I’m still working on the beginner’s bullwhip that I started yesterday. It’s 7 feet long and in 4 plait leather.
I’ve got the overlay finished, it just needs knots and a cracker. Unfortunately I’m leaving town for a couple of days, so it’ll sit almost finished until I get back.
Louie
http://bullwhips.org
Currently I’m finishing up using a side of leather I bought for a custom project. Earlier I made three bullwhips that were five and a half feet. What was left of the leather was enough to make a seven foot bullwhip. I’ve got all of the leather cut out and the belly finished:
Hopefully I’ll have time to finish this bullwhip by Monday!
Louie
http://bullwhips.org
The three Beginner’s Bullwhips that I started work on last week are finally finished!
Two of them have the same knots and one has two tone knots. If someone wanted to learn two handed cracking, they could get the two with the same knots and have a pair that look the same:
I just listed these for sale on my IN STOCK whips page.
Louie
Today I continued working on these 4 plait bullwhips. The bellies of all three of the whips were completed:
In addition to that I also had time to cut out and do all the strand prep for the overlays of the whips.
I’ll get to work on plaiting the overlays shortly.
Louie
http://bullwhips.org
It’s been a while since I’ve made some Beginner’s Bullwhips. These whips are 4 plait bullwhips made from cow hide. These whip have a leather core and plaited belly.
One thing about these whips to keep prices low, is that I tend to make more than one of them at a time. I got started working on three of them. Here are the cores:
I also cut out and pared the bellies for the three bullwhips.
Today I should have time to get started plaiting the bellies…
Louie
http://bullwhips.org
I finally finished and shipped out this snake whip!
Sewing the leather cover takes forever! First you have to mark the holes, then you have to punch the holes and finally you have to sew the cover!
My hands are used to braiding, but the stitching really made them sore!
This whip is in the mail on the way to its new owner!
Louie
http://bullwhips.org
I just finished sewing up the cover for this snake whip:
Sewing the cover took a lot longer than I thought it would. It’s a huge pain to do it, with marking the holes, making the holes, then the actual sewing. I’m glad it’s over.
All that’s left for this whip is to build up the heel knot and put it on. Also there will be a decorative knot at the lash end of the cover.
Louie
Yesterday I started work on a snake whip that will have a sewn leather cover. This type of covering on a snake whip was more common a long time ago and has fallen out of fashion. I think the main reason it’s less common is that sewing the cover take a lot of time for not a lot of functional benefit.
I’ve got the insides of the whip finished and working on the plaited layer that will stick out from under the sewn cover right now. The whip is going to be 4 plait for most of its length, then it will transition into a 12 plait. Here’s the lace:
What I did was cut 4 strands as if this was going to be a 4 plait whip. Then at about where I wanted them to transition to a 12 plait, I simply cut each strand into three strands, giving me 12 strands. Here’s a close up of the 4 plait to 12 plait on the lace:
When braiding there will be some more adjustment needed, but it’s way easier to cut most of it now than when it’s on the whip.
Louie
This morning I’m shipping out a pair of signal whips (aka Single Tail Whips):
These whips have replaceable crackers, so the end of the whip is a loop that you simply put a new cracker in.
Louie
http://bullwhips.org
I’m back in town and working on a pair of signal whips (aka single tail whips). These are 12 plait in Kangaroo.
When I get to the plaited crackers, these are going to have a loop at the end so that the crackers can be changed easily. Personally I’m torn on which is better a plaited cracker that’s part of the whip or a replaceable one. I think that a cracker that’s part of the whip makes a better whip. However does that benefit outweigh being able to easily change the cracker instead of having to mail it to someone to do that?
In the end if you can’t redo the cracker, then it’s worth having the loop at the end of the whip.
Louie
http://bullwhips.org