#1 Snakewhip

[Brandon "Sparky" Lam]

Heyo everyone!
After my exams, I wanted to make more whips, so I got some stuff up to experiment and...now I'mma show you both my success and failure that was my first snake whip! :P This was a 20 plait snake whip, being about 5.5ft long.

So for this whip, I wanted something heavy, so that flicks can crack loudly without much effort. Therefore, I decided to go with 3 6mm diameter strands of paracord as a core, with shot loading in one strand up to about a third of the whip length (and the other two with a bit less). I twisted tapered the strands, and this is what I ended up with!



Then, I bound this slightly, and plaited the bellies. I forgot to take too many pictures of the process, but here is a picture of the belly while it was being plaited.



This was what the final belly looked like once it was plaited.



What I found was that 6mm paracord was too thick for a 4 plait, so I ended up splicing a 4mm diameter strand into it to make up for the thinning.

Either way, this was the final finished whip, which was also waxed (omg snake whips are so easy to wax, no need to worry about handles!)







And for the concho, I used a 50c coin, and that worked out really well as only the shield really showed



In terms of the failures of this whip, because I noticed the problem with 6mm cord too late, the spliced area actually became a hinge point that I couldn't help. Next time, I plan to use the separated core (so core, belly goes to core, that belly ends up being the core of the next belly, and so on), and so I shouldn't really have that much of a problem with hinging.

But what I really liked about this one was that it's HEAVY. For a 5.5ft whip, it has a lot of heft, and so flicks feel so satisfying! Furthermore, for being my first ever attempt at an english eye, I think my backwards plaiting (for the most part) came out really well If there are any tips and tricks to splicing in strands, I'd love any advice, because it took me a bit of time to work out a really nice method of adding strands from odd to even, but I struggle with even to odd.

Also, here's a short video of me testing out the whip. Sorry about my rushed movements, it was 36 degrees celsius at the campsite (was at a uni camp over the weekend) and I just wanted to get back in away from the sun ahaha

[Bobbi Holyoak]

Really really beautiful knot! I also love how rich the colors turned in the wax. Good job!

[Rachel McCollough]

Brandon it looks great, that is one beautiful knot!!

[Johnny Pell]

Great job Brandon it does look hefty. I looks like it has a good weight to it when you throw it. It's cool that you tried the English eye. I can only imagine how awkward it must be to plait the whip from tip to heal. I have been wanting to try it also, that is such a great idea. Your knot is amazing. Do you tie them on the whip or use something to tie it on and then transfer it? Just asking because I'm still getting my but kicked trying to tie it directly on the whip. Hopefully that will change now that I got my TH1 yesterday. Thanks goes out to Roy for the great Whip Nation site and David for the handy TH1 tool that will hopefully be a game changer for my knot problem.

[Ron May]

Really cool Brandon.
As has been stated , really nice knot.

Ron

[Guest]

Seems like the knot ended up working perfect ! It folds over very nicely and lays nice and flush.

I like your idea of a heavy snakewhip and I think it turned out good! The colors are well chosen and the black highlight gives depth but doesn't pop out unnecessarily.

To point out some areas to improve, you've probably noticed that on the final belly the core diameter is too big for the small plait count on the last few inches. In my opinion, there's no shame on ending a belly on a 6 or even an 8 plait especially if you're aiming for a heavier whip!

What method do you use to start your layers of plaiting by the way?

Plaiting from the tip I usually add 2 strands - meaning one long strand. I don't mind the doubling effect so I'm the wrong person to ask if you want a perfectly clean pattern.

Good job on finishing a whip, it's always an achievement!

[Brandon "Sparky" Lam]

Thank you so much everyone! Plaiting backwards was a fun experiment, I think I'll do that from now on, as it's actually really awesome~

Johnny, I tie my knots straight onto the foundation. I don't have any knot tying tools, I just draw up the knot using my method of visualising them, and then do it straight onto the whip. Reason I do that is mainly laziness and convenience, cause you just do one pass, and then tighten it, rather than having to transfer the knot from your mandrel to the whip. It really helps if your foundation is solid and very cylindrical, I'm not sure how I'd go if it was round.

Thank you Erik! the black was funnily enough a test of the knot to see whether it'd fit on the foundation, but I liked it enough to keep it there!
Yep I definitely noticed the thickness of the core, I forgot to account for that in my calculations, guess I went a bit crazy with my core :P next time I'll be ending my bellies over 1 strand of normal paracord, which'll be easier to work with.
I start my plaiting on a square start, which is quite convenient though in the future I'd love to give crown start a go, especially on a bullwhip handle~

Thanks again everyone!

[Charlie Carpenter]

Really Nice Brandon, I have never tried an English eye but I really like the idea for testing falls. Looks like a beast, I'll bet its loud!

[Sir Roger Tuson]

I do like a Snake Whip. Lovely knotwork too.

[Brandon "Sparky" Lam]

Thank you Charlie and Roger! Yeah, being able to change the fall is the main strength of an english eye, means if you end up destroying the fall you can replace it

[Ron May]

Brandon, with an English eye you can also experiment with fall lengths and weights easily.

Ron

[Brandon "Sparky" Lam]

Yeah definitely, I plan to do that sometime soon. I need to fix up an issue with my weighted falls though - Some people are cracking my whips so hard that the paracord is literally pulling apart, and I'm not sure how I can fix that...will have to experiment with more falls later!

[Robert Gage]

Brandon, that's really nice. I think 5.5 feet is probably the optimum length for a snake, and it looks good and heavy. (A whip that short which is too light seems pretty useless to me.) And a great knot!

[Brandon "Sparky" Lam]

Thanks Robert! I wanted it to be a 6ft snake whip but because of the huge thickness of the whip, my calculations were slightly off so I had to shorten the whip slightly D:

I agree, I wanted to err on the side of "too heavy" rather than too light. Funnily enough, I've given a bunch of friends a go with this whip, and every single one of them (who knows how to crack a whip) prefers this snakewhip over every other whip I've made, which means I'm going somewhere!