Need bullwhip help

C

Charlie_K

Joined
Jul 16, 2012
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Sometime ago I found out how to make a bullwhip out of paracord. Since then I've made three of them, each following the same pattern; steel rod for a handle, four strands of staggered length, covered in an eight plait inner layer, and a 12 plait outer layer. I learned very early on that using electrical tape for binding was a bad idea, and have been using the nylon guts of the paracord for binding the inner layers as tightly as I can, and tying down a plait when it gets too short to use.

Unfortunately I'm encountering the same problem time and time again, and I can't find anything on how to fix it.







No matter how tight I pull the plaiting, I'm always experiencing this creeping issue, making the wrapping look very cheap, very shoddy, and very discouraging from any future attempts. I don't know if this is natural for paracord, or if I'm doing something wrong that wasn't covered in the tutorials that I've watched.
 
Did you wet and then stretch the para-cord before you braided the whip? I don't know if that would make a difference or not, it's just what came to mind when I saw the pics. Maybe the cord stretched and moved in use.

Bruceter
 
Bruceter said:
Did you wet and then stretch the para-cord before you braided the whip? I don't know if that would make a difference or not, it's just what came to mind when I saw the pics. Maybe the cord stretched and moved in use.

Bruceter
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Wetting the paracord down would be kind of difficult in a project like this. It takes around ten hours to do all the braiding, and the strands are very long, so they'd be getting very dirty while laying on the floor.

I didn't even get the chance to use it before it started looking shoddy; that's what it was looking like when I finished it.
 
I should have said, wet, stretch, dry, before braiding. I thought I had read something about that once in a thread on braiding paracord, but can't find it now.

Bruceter
 
Iron City said:
Check this link and follow some of the leads... this guy is solid. http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/823340-Whips?highlight=whip
Click to expand...

I just looked over everything in that thread. It all discusses how to make a whip that's functional, but not a whip that actually looks good. Their pictures don't show any surface irregularities like mine do, and they have a homogeneous look about them. High end professional grade type of work, but I can't figure out the how behind it all, since I'm doing pretty much everything included in the tutorials. The only difference is nylon thread vs artificial sinew, but I don't see how that could make that much of a difference.
 
I remember he had some tutorials on YouTube if you have found them thm already. Also check his other posts here that may help.

Sorry best I could do, but wish you luck in the new hobby.
 
I have quite a bit of experience with whip making and my diagnosis would be, there is not enough strands to cover the girth you are trying to plait over. Most likely because the cores you are using as binding are adding to much to the diameter.
I would definitely suggest trying artificial sinue, I've found it works better for this application personally.
 
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