I have found the best way to cut strands for
bullwhips is to start cutting from the thick end and work your way in. That way
you are cutting the widest
strands while the hide is fairly big and you have bigger corners to go around.
As you cut your strands get thinner, your hide also gets smaller and you get
into the strongest part of the hide which is what you need when cutting the
thinner strands which will end up at the end of the whip and will have the most
wear and tear. Unlike cow hides that have the weakest part of the hide down the
backbone kangaroo hides have their weakest parts around the outside of the hide
where the legs, belly and neck were. The further you cut in towards the centre
of a kangaroo hide the stronger it gets. We can start to cut the overlay now,
[see pic in left margin] Start your strands at 7mm,remember 25mm to the inch,
end at 4mm. Cut 8 strands to start and I like to end with 5 strands which gives
you ten strands to play with at the end of your whip because you will cut two
sets of these strands. The whip ends with 8 strands but I like to have 10
strands in hand because usually somewhere along the line no matter how well
you prepare and stretch your strands one will break and it's usually near the end of
the whip. With the 2 strands spare running down the centre of your whip as a
part of the core it is a simple matter to pick up a strand from the centre and
drop the broken strand in. You will have to cut your longest strands 12 ft long
and somewhere along the line you will drop off three strands, one at 7ft,8ft,and
9ft, these will most probably be a little to long but better too long than too
short. Take your time cutting these strands, remember the more you
do the better you get,
You can never get too much of it.
You also have to remember that when you drop strands while cutting out your sets
to drop them on opposite sides of each set otherwise when you start plaiting
,because you have to cross over a few strands at the start, you will end up with
all short strands on one side and all long strands on the other. Once you have
cut out all your strands you can bevel each strand at 45 degrees on each side
underneath and then split them in your new Murphy splitter. As I said before
find the thinnest part of your strands and split all your strands to that
thickness. You will be amazed at how much difference there is in the thickness
in different parts of your hide. Next comes the plaiting.
These pages are not to teach you how to plait, there are numerous
good books on the subject by writers that I mentioned before. Plait your overlay
tight, tight, tight. You can never plait too tight as far as I'm concerned. To
test if your plaiting tightly hold out 2 to 3 ft of your plait horizontally and
it should be stiff enough to support itself. The tighter you can plait now will
determine how well your whip will stand up to the years of use and abuse it will
get over it's life time. I have had whips sent to me for repairs that were over
50 years old and have had a really hard life but the plaiting was as tight as
the day they were made, that's what you should aim for. When I make a bullwhip I
usually plait the first 6to8 inches in a diamond pattern and then from there go
into the under four over four mode. As you plait down your whip the plaiting
will become crowded and that is the time for you to drop a couple of strands
into the centre of the whip. You will have to do this from time to time until
you end up with 8 strands at the end of your whip. I wouldn't recommend using
any less strands at the end because the whip will suffer a lot of abuse in this
area and needs to be as strong as possible in that particular spot. About 2 to 3
inches before you reach the end of your plaiting before you put the fall on
revert back to the diamond plait, under one over one and pull your strands up as
tight as you can. You should be able to get them so tight that the oil will
start to seep out of the leather. I do this because if the plaiting is going to
become loose anywhere it will be just there where the fall joins onto the whip.
A lot of stress and strain goes on here in this particular section and if the
strands are not as tight as possible they will become loose. Once you have half
hitched your fall on get a pair of pliers and give each strand that extra bit of
a pull to really tighten it up. When that is all done give the whip a really
good roll to smooth out the plaiting. I do this by fixing the fall in a vice at
the end of my bench, attaching a cord to the other end and stretching and tying
it off to a ring I have set in the wall. This allows the whip to roll freely and
makes it much easier to roll, [see pics]
All that needs to be done now is to make a foundation for the turks head
on the butt. The method I use is a very simple one. A piece of leather 25mm wide
split to 2 mm thick with edges skived. This is wrapped around the end of the
whip and held in place with 3/4 inch tacks. If a wrist loop is to be added a
couple of shims of leather the same thickness as the wrist strap have to be
added. They can be incorporated at the same time as you are tacking on the
foundation for the knot. This method is simple and easy and will hold the turks
head on forever and a day as long as when you make the turks head it is a nice
and tight.
Take the time to learn how to do it directly on the whip, believe me it
is well worth the effort. It will take some time and at times become very
frustrating but if I can tie a 6 bight turks head on a whip in 7 minutes, you
can too. When you have the first part of the turks head done all you have to do
is follow the original around until you get back to the start. Easy Peasy!!!