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 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!!!