Last night while working on th 8 foot bullwhip I broke a strand!  Breaking a strand isnt’ the end of the world, but it’s a pain in the ass.  I’ve got a technique that I use to drop the broken one and add in a new one.  I think this technique is original to me (but I could be wrong). 

What I do is I undo some of the overlay and taper the broken strand to a point…but I give myself room to do some plaiting before it tapers.  Then I take the strand that is going to be added and taper the start of that strand to a point.  I add the point under the bolster and plait over it.  It will wind out from under the bolster shortly before it’s needed. 

Then when I’m ready I add the strand to the overlay, but don’t drop the broken strand yet.  At that point both strands (the broken and one to be added) are about half the width of the other strands in the overlay.  I run them together for one hitch, then drop the broken strand and continue with the added strand. 

I don’t know if this is the best way to do it visually, because you can see a “double strand”, but it seems to avoid and lumps that I normally get when dropping and adding strands.  Also I think it holds them in place pretty well. 

 That’s how I’m currently dealing with broken strands.  It seems to work pretty well. 

Louie

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