cool paracord project

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spyderguy

spyderguy

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lots of cool things you can make with paracord, but I bet some of you guys haven't seen one of these.

They work just like a leather one, only these are completely weatherproof and can be used in all kinds of weather without any special care. The tip will travel at over 700mph and actually creates a small sonic boom, which is the sound you hear when the whip cracks. Nylon whips became popular with cowboys in florida because they could be worked in all types of weather conditions. These days a lot of professional whip makers are making whips in nylon as well as leather and they come in all kinds of lengths, styles and colors. They will crack as easily as a leather whip, are much more affordable, and are guaranteed to piss off some neighbours just as well as one made of kangaroo or cowhide :D

here's a few I made in the last couple months
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One, how much are you selling those for?

Two, any interest in an explanation on how you made it?

Three, that KICKS ASS........
 
I just want to add that nylon is much easier to braid than leather, because you don't have to fight to keep the smooth side out and because it's uniform (leather thong varies from one inch to the next).
 
Cougar Allen is right, but being made of coreless paracord, you still have to keep an eye out for twists. I have had it happen to me, it's a real bummer when you put all that time into something only to find a flaw in the finished product.

@ apebrains- you can send me an email if you want stephnormand@hotmail.com
I can't sell anything here, I'm not a paying member. I just wanted to show off what I made 'cause I know there's a lot of paracord buffs around.

I make them in the same way one would be made out of leather, only without any bolsters.(a bolster is a solid length of leather wrapped around the whip in between the braided layers/bellies). It is pretty much building a whip over a whip, until you get the thickness/length you are after. An 8 footer will take me anywhere from 12-15 maybe more, hours depending on
patterns, or if I'm in the groove or not and will take between 300-400 feet of paracord.


They start off as a steel spike with a loaded strand of paracord attached to it. the paracord is loaded with either bb' s, lead shot, or some folks use ballchain like you would find on lamps or a drain plug. This adds weight to the thong because the nylon isn't as heavy as leather. Another method would be to make a "shot bag" which would be filled with very small lead shot, amd is the method used to add weight in some leather whips (snake whips come to mind).

On top of this core is 2 braided bellies, in this case an 8 plait and then a 12 plait over that, each of which is slightly longer than the last. This helps to build the taper of the whip. Between all the layers is a binding of artificial sinew at the transition from the handle to the thong. This stiffens the transition and keeps the whip from acting like a wet noodle.

Finally over all of this I braid a 16 plait, usually in 1, 2 or 3 colors all the way down to the point. This is done by gradually dropping strands from 16 down to 4 where the fall is tied on. the fall is a piece of paracord which has been fed into itself forming a loop at the top and making a double-thick strand to attach a popper/cracker to. The crackers I make are just 3 strands of the inner core twisted very tightly upon themselves. the little fluffy bit at the end of the cracker is what breaks the sound barrier.

They aren't necessarily hard to make, but they are very time intensive and it is really a trial and error type skill. Everyone does things a little differently and you really do have to make quite a few of them to work all of the bugs out of the process. The point at which you drop strands, how to drop them, how tightly/loosely to plait, how much binding to use and how to wrap it to get the desired effect are all things that you really need to figure out through trying different things. The turk's heads alone can be a huge frustration, they were for me anyways.

I learned a lot from a Ron Edward's book called "how to make whips". It is based on leather, but most of the methods can be translated into nylon.

I may post up a tutorial at some point, but it may be a while.
 
Ive made one, and I know how much work goes into thease things. Well worth it though, after I got payed to crack it on a drunk college guys back. :)
 
I have a leather one, can't remember the maker.

Yours look very nice. Good job. :thumbup:
 
I want one.
But then again i would probably hurt myself with it:D
very nice looking whips, love the colors
 
knocked a couple more off the order list. Never thought I'd do one in pink, but it's what the lady wanted.

six footer
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and a 9 foot with 12" handle
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Very nice!
Now I've got to make one.
See what you've done.
Gave another me project to add to the list of this I don't have time for but must do.
 
The paracord ones handle great! I love those. I want to get one to use on stage, but right now I'm a little tight on the money and my old (15 year old) colorado saddlery nylon is starting to get old on me.

How much are you charging? I'm thinking an acid green and black one (that way if they are also using blacklights on stage it will show up really well)
 
@ JohnnyMayhem, feel free to shoot me an email at stephnormand@hotmail.com if you're interested :)
 
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