Stockwhip Build

[Sven van Leeuwen]

That's looking great so far Ethan. I never used fiberglass, but I was always interested in it as a handle core.

[Jesse Bessette]

Ethan, that looks great. Have you found it to be a difficult project, or fairly simple to get the hang of?

[Jyri Haveri]

Ethan it looks very sleek!

[Sir Roger Tuson]

That is looking very good, Ethan. Nice.

[Ethan Mitchell]

Sven, Thanks! Other than having to protect yourself from the dust, fiberglass is very easy to shape with some sandpaper. It is very light and quite strong. I'm not sure if I could break the 3/8" rod I used.

Jesse, Thank you! I would say it is fairly simple, the hardest part is the keeper. If you look back at one of my first post(s) you'll find pictures of my first stockwhip. The two biggest things I did wrong with it was making the keeper way to big and using an steel rod for the core. On this stockwhip I used a single braided keeper on the stock and two on the thong. I think just one keeper on both would have been a bit better. The best size for the keeper loops I found to be nine bights (or pairs of sequences). I'll see if I can explain this better later.

Thanks, Jyri and Roger!

[Ethan Mitchell]

Here are a few pictures of what the whip looks like now:

I tried to do a square start, but found it much harder to do with 16 plait than 12 plait. So I just started plaiting then tied it down and trimmed the ends.


If you are wondering, I offset the seams on purpose. Thought it looked cool that way.

[Brandon "Sparky" Lam]

Ethan, clips or hemostats are literally the best tool to help with the square start I've done a 24 plait with 2 hemostats, they just hold everything together! ^_^

Looks good though~

[Ethan Mitchell]

Thanks Brandon! That must have been a nightmare! I definitely have to work on the square start more.

[Ron May]

Ethan, judging from what you have accomplished in your whips that you've made, if I can do a square start then I'm positive you can to with any plait count you need.
You'll get it, it just takes time and repetition.

Ron

[Ben Varsek]

Great work, Ethan!
I'm looking forward to see the final result!

All the best
Ben

[Robby Amper]

Please don't forget to post at least a little video, so we can see how it rolls. And - to be honest - I am really curious what your whip will look like in the end

Robby

[Ethan Mitchell]

I definitely will Robby! It does have a bit of a kink about half-way down the thong, but other than that it is the best whip I've made so far. As I put extra effort into lining up the seems and keeping them straight. I am planing on waxing it, so it might be awhile before I can shoot a video. Also, I want to improve my cracking skills so you guys can give me some pointers.

[Ron May]

Ethan, for improving your cracking skills, taking advantage of and participating in the 10/10 or 20/20 challenge is a great way to do that.

Ron

[Ethan Mitchell]

Ron, I will be checking that out next, but right now with all that is going on I don't think I could be consistent enough with my practice. How does it work? Do I start at the beginning of the 10/10 challenge and then post a video at the end of the ten days?

[Ron May]

That would work.
When you feel you can be consistent then by all means do it.

Ron

[Ethan Mitchell]

Ok cool. I'll definitely pop in sometime then!

[Ethan Mitchell]

Here is the finished whip:

The thong is waxed, but the handle is way too long to fit in my crockpot so I left it. The roll out is perfect which is more than I can say of my other whips. With rolling and waxing the kink sorted itself out. This only problem with this whip is the keeper is way, way, too tight. After waxing the thong it took all my strength to put it back together. I think the keeper got just a tad bit smaller. And, as you can see, the belly slipped out of the thong a bit. So, over all, it acts more like a really long handled bullwhip or pipewhip. I'll get some better pictures tomorrow.

[Ethan Mitchell]

And possibly a video If I get a chance.

[Ron May]

It looks really good Ethan.
Nicely done.

Ron

[Jesse Bessette]

Ethan, that looks great. I really like those colors together. Very well done.