How to make a Paracord Bullwhip: #1

I somehow lost my leather whip I bought for 25 cent at a garage sale in the 70s. So I decided to replace it. I looked into whipmaking and discovered a sub-genre of parachute cord (paracord) whips. So I asked for some paracord for Christmas. Then, I started making a bullwhip.

You start with a metal rod and some extension cord wire

You attach the cord to the rod. Then trim the extension cord so it gets thinner as it gets longer.

Cut the paracord

Attach it, and start plaiting

Begin braiding belly

Plait until the extension cord wire gets thinner, then start dropping cords

Start dropping cords

At the end, you'll be plaiting just 4 cords

Finished braiding belly

Now for the next layer. In this case, I'm only doing two layers of plaiting, so this will be the overlayer. Attach the cords

and start plaiting.

Almost done plaiting ...

Done plaiting!

Attach the Fall and the cracker

Add a 5x8 Turks Head as the Transition Knot

Add a Type 3 3 pass Pineapple knot as the Heel knot

The finished bullwhip - 4.5 feet

It works pretty well. Cracks nicely. The cracker is a piece of nylon mason line I had from my knot hobby. Having made my first whip, I was ready for my second, an 8 foot bullwhip.

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