My goals for this next whip.
- Experiment with the core
- Work on improving Taper
- Play with Closed Loop Binding
The Taper, I have pulled an excel spreadsheet, and in typical CNC Machinist fashion, tried to shoot a mosquito with a cannon. I have listed the total number of strands that the whip shall have, from bellies to overlay, and divided the length of the whip into equal sections of the same number. Then I have worked from the handle, and calculated the drop point for each strand in the belly, and the overlay, to provide the smoothest, most consistent taper possible. Is this the right way to do it? I don't know, that's the beauty of experimenting, to see what happens.
I even created a graph to show the even taper reduction, then created a similar sheet, but instead simply dividing the bellies and drops at even distances to see how big a difference it made. Amazingly, the second way there were points along the whip where the taper actually increases, so definitely something I'll probably keep doing to make sure I get the roll out I want.
Unfortunately, I made a stupid mistake on my second belly, one I discovered right at the end of binding it, that has led to a bulge and sudden drop on one side of the thong. I can see exactly what I did wrong (I didn't cut a strand long enough, and tried to cheat by running it along the thong for an inch or two to compensate. I can see now why that was just plain a bad idea doomed to failure from the start, but hey, I wont make the same mistake again...)
I plaited the first belly along the starting core till the end, then TT, dropping strands till I had one left, which I let run for a little while. Then The second belly I plaited till the end of that first final strand, before changing to a Twisted Taper for the remaining 4 strands, dropping the same way till I had a single strand I let run for a little. Each belly is full Closed Loop artificial Sinew along the length of it. The 1st Belly I wrapped in Hockey Tape afterwards, but I found the grip was actually making it hard to pull my strands tight enough, will have to investigate further if there is even a need for doing it (Was kinda just following Nick's lead there, without perhaps understanding the theory behind it?)
I don't plan on wrapping in Hockey Tape before I overlay it thought, I want to be able to plait a nice looking and consistent finish to this whip. I am thinking of finishing the Overlay in a TT as well, but haven't decided yet.
Core
1st Belly
2nd Belly