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After I made my first Snakewhip, I wanted to try one out of leather. The plan is a 4-foot 16 plait leather with a 2-foot BB-stuffed paracord and 2 more feet for the core.
Leather Dressing
I have some leather strands from my previous bullwhips, but I needed to make some new leather dressing. According to Ron Edwards (author: How to Make Whips), dressing is made from clean rendered fat and soap (4 parts to 1). Nowadays, we don't have easy access to fat (so we can clean and render it), but we do have Crisco! So I put a cup of Crisco and 1/4 cup of Dawn in a bowel and microwaved it for 30 seconds. Stir. Repeat.
It seems fine, to me. Time will tell if it works. I store it in that cottage cheese container so I could return my wife's china bowl.
Raw Crisco and Dawn
After 30 seconds + Stir
30 more seconds + Stir
Core
Next, I needed a weighted core. I like the paracord-with-BBs version, so I cut a 5.5 foot piece of paracord and will stuff it to end up with a finished two-feet of BBs. 1 foot needed 62 BBs, so I'll measure out 125 BBs and see if that works for 2 feet of BB-stuffed core.
5.5 just made it. After stuffing 135 BBs (needed 10 more than the calculated 125) , the final length was just barely 4 feet. Cover the 2 feet of BBs with electrical tape.
It took a little over an hour to do the core.
1st belly (8 plait)
The first snakewhip I made was 3 feet paracord. This one is 4 feet leather. Assuming that leather covers the same as paracord (I reckon' I'll find out quick if that is true or not!), I'll increase the lengths of the strands from the first snakewhip by 4ft new whip/3ft old whip. That means the first strands should be: 7.5, 7.5, 5.5, 4 feet. I don't like those lengths. I'm going to make them longer. Like:
9 feet
9 feet
7 feet
6 feet
Then, I'll see how much (if any!!!) is left, and will have a better adjustment for the next two rounds.
I cut the strands, and applied leather dressing to them. Now, it's time to plait the first belly.
Start 1st Belly
1st belly ongoing
1st belly more
1st belly finished
It took about three hours to cut, dress, plait, bind and roll the 1st belly. The strands were a good length and there was little waste. I think the drops occurred in a good place. I wonder if I need a bolster for the 1st belly. I'm not adding one, but I wonder.
2nd Belly (10 plait)
Given my calculations for the 1st belly, I need to multiply the 3-foot snakewhip lengths by 1.7
10 lengths (5, folded in half)
14.5 feet (should be 16)
14.5 feet (should be 16)
10 feet
8.5 feet
5.5 feet
Mostly these lengths work except the 14.5 They should be 16 feet. I ran a little short at the very end. But the rolled 2nd belly flows nicely. I think part of it is the 2 feet of BB-ed core that helps. It took a couple hours to do the second belly.
2nd belly start
2nd belly on-going
2nd belly finished and rolled
Overlay (16 plait)
16 lengths (8 folded in half)
22 feet tan (should be 20)
22 feet black (should be 20)
19 feet tan
15 feet (used 16 black)
12 feet (used 14 tan)
10 feet (used 13 black)
7 feet tan
6 feet (used 8.5 black)
This is a lot of lace! I remember having to bundle the long lengths to keep them in control.
I want to plait my name into this one. Using whipinfo.com/faceplait I have a pattern.
Problem!
I cut the strands. I spent way too much time getting the 16 plait strand started. It's tough keeping them in order.
I then realized I won't be able to plait with this setup. 50% of the time, the same color crosses that same color. So you can't pick the non-same color (to match the desired plaiting plan).
That means, I have to cut each double strand and glue the opposite color to it. Frustrating. I'll be back after a gorilla-glue exercise.
After halfing and gluing my strands so the left side is black and the right side is tan, I could re-start beginning the 3rd layer. I had to re-re-start the 3rd layer a half-dozen times before I could get the 16 strands under control. Then, plaiting my design was hard. It easily took a work-day to get that part right.
Finally, after I got the fancy plaiting done, I could switch to the easy Over-two, Under-two.
Overlay: Complete!
Next, I fashioned a fall from some thicker leather I had in the garage. I attached it and gave the whip a roll.
Add a cracker, and take it out for a spin.
It performs fairly well. Without the handle, it's a little harder to crack. But the extra foot (this is a 4-foot snakewhip, a little longer than my 1st the 3-foot paracord snakewhip) makes it easier to crack. It does roll up very nicely! I'm sure the 2-foot BB core is responsible for that feature.
Next, I need to add a heel knot.
I decided to add a 14 x 12 Herringbone two-toned knot (using Caliber Whips method of tying). A trip to a local Big-Box construction store to by some 1.5 inch PVC pipe to use as a whip tying jig. I wanted it to be black and tan, so I used my glue-two-strands together trick. The glue point is hidden under a crossing.
I added some thick leather at the beginning of the whip as a base onto which I could tighten the heel knot.
I also added a US Quarter to the end. But the leather base was too wide for the heel knot, so there is an ugly gap between the heel knot and the quarter.
You can almost make out the MARK plaiting in the handle/beginning of the whip. I'm not happy with that part.
The finished product. It does crack pretty well.
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