A Couple of New Whip & Color Schemes

I picked up some neon green paracord the other day and have made a couple of whips with it now.  I put this five foot bullwhip together the other day as a Christmas present for a friend.  It is made using both neon green and kelly green.

I'm really digging the colors on this next whip.  This is my "Fire Whip."  It is a four foot snakewhip made with black, imperial red, neon orange, and neon yellow paracord.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and may it truly be a time of giving thanks.  "Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and perform your vows to the Most High, and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me" (Psalm 50:14-15).

Happy cracking,

~Ryan

www.happycracking.com

How to Crack a Whip: the Circus Crack or the Cattleman's Crack

I finally updated my "how to" videos.  Here's a demonstration of the Circus Crack otherwise known as the Cattleman's Crack.

1. Start with the whip down or preferably behind you and your arm down straight by your side (the 6 o'clock position). Note – I’m demonstrating with a 6 foot bullwhip and a short 3.5 foot snakewhip (The Pocket Rattler).
2. In a smooth motion bring the whip around in front of you, up and over your shoulder. Your arm should stop around the 12 o’clock position, yet allowing the whip to continue on behind you.
3. When the whip is pointing back behind you – at around the 9 o’clock position or even pointing down toward the ground (your arm is still around 12 o’clock) – bring your arm quickly forward to the 3 o’clock position. The whip is traveling on a horizontal plane beside you and when you change its direction here it is forming the critical loop that will travel down the whip ending in the sonic boom.
4. One thing that I have seen that seems to help with this crack with new whip crackers is to practice the motions WITHOUT trying to crack the whip. Many people simply try too hard, so just try to get the motion down and it will often crack without you intending for it to happen.

Have fun cracking!

~Ryan

http://www.happycracking.com/

How to Make Your Bullwhip Louder!!!

Here's a short infomative video by Adam Winrich on the "loudness" of bullwhips.



Here's an example of a four foot black paracord bullwhip I just shipped off this morning - notice especially the taper.

Happy cracking,

~Ryan

http://www.happycracking.com/

The Bumble Bee

I finished this whip this week and thought it looked like a bumble bee...

I would imagine that it has a good sting to it.  I truly enjoy cracking these shorter whips.  They work well for fast cracking routines and are just easy to tote around with me.

This shot gave me some good close up resolution.  I'm not much of a photographer so I appreciate it when I get a shot like this that shows good detail.

Not much to blog about at the present time.  I'm hoping to shoot some better "how to crack" videos over the Christmas break.  The more I look at the ones that I have created the more I think they look lame.  We'll see how it goes.  If you're planning to order a whip I'd encourage you to do it fairly soon.  My plaiting claendar is filling up quickly and I'm already into January.  At the present time I may only have time for one, possibly two more oders for January and will be looking forward to February.  I'll be out of town for a week during that time and may not have the freedom to work on whips.

Well I hope you are enjoying your cracking.  Our weather here may be turning ugly soon - thankfully I have several nylon whips to play with that won't be affected by the weather ;)

~Ryan

http://www.happycracking.com/

Got 'Er Done :)

I finished the snakewhip from my earlier post and thought I'd throw out a few pics.

Happy cracking!

~Ryan

http://www.happycracking.com/

Just Working on Some Whips

With Christmas coming I have several orders on the docket.  I just tonight finished an order for a purple and black Snapdragon.  I had a dickens of a time getting the purple cord.  It took a bit of work to find a store that had it in stock and then when my package arrived in the mail it was lacking the purple part of my order, which was the whole reason for placing an order with that company - yeah!!!  Oh well, my customer was very gracious and patient with me.  Anyway here it is.

I'm pleased with how this one turned out.  It's got a good little "pop" to it.  I hope my customer is pleased as well.

There's still time for a few more Christmas orders.  Contact me if I can help you get the whip you're looking for.

Happy cracking,

~Ryan

http://www.happycracking.com/

Bullwhip Pictures

I wanted to try taking some more picturesque photos of a new whip I made.  This six-foot, twelve-plait bullwhip made in black and electric blue paracord is headed to a customer in Australia.  I want to add one or two of these pics to my website (www.happypcracking.com).  If you have a minute, let me know which one you like best.

Take care and happy cracking,

~Ryan

www.happycracking.com

New Whip Designs

I've been slowly playing with a few changes, and hopefully improvements, to my whips.  For starters I have begun loading the core with bb's and not beaded chain.  I think this adds a bit more weight to the thong and may even help the whips flow a bit more smoothly.  I like the movement I've been feeling on some of my new whips lately.

I have also begun adding the transitional turk's head knot to some of my bullwhips - at the point where the handle and thong meet.  I had not really wanted to add this knot for a couple of reasons: 1. the fear that they might come undone, and 2. I don't like tying these cursed turk's head knots and since they are merely cosmetic why bother?!?  But, they do look better nonetheless with the knot so it is now an option on my website.  The whip pictured below is a 6-foot, 12-plait bullwhip in black nylon paracord.

The other thing that I tried for the first time was adding a second color to the butt knot.  I made this 3.5 foot snakewhip (Pocket Rattler) in black and colonial blue for my daughter.

Let me know if I can custom make you a nylon whip.  Have fun and happy cracking!

~ Ryan

http://www.happycracking.com/

Father's Day Whips

I just finished a pair of whips in time for a friend to give them to her husband for Father's Day.  He's seen me out cracking my whips and thinks it looks like fun.  Now I guess there'll be at least two whip-geeks in the neighborhood.

This whip is a 6 foot 12 Plait Bullwhip in all black.  I recently changed how I load the core of my whips - having moved from the beaded chain to using bb's.  I really like the little bit of extra weight and the smoothness of the the whip's flow.

The second whip is one of my 3 foot Pocket Rattlers (snakewhip) in black and colonial blue.  I gotta say that I really like this color of blue - unfortunately my pictures don't do it justice.

Well, that's all for now.  Take care and happy cracking!

~Ryan

http://www.happycracking.com/

Pair of Mini Bullwhips

One of the types of nylon whips I make are what I call "Snapdragons."  These are very tiny whips, and usually they are snakewhips.  The pair of whips below were a special order.  He asked for a pair of black and white Snapdragons with 6 inch handles and extending the length of the whips to 28 inches (from butt to end of fall). 

Snapdragons are made differently than my other whips.  These whips have a loaded core followed by an eight-plait-overlay.  My other whips have a loaded core, an eight-plait-belly, and then a twelve-plait-overlay.  The lack of a plaited belly in the Snapdragons makes them quite slim in diameter.  These little guys definitely don't take up much space.

Also on these particular Snapdragons I made the falls a bit longer so that the customer could shorten the length if he so desired.  I took them out for a few test cracks and they performed quite well.

Typically, my other Snapdragons look like this:

Take care and happy cracking,

~Ryan

http://www.happycracking.com/

5 Foot Bullwhip

I thought I'd post some pics of a new 5 foot black and grey bullwhip that I have up for ebay auction.

This is a 5-foot, 12-plait, paracord bullwhip in black and grey with a 5-inch-long-handle.  If you are interested in purchasing this whip I'll sell it to you for the opening bid ($79) if there are no bids on it yet (that's $6 off the regular price).  Just send me a message and I'll pull the whip off of ebay and send you a Paypal invoice.

Happy cracking,

~Ryan

http://www.happycracking.com/

Will Nylon Whips Hold Up???

I received an email from someone asking about my whips and how they hold up with use.  This person recently purchased two inexpensive whips - one leather and one nylon.  He said...well let me post his email:

Hi again!

I'm looking for some information about whips in general and for some advice. Sitting in front of me I have two whips. Both are incredibly cheap, one is made of nylon and the other one is made of leather with what seems to be a cotton filler (it's poking through in places). The nylon whip seems to have no filler at all (it's limp and feels empty).  I'm sure your whips are high quality, so please don't take offense to my next question. How does the quality of your whips (and all nylon whips in general) stack up against something like a leather or kangaroo hide whip? How long will one of your nylon whips last? The two I have seem to be on their last leg and it's only been a few days.  The fall on the nylon one is starting to fall apart already. In the grand scheme of things I know that what you offer is priced very fairly, especially when I've seen leather and kangaroo hide whips go for as much as $200 or more, but before I spend $95 on a whip I need to know it'll last me a little longer than the past two have, at least through my beginner stage and then some. Once again I thank you for your time. God bless and take care.

Here is what I wrote him...

Nice to hear from you again. When I first started getting into whips in 2008 I also bought some less expensive whips. My first was from a local farmers co-op, an eight foot leather whip. It would crack a bit but I had no idea what a difference a quality whip would make. It too had a cheap core - hemp rope or something - that broke by the fall knot and now sticks out. I've since heard the saying from Australia that goes, "a whip is like a man - no guts, no good" or something like that. My second whip I tried purchasing one from ebay, a ten footer from ****. He had good ratings and the price for a leather whip seemed great. It too was junk. Very hard to crack and the core seemed to be some sort of plastic, like a plastic trash bag.

As far a comparing leather and nylon - this seems to largely be personal preference. I love my kangaroo whip, but find that I use my nylon whips even more. My six foot nylon is a bit lighter and I don't have to "worry" about it as much. I can use it in the morning dew, after a light rain, or in the snow. In short, a well made nylon whip should serve you as well as a well made leather one.

I don't know what your whip was made of but a nylon paracord whip can take a lot of use and even abuse and still work great for many years. There are some cheaper nylons that I don't think would hold up very well. Paracord is the type of stuff they designed to use with parachutes, so you know it has to be strong. This being said it is still not a good idea to crack on pavement or gravel or any similar surface. These surfaces will eventually tear up the whips as they hit and brush against them. It is best to practice on the grass, on carpet, or on a smooth floor like in a gymnasium. I have a little "Pocket Rattler" - a three foot snakewhp - that I take with me almost everywhere and I crack it a lot. I take it on walks with my wife (although she wishes I'd leave it at home), on hikes in the woods, to work, to the park with my kids - I either roll it up and stick it in my pocket or bring it in a bag. I've had this whip for, I think, a little over a year. It looks a bit worn close up but it works as well today as it did when I first made it. The only thing I have replaced or repaired on it are the crackers (which is the same for all whips).

In fact I just took some pics, here they are:
http://s652.photobucket.com/albums/uu242/gsolideogloria/Whip%20stuff/?action=view¤t=YearOldSnakewhip1.jpg
http://s652.photobucket.com/albums/uu242/gsolideogloria/Whip%20stuff/?action=view¤t=YearOldSnakewhip2.jpg
http://s652.photobucket.com/albums/uu242/gsolideogloria/Whip%20stuff/?action=view¤t=YearOldSnakewhip3.jpg

You'll notice the stiffness as well as the natural bend. Whips crack best when cracking with their natural curves.

I hope this helps. Take care and happy cracking,

Ryan

Here are the pics of the whips I sent him:

This one above shows the wear and tear up close.  As you may notice it is still in great shape - and this is after a year of regular cracking. 

This above picture shows the stiffness of the whip in one direction.  This is not an action shot but me holding the whip still.  It is not too stiff as can be seen in the photo below.

In this shot I have flipped the whip over to show the natural curve.  When cracking it is best to use the curve to your advantage.  Here is what Robert Dante in his book "Let's Get Cracking"

A good whip has a natural curve to it, a way it wants to hang.  The whip wants to roll along this curl.  The curl is caused by the bolster inside the whip, called the belly - as a consequence, the resulting curve also is called "the belly."  The belly is the inside part of the curve - the outside part of the curve is called "the spine."


Cracking with the belly lets you work with the whip.  A move is more flowing, more graceful...With this form, you can do more sensitive work, less percussive.  The whip wantes to unroll along its curve.  This is a relatively effortless crack, since it "wants" to roll along this line.

Well, I hope this was informative.  Take care and happy cracking.

~Ryan
http://www.happycracking.com/

Snakewhip on Sale

Check out my ebay auction for a chance to own this beautiful black and yellow 3-foot nylon snakewhip "The Pocket Rattler."  Overall it measures about 5.5 feet from the butt to the end of the cracker (the three feet is measuring only the plaited portion). 

This whip is a 3-foot, 12-plait snakewhip.  It sports a weighted core about half the length of the whip and is topped off with a turk's head butt knot.  The 'handle' area has a short reinforcement to add a bit of 'springyness' to its cracking.

Scroll down on my blog to see this whip being made.

Here's a YouTube video of me cracking one of my 3-footers:

Click here to see the auction.  In fact if there are no bids on this whip I will sell it to you for my starting price of $58 plus $9 shipping.  This is discounted from my regular price of $62.  Send me an email through my website and I'll pull it off ebay and get it out to you. Let me know if you have any questions.  I'd be happy to help you out.

Take care and happy cracking,

~Ryan

How to Snag Stuff with a Whip

I found this crazy article on snagging a TV remote with a whip.  I thought it was a hoot.

There are few tools that can break the sound barrier while fetching the TV remote. But throw a whip right and its tip can travel 900 mph (producing a sonic boom), then curl back to snare the object of your desire. Anthony De Longis, who coached Harrison Ford for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, shows us how to lash out.


1. Skip the toys
Look for a 6- to 8-foot-long whip with a braided core. The best are made from kangaroo hide (or maybe paracord - sorry I couldn't resist - Ryan).


2. Take your stance
Imagine you’re straddling railroad tracks. The whip should travel parallel to the rails, and the target should be a bit closer than the length of your whip. Use caution: The tip can cut to bone.


3. Load and lock
Stretch the whip out in front of you, arm extended and pointed at the object. Now yank your hand up to 12 o’clock. The whip will fly over your hand and unravel behind you.


4. Throw down
When you feel a tug, lower your forearm — easy now, let the whip do the work. It’ll roll forward just to the side of your body. As it unfurls, squeeze the handle.


5. Crack and drag
The tip will extend just beyond the target; as it recoils, it’ll wrap itself around the object. Pull the remote toward you slowly. Next lesson: cracking open a beer.


Contributed by Catherine DiBenedetto

You can find the original version here: http://howto.wired.com/wiki/Snag_Stuff_With_a_Whip

Have fun and happy cracking,

Ryan

Three-Footer in Progress, part 2

Well I've made some more progress on the black and yellow Pocket Rattler.  Here I have added the six strands for the 12 plait finish.

Pocket Rattlers begin with a short section of a diamond plait and then changes over to the regular whip plaiting.  The top section will eventually get cut away and then covered by the butt knot.

When you finish plaiting it is important to roll each section to smooth out the plaiting.  Here I use a short piece of a 2x4 and roll the whip on the floor.

When I'm finished rolling then I'm ready to attach the fall and tie the fall hitch.

To make the fall I use approximately fifty inches of de-cored paracord.  I attach one end to a small crochet needle with a bit of electric tape.

Then at about the midway point I insert the needle into the paracord and work it through.

Here's the finished fall.  It's around two feet long and is doubled back into itself.  The loop is placed over the end of the whip and then snugged up tight.

After I tie the fall hitch I use a Super Jumbo Perma-Lok Lacing needle to pull the final pass on the knot back through it self.

Here's the finished knot and fall.

More to come.  Hopefully I'll get it finished by this weekend.  Happy cracking!

Ryan

Three-Footer in Progress

I thought I share some pics of my progress as I build a Pocket Rattler (three foot snakewhip).  Lord willing this one will be black and yellow.  I start by loading the core with beaded chain...

I then wrap all the strands in vinyl tape (i.e. electrical tape) and form the loop that I'll hang it from for plaiting.  This is the "core" of the whip, it has two strands of chain loaded paracord and two strands of paracord with the nylon core still in place...

I then cut the strands for plaiting the 8-plait belly (by the way, I remove the inner strands for the plaiting)...

And then the plaiting begins...

After I finish plaiting the belly I reinforce the "handle" area with a bit of artificial sinew.  This reinforcement adds a bit of spring to the whip.

Well that's as far as I am at the moment.  I may get to plaiting the overlay later on today.  I have not sold this one yet.  If you are interested in purchasing this whip you can contact me through my website http://www.happycracking.com/, mention this blog and I'll sell it for $69 shipped (that's $60 for the whip and $9 for shipping).  If I don't have it sold by the time I finish I'll list it on ebay shortly there after.  Also, I'll try to post more of the progress as I get-a-plaiting.

Have fun and happy cracking,

Ryan

Playing with more interesting picture taking

Here are a few shots of the bullwhip mentioned in my last post.  I thought I'd try to do something a bit more interesting than have a whip merely lying on the floor or held in my hand.

(I posted this one on my website http://www.happycracking.com/)

The gun is my .45 Colt Ruger Vaquero.  It's a lot of fun to shoot and can really pack a whallop with the right ammo.  I'm gonna try to get some more creative shots in the future.  We'll see what happens.

Take care and happy cracking,

Ryan