Anyone /whipmaking/ here?
just finished my first pic related and I'm kinda able to crack it but
>how the fuck do I drop strands while mantaining consistent oval bent? on every spot where I dropped a strand the whipbents really sharp and I think it makes it harder to crack
no bully /diy/ newfag here
Man, I can't even into rope tucking.
I mean, it seems to work, but I haven't put my whole weight on it, but it looks bigger than it needs to be.
>>964364
Is the fall just the sheath part of paracord? That'd be too light for my liking, i usually double mine (tape one end of paracord sheath to a thick needle and push it inside through itself in the middle). Also lose the tape and put some turk's heads there.
Did you roll it? If yes - did it help the strand drops?
>insulting tape instead of turk's heads
oh jesus i feel for you bro
my first hundred attempts ended in everything's fucked and i don't understand why aaaaa
it doesn't help that most 'tutorials' show how to tie one particular pattern but don't explain WHY there are patterns, and the youtube results are a bloke mumbling over a ball of black cord in a darkened room in 240p.
http://knotsknotsknots.wordpress.com/2012/07/12/quick-start-patterns-finding-turks-head-patterns-that-are-easy-to-tie/
>>964364
>Anyone /whipmaking/ here?
I did a few leather ones a while back, no paracord ones tho
>>how the fuck do I drop strands while mantaining consistent oval bent? on every spot where I dropped a strand the whipbents really sharp and I think it makes it harder to crack
If you were using more 550 cord for the core of your whips, that is one problem: it is WAY WAY WAY too soft. The core material must be relatively uncompressible. From the OP pic it is easy to see that the core is not packed tight, because of how easy the thickest part of the whip bends right off the end of the handle.
what I have seen people do is use kern for the core. Kern is the straight fiber in the center of kernmantle rope (static mountaineering rope, or "caving" rope).
The kern fiber already lays tight and doesn't compress much, so it can be trimmed to a good shape and the braiding follows that shape well. Also you must pull the braiding tight as you work.
FYI,,,, I found aussie-style whips to be much easier to crack than bullwhips. Or, rather,,,, a *properly-made* bullwhip is easy to crack, but making them properly is more difficult than making an aussie-style whip with a longer handle.
I found that (when making leather whips) I preferred cutting tapering strands rather than cutting lots of straight strands and dropping strands.
Also: kangaroo leather works way better than cowhide, but then it costs way more too. Kangaroo is very thin but still much tougher than other kinds of leather.
And fuck turks-head knots. Built a form, did a few turks heads, all looked like crapola.
>>964364
>Anyone /whipmaking/ here?
me.
though I'm not very good...don't even know how to turks head...I just straight taper all the way down.
snake whips are in pretty high demand and I never learned or needed to learn the rigid handle braid in either...
COME AND BERATE ME FOR SELLING THE LIKES OF MY SHITTY PRODUCTIONS
>>964756
>If you were using more 550 cord for the core of your whips, that is one problem: it is WAY WAY WAY too soft.
this is why you first take the internal strands from the paracord at the core and ram either lead shot or steel BBs inside. raises the throw weight and damn sure doesn't compress like regular cord. I used to use tight coil springs(like you get in bycicle gear shift control cables) but I can never find a good, consistent source
>because of how easy the thickest part of the whip bends right off the end of the handle.
the process with the lead shot or the BBs does that if your're packing it in paracord as opposed to a tapered leather shot-bag...they get like, super flexible(fantastic for some applications like close quarters fetish work, not so great for keeping actual cattle in line though...)
>what I have seen people do is use kern for the core. Kern is the straight fiber in the center of kernmantle rope (static mountaineering rope, or "caving" rope).
I may have to speak to my climber friend about getting some of her old rope then...
>FYI,,,, I found aussie-style whips to be much easier to crack than bullwhips. Or, rather,,,, a *properly-made* bullwhip is easy to crack, but making them properly is more difficult than making an aussie-style whip with a longer handle.
care to elaborate? as I am less aware of the specifics of rigid handle whips...for reference the red and black one >>966356 cracks just fine, if not nearly so loudly as some of the larger ones I've made/seen...
>I found that (when making leather whips) I preferred cutting tapering strands rather than cutting lots of straight strands and dropping strands.
part of why I never have done a leather whip right there, I don't trust my ability to cut a cleanly tapered strip that long...I'm a ham-fisted shit most of the time so I stick to the easy-mode laces I can make from paracord and just deal with the strand dropping...
>>964756
>Kangaroo is very thin but still much tougher than other kinds of leather.
I'd heard that, but never seen or tested it...
>And fuck turks-head knots
why do you think I just do a cobra stitch around the eye I use as a base to the whip man? can't wrap my head around the turks...
>>966359
the books all say that you don't need to add weight to a whip if it's made correctly.
I made a lash to hit dogs with when bicycle riding, it has a shot bag the whole length. it smacks hard but it is way too heavy to crack at all.
the (nylon) rope core that you want is only in static or 'caving' line. Climbing (dynamic) line has little twisted cords for the core and it won't work.
bullwhips--especially shorter bullwhips, under 6 feet or so--are EXTREMELY stiff near the handle end. way stiffer than most people would guess.
Pic related: when you try to curl a short bullwhip up for a photo, the body of the whip won't curl into a circle--it curls up in a 'nautilus' curve. the thicker parts are so stiff that if there was no knot decoration, then you can't see where the solid handle really ends. Point A hardly bends at all, point B bends only a little bit easier than A, C bends slightly easier than B, and so on..... If you can lay your bullwhip down coiled into a circle like on the right--then it's not made right.
,,,,,
This is the whole reason that snake whips work; because if they are made right, they hardly bend at all at the fat end--even tho there is no solid handle inside.
------
It helps a lot to handle a properly-made bullwhip, even if you don't crack it. You'd be surprised at how hard and stiff the thing is made. It may even be worth buying a shorter (6-foot) cowhide (cheaper!) one from a pro whipmaker, just so you have one good example.
aussie whips crack easier because if the whip isn't made well, having a longer handle helps you get more movement into it. But even a 3-foot snake whip will crack easily, IF it is made well.
>>966409
>But even a 3-foot snake whip will crack easily, IF it is made well.
...this makes me feel kind of good about myself, cause even my 5 foot snakewhip cracked really really easily. so easily that people offering to buy it from me got into a fight and a bidding war over it.
>it smacks hard
the people I make mine for want that...the red+black is packed with BBs till about 4 inches from the end of the braid for the under layer.
>static or 'caving' line
I will include this distinction when I ask her.
>graduations of stiffness in a bullwhip
>so stuff like pic related is not really ideal, despite how pretty it is?
hmm...I'd never put much thought into that, the one rigid-handled whip I ever made was a dismal failure for other reasons. what about the junction of whip-body and handle? does it behoove the design for a rigid connection, a rotatably connection, or a flexible connection? though I suspect that may have a direct correlation to application so I may have some thinking to go out and do...
and again
