The "Making of" Gallery - Ben Varsek

[Ron May]

Ben, that looks beautiful. It looks like a very fancy Zorro whip.
This whip just screams "CRACK ME!"

How does it crack?

Ron

[Mark Elliott]

What a gorgeous whip! Ben it looks fantastic. Exactly what I have come to expect from your talented hands.

[Ross Buckley]

Ben that is beautiful! Very impressed indeed
I hope to make whips of this quality one day

[Ben Varsek]

Ron, Mark, thank both of you very much!

I kept the handle plaiting as simple as possible, since I wanted to achive a rather plain design for that part of the whip. The plait count would have been very good for fancy plaiting, but I will experiment with that in another build.

Ron, you are right, it could be considered to be "Zorro type of whip" (can't call it "Zor*o whip" though since Mark Allen owns the right for this name). It has a one foot handle and it cracks nice. I'm very, very honored that Robby is currently working on a review of this whip.


Ben

[Ben Varsek]

Ross, thank you very much. Your first whip looks way better than my first one. If you need any help and tipps on your future builds, feel free to ask. This forum is all about sharing and helping one another.

Ben

[Ross Buckley]

Ross, thank you very much. Your first whip looks way better than my first one. If you need any help and tipps on your future builds, feel free to ask. This forum is all about sharing and helping one another.

Ben

Ben I wish my first whip looked that good, the latest one I posted was number 12 I think

Once I've found the photos I will post up my whip history, not sure where to post it yet though.

You've certainly got me thinking of ferrules now again that whip is beautiful its a simple but elegant design and I love it!

[Robert Gage]

Ben, that's simply gorgeous!

[Flemming Bo Christiansen]

Ben, it's great to see you plait again.

Although I don't know the word Wave Lace, it's a nice whip, which it's just a fun thing to hold in your hand one day. It doesn't look as heavy as you're suggesting.

[Jyri Haveri]

Beatiful whip! Great details!

[Ben Varsek]

Robert, Felmming, Jyri, thank you very much for your kind words!

Ross, I think the "whips" section in this forum would be a good place to post pictures of your whips. I'm looking forward to see them.

Flemming, your are right, the overall whip isn't heavy, but the thong of this whip is nose heavy. I like nose heavey thongs due to the way they perform. On the other hand, I also like to have the balance point right at the end of the handle (it's good for target work). By adding a counter weight, the thong will still have the desired weight ditribution and the the balance point is where I want it to be.

About the wavelace:
Some whipmakers have used a certain type of polyester string called Dacron ( a ployester string by the company Du Pont) for their builds. This cord wasn't a "round sleeve" like paracord, it was flat like a shoelace. While Dacron is still beeing produced in different sizes and forms, the type of Dacron wich has been mainly used for whipmaking has been discontiuned.

Tyler Blake used to make many Dacron whips and he had to find "something new" as a replacement for that certain type of Dacron. He than got in touch with several different cord-producing companies, send them a samples of Dacron in order to achive the same qualities in a new type of cord.

I don't know how much time he spend creating the Wave Lace, but it must have been a lot of time. I must say that his Wave Lace is even better than Dacron in my opininon. It's made from nylon insted of polyester and its even a bit finer. I did handle Dacron whips in the past, but I'm also a proud owner of one of Tylers Wave Lace whips.

Due to its weave and its size, its more fluid and way smoother than paracord. A well made Wave Lace whip, like a Tyler Blake whip, comes very close to the performance of a roohide whip.

Robby was the one who came up with the name "Wave Lace" due to the attributes of this cord.

All the best
Ben

[Flemming Bo Christiansen]

Thanks for explaining Ben.

I must have asked Tyler one day if his "Night Train's" is Wave Lace.

Gitte and I each have one of Tylers "Night Train" and they almost perform better than roo.

They were supposed to be used in winter and in bad weather - but we think it's a shame for the whips

[Ben Varsek]

Flemming, its comprehensible that you treat such superb whips with lots of care.

This picture shows a little section of open loop binding on Wave Lace whip number 2 in progress. I ususaly carry out the open loop layers around the entire lenght of the handle. The swell in the middle of this picture is due to the closed loop layers underneath this belly, which are only going as far down the handle as they need to.







Another size comparison - 20 plait 550 Paracord = 29mm (1,14 inch):



20 plait Wave Lace = 16,5mm (0,64 inch)



When using Wavelace, I like to use a more acute angle. Using a more shallow angle, like I do with paracord would probably result in the whip beeing to floppy for my taste.

All the best
Ben

[Ron May]

I really like the difference of diameter between the two.
It makes for a sleeker and promotes a more "alive" feeling when throwing it.
I want to bind like you when I grow up. Mine don't look near that neat and organized no matter how hard I try.

Ron

[Ben Varsek]

Ron, thank you very much

Ben

[Ben Varsek]

I have tryed to take some instructional pictures on how to end the knots without burning the ends, but they didn't turn out well. I got the idea of ending knots from this forum, but I'm not 100% sure who told me about this method (I belive it was Rachel - thank you very much!). This method is not very time consuming and it feels way more comfortable to hold a heel knot without the burned ends (on top of that it also looks better).

The first step is to carefully cut the strands as close to the knot as possible:



Next take a toothpick or something comparable in size and dip the tip in superglue. Superglue gel works better than the liquid version since it doens't get soakt up as much by the cord berfore drying.



Then, gently put the tip of the toothpick underneath the knot to glue the cut strand in place. Warpping the handle with electrical tape in advance helps to prevent the superglue form accidentialy getting on the visible part of the handle.
As soon as the glue has been applied, push this part of the knot down with one of your fingers until the glue has dryed.



These pictures show the difference in diameter between the 6 plait and the fall.

6 plait: 4,7 mm (0,185 inch):



Fall: 4,3 mm (0,169 inch):

The heel knot is an 8 bight TH with pineapple interweave. Initialy, I wanted to use a pice of stamped leather for the end of the knot foundation, but I didn't have the right color in stock. Therefore, I used a layer of flatbraid instead:



The entire whip is basicaly a smaller version (a little over 5 foot) of Wave Lace number one: 3 plaited bellies and a 24 plait overlay ending in a 6 point fall hitch. This time, the entire whip got waxed and it doens't have a counterweight build in:




All the best
Ben

[Ben Varsek]

Whoops, I forgot to post the link for the fall - here it is:

[Ron May]

Ben, you do such good work.
Smooth as butter. In other words, silky sleek and flows smoothly.... like butter.
Great job.

Ron

[Robert Gage]

Ben, your perfectionism is most impressive! Well done!

[Ross Buckley]

This is a fantastic looking whip!
That's a great tip for superglue on the knots, I'm literally kicking myself for not thinking of it : hats off to whomever had the idea.

[Mark Elliott]

Ben, that is indeed a fine looking whip. I'm always astounded at how precise your work is.