The times shown are the what is shown on my stopwatch. These times include getting out whatever I need and cleaning up.
Cutting out the Bolsters: 7:44
Cleaning up the spike: 8:34
Attaching the core to the handle: 11:38
Trimming the kangaroo and cutting out the belly: 16:54
Strand Prep and attaching the belly to the handle: 21:32
Plaiting and rolling the belly: 32:58
Tweaking the size and attaching the bolsters: 40:57
At this point I’ve gotten everything internal finished, and all that’s left is basically what’s on the outside…but that’s the time consuming part!
Cutting out lace (knots, wristloop and overlay): 1:04:02
Strand prep for overlay, knots and wrist loop: 1:13:29
Right now I have about 45 minutes left to bring this in under 2 hours. I’m thinking that I won’t be able to make it. Lets say it takes me 30 minutes to do the overlay (which I think is unrealistic), that leaves me with about 15 minutes to do the wrist loop and two knots. Oh, and I plan on plaiting an my normal pace, so I’m going to be going speedy…unless I start to get near the end and think I might be able to bring it in at 30 minutes.
Braiding the overlay and attaching the fall: 2:18:14
I don’t think I’ve ever tried to make a 5 foot 8 plait Indy bullwhip before, so this one had some taper issues, so it took a bit longer to make it than it should have. Now that I’ve got one under my belt I bet I could save off at least 15 minutes of braiding time…and it’d look a bit better.
Plaiting the wrist loop: 2:23:13
Buildling the heel knot foundation and attaching he wrist loop: 2:29: 34
Tying the knots: 2:42:23
So here’s my wrap of this little experiment. It took me just shy of 2 hours and 45 minutes to make this bullwhip. I could have done a better job, I cut the taper of the strands like this was an eight plait snake whip (not the taper I’d normally cut a bullwhip’s overlay with) so the plaiting isn’t very pretty. I spent a lot of time making that taper work for this whip and I’m pretty confident I could shave off at least 15 minutes by cutting the taper correctly. Also If I were to make two of these bet I could save 10 minutes off each whip in clean up and set up time. However most of the time I’ll be making only one.
I think I was able to keep the “Indiana Jones” look while cutting a few corners. Main visual difference between this and my Indy Style Bullwhips are:
- Plait count: This one is 8 plait where the Indy Style Bullwhips that I make are 12 plait
- Heel Knot: This one has two passes where the Indy Style Bullwhips that I make has three…but it’s the same knot.
- Point: This has an 8 plait point where the Indy Style Bullwhips that I make has a six plait point.
- Wrist loop: This has a 5 plait wrist loop where the Indy Style Bullwhips that I make has a 6 plait wrist loop.
Even with those differences I think I’ve stayed true to the look. I’ve listed this one for sale at $150 on my IN STOCK whips page. I ever make another one of these I’d charge $200.
The 5 foot length is a great size for indoor cracking during the winter. I was just doing arrowheads with this bullwhip in my living room (which isn’t that big)!
Louie
http://bullwhips.org