go to work in the morning and need to take France to the doctor's, so I just threw this together in 5 minutes. I only have a camera, no camcorder, so the sound is crappy but you should be able to hear the cracks, though they seem a bit subdued. I'm not sure if the whip being wet has anything to do with it, or if it's just my lack of skill with it.I promise to do a better job on the next one

[1974logan]

dude thats awesome i'm definately thinking bout trying this

[Bubbles]

@ spyderguy

Awesome plaiting man! Your whip being wet is going to make a big difference in how it cracks. Make sure to put leather treatment on it often. Also, cracking loudly has much more to do with your form than how hard you throw it. Picture your whip moving in one direction fluidly and unfurling towards the tip. The crack comes from the diameter of the circle the whip forms decreasing thus increasing the speed as it moves out towards the cracker. Basically, use your whole arm, wrist to shoulder, and remember throwing it hard isnt going to make or break your crack, but your form will.

[spyderguy]

@ spyderguy

Awesome plaiting man! Your whip being wet is going to make a big difference in how it cracks. Make sure to put leather treatment on it often.

thanks, man. I don't think I'll be using too much leather treatment though, this one is nylon

[Bubbles]

ohh ya... i knew that...

[spyderguy]

Almost finished another, it still needs the knot at the end of the handle and another for the transition from handle to thong. My plaiting was much neater and tighter this time around resulting in a far stiffer/better end product. I need a break from this stuff though, my fingers hurt like hell.