Paracord Bullwhip

Hello everybody!

I've been enjoying this site for long and have finally found enough time to write a first Instructable by myself.

I'll will share with you how to make a real paracord bullwhip.

It should not be that hard for those of you who know their way through ropes, knots and braiding.
I wouldn't recommend this as a beginner project though.
It involves careful and regular braiding of up to 12 strands a bit over 12 feet long, which can be a bit messy or frustrating if you're not familiar with manipulating such lengths of cord.
You will also need to know ( or be willing to learn) some 'advanced' knots to make it look nice, and I won't cover that lengthly point in this Instructable since there is already a lot of resources on that topic on the Net.
I however do plan on doing a few other Instructables on that topic if people are interested in it.

We will be making a 2.50m ( ~8.2ft) whip, from handle tip to fall, not including the cracker.

Take your time with this one, you'll get what you give.
It took me maybe a week or so worth of evenings to complete it.

The result was well worth it, this thing cracks loudly and easily as expected and it ended up being a very rewarding project.


I'd like to thank "Bullwhipcracker" for his nice info  about whip making that served as an inspiration for this project and saved me some headaches about figuring out the correct lengths for the different steps.
I was unable to find a homepage or anything that links directly to his work to give him proper credit though.

Now, let's get to the fun stuff :)

Update:
Here's a short vid showing that it's indeed the real deal.

Step 1 You will need...

First things first, for this project you will need :


-    Paracord ( lots of it ) I started with 60m (196 ft.) and had maybe 15m left after I finished.
      But better be safe than sorry on this point :)
-    2m (6.5ft ) of some light chain, the kind you find on lamps or that holds your sink plug.
-    Duct tape and/or electrical tape
-    1 "Big" Nail ( Big meaning that it would do the trick as a handle )
-    Some medium width string to tie the cracker
-    Something that cuts ( my trusted Surge in that case)
-    Something that makes fire to neatly melt the ends of your butchered paracord.
     A Zippo is a nice choice, it will get you a nice flame and stand on the desk by itself while you use both hands to melt/cut the paracord over the flame.
-    Measuring tape
-    Patience


Optionally you might find useful to have:
-    Some kind of marlinspike needle for dressing the fancy knots.
-    A file or some kind of grinder or Dremel tool to cut grooves in the "handle"
-    A spot  to tie the whip to while you're plaiting ( holding it between my knees worked well in my case ) you could also use a lightly tightened vice.


Also this project works with mainly gutted paracord so you will end up with vast amounts of unused inner strands.

Let me know if you think making a hammock, net or bag out of them would be an interesting Instructable :)

Comments

[hailtothkngbby]

Great instructable! You beat me to it! I have made several whips of paracord, but lack the documentation for a full on instructable as of yet. The most recent I made was a snake whip with plastic coated steel cable as the core. Keep up the good work. You have my vote and 5 stars!

[ch5]

Thanks for your support!
Your whip sounds great ^^

[salomon1996]

hello again! :) this instructable is AWESOME! well, i finished my whip, but the only problem is i cant get the star not on the end of the handle, any tips? i will post some pics soon. THANKS!!

[ch5]

I answered that earlier in the comments already: Once you've tied the knot on the table, it will very loosely fit around the nails head. What makes it hold is the very tight matthew walker's knot tied with the remaining strands around the base of the handle. Then just cut the ends of the remaining strands so a few millmeters are left, melt them, and smear around the knot's end like an O-ring. Also, when beginning the knot , i dont melt 6 strands together like on the suggested website but rather cross 3 middled strands "over/under" like In the following. It helps saving some space.( you could also thread them through each orher like in step 15,pic 3 to save some more and make the tying easaier.)

[salomon1996]

well, i tied my star knot, but i didn't do what the picture above suggests(at that time i had no idea what you were talking about in the other comment) and when i make my mathew walker knot, it just slides right off, it was tight too. any suggestion?(sorry if i am getting annoying with all my questions)

[salomon1996]

here are some PICS!

[ch5]

It looks nice in beige too :) I think that from the pics I understand what's going on: The melted part on your knot seems to take up a lot of space from inside the knot, and therefore you're just putting the knot close to the nail tip before tying it, leaving all the strain on the matthew walker. It should look more like the following illustration ( fear the epic paint skillz ^^ ) Using one of the 2 techniques I mentionned for beggining the knot will probably help a lot. The nail's head is supposed to be stuck inside the knot after it is tied and dressed. It will fit loosely. I hope this helps.

[salomon1996]

that helps a lot! thank you! i will remake the star knot, hopefully, and see if that works.

[runowicz]

hey! great instructable - i've made a whip of my own in a few hours :) could you please come up with a formula to calculate particular lengths of paracord for different whip lengths? is it just proportions i'm looking for or is there more to it? all the best, tomek

[ch5]

That's the question I most get since I published this instructable.
But unfortunately, I don't know of any ratio for this.
Especially since many things might make it may vary such as :your plaiting style , the initial materials, the thickness of your differents layers...
I think using simple ratios based on this example should be close to what you'd need, but i'd recommend extanding them a bit , just in case.
That's the only whip I've made so far so I lack data to make the estimates more accurate, but if you happen to try it with other lengths, I'd be interested in the outcome ( lengths you used, length reached, leftovers..)

I'm glad you like it, thanks for your support ;)
( You're from Poland ?Right? )

[runowicz]

Thanks for responding. In fact I've made the one to your measurements for my kid (who is really into indiana jones at the mo) but had so much fun doing it, that i'd love to make another, possibly longer. The question is not so much about the length of the plating but about the guts. Logically the guts determine the length of the plating, so I can figure them out. It is just a question of dropping the thickness at the right points. How did you come up with the lengths? Did you just eyeball it? And, yes, I'm very much from Poland (Warsaw at the mo) :) All The Best, tomek

[ch5]

The exact place where the whip gets thinner isn't really critical.
Even I didn't 100% follow the exact measurements I give here.
To make it neat , if the whip is 5 sections long,thinning every 1/5 will probably work fine for the guts, maybe with the end segment slightly longer than the others.
You might also want to add additionnal sections ( and a corresponding number of pair of strands to the plaits) to the whip If you want to make it longer.

Since they're 3 layers, when making each one, drop thicknes 1/3 way of the underlying layer to get an even progression.

I made a ( crappy ^^' ) diagram to better explain it below:
Black bars are the gut sections, blue is the first layer, red is the second one.
vertical green marks show points where the whip loses thickness, note that they end up evenely spaced.

I hope this helps.
( I was born in Warsaw btw ;) )

[runowicz]

thanks a lot :) now i have enough info to figure it out :) (as for you being born in warszawa, well .. it's a small world already, and it's getting smaller by the minute :) regards, tomek

[wangerton]

so I'm layin on the couch snappin my paracord bullwhip around the room like I tend to do when I decided to revisit your instructable.
After perusing the comments for quite some time I realized no-one has actually posted a pic of a bullwhip they made using your directions.
So here is some photographic whippage for your ogle-ing pleasure. It aint perfect but neither am I. Your instructable was excellent, well written, easy to follow, at least if a dullard like myself could do it, well, you know.

[ch5]

Hi, thanks for posting some pics, as you mentionned it I didn't get that much graphic feedback on this instructable, it's nice to see some.
Also thanks for your support, doing this instructable took some work, and i'm glad people find it clear enough to follow.
I hope you have fun with your hand made supersonic toy :)

[Spy_64]

After many many hours over several weeks of evenings, I have complete my own using these instructions. I have made a few changes including larger lamp chain... which I think ultimately is the cause of mine being a bit shorter; from the tip of the handle to the tip of the fall it is 7ft. 3in. to the tip of the cracker it is 8ft. 3in. Lookng at your star knot and handle compaired o mine, I believe the spike I used for the handle was a bit larger, but it tapers nicely to the whip. I had to use more material in the plaiting for some reason I cannot explain and still ended up too short on the plaiting. Also, I think I pulled the plaiting too tight, as my whip is very rigid and in some spots was not able to hide the drop strands very well because I could not slide the bottom strands up enough to hide them. I thought the red stripe would make the whip stand out a bit more. Like yours, I fastened the star knot with a Mathew Walker knot, but I crowned the star knot to fill the hole in the end and have three passes through the rabbit holes. I put a turks head on to mark the top of the handle. Unfortunately, I did not know how to hide the ends to the Matthew Walker or the Turks head nicely, so there is a small dot where I melted the ends where each string came out. Also, I cut the ends off short and melted them to the half hitch knots where the fall attaches because I got ahead of the instructions, where you left the ends just cut short, but it ended up looking fairly nice regardless. I didn't have any medium diameter string, so I made the cracker out of some of the guts from the cord and it worked extremely well. This whip cracks incredibly loud and easy. All in all, I am very happy with the results of my first attempt. I think my next will go faster and a bit smoother. There are a few things I may put my own twist on with the next one. One of the bigger changes I may make next time is using shrink tubing in place of duct tape. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and expertise on this project, I enjoyed doing this immensely. (c;

[ch5]

Hi, your whip looks very nice :)
I featured your comment so everybody can see the results near the top of the page. I also planned on using multiple color strands, but didn't have long enough strands of matching colors at the time.
How many orange strands did you use ? My guess from the pattern would be one ?
Very nicely done, and thanks for your support :)

[Spy_64]

I have found that mosquito cord works exceptionally well for a cracker. Light weight, super strong, flexible and small diameter (1/16"). Its sheathed with nylon like paracord but has a twisted pair of very tough nylon string in the core.

[WataAtaCrackahJack]

good stuff... here are pictures of a few whips I have made, and by the way I'm only 16 so I'm sorry if the picrtures don't look very "professional" XD

The 100 % complete ones are shown in close ups, the 8ft blue one is gutted paracord with simple round diamond and tripled 4 strand plaiting on the handle, the black one is a 10 ft 8 plait "Indy" Bullwhip made of... the DIYer's best friend Duct Tape

[ch5]

These look nice !
I was wondering: how good does the duct tape one perform?
What did you use on the inside ?
It looks great.Did you fold the tape strips lengthwise to get a thinner non-sticky band ?
I

[Spy_64]

I finally made my second whip. Black and pink. Took about a week to make. I used mosquito cord for the crkacker... best thing I have found yet, works amazingly. Also, instead of using duct tape for wrapping the core, I used light automotive shrink tubing. I was hesitant at first, but it made the whip less rigid and really gave it more crack. This whip ended up being 10ft. from handle to cracker.

[ch5]

Sweet :)
I guess you only used one ping doubled strand to achieve this pattern ?
( I'm stressing that so people could have various recipies for differnt patterns from the comments )

Nicely done!

[yamnitram]

Hey CH5,
brilliant set of instructions. Time estimate right on and what an excellent whip to end up with. The missus and I went into the back garden and were breaking the sound barrier within minutes. Excellent. Thank you

[ch5]

Thanks for your comments :)
I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Any pics ?

[yamnitram]

Hi CH5
Here are a couple of photos.
Rather than a nail I used an old kite strut for the handle. I lengthened the first four strands to run the length of the handle as I thought it would hold together better. To finish off I screwed a round head brass head screw up the center of the rod. I am contemplating doing a knot on the end of the handle but having tied it in larger rope the thought of doing it in paracord is giving me the willies. Maybe I will just polish the screw head and call it a day as it does look nice and works very well.
thanks again
Martin

[essigurken]

Great design, excellent and clear instructable. I've been working on mine on and off for a while, and just finished it. Figured I'd share.

I didn't have much luck with the knot you used to secure the cracker, so I made up my own. pictures and video below.

[ch5]

Awesome ! thanks for sharing the pictures :)

[ch5]

Thanks :)
Seeing all those pictures makes me wish i had much more time to try out all those color variations.

[camcm95]

is this step important/ any ways around this?

[amayameda]

Yes. If you don't twist them, the whip will have a natural "fall". This ISN'T necessarily a bad thing. That means it will crack best when held a certain way. Although this takes a bit more of a learning curve for making noise, it usually makes the whip far more accurate. Just remember: Always point the natural bend (aka "fall") AWAY from the direction you want to crack in. It's counter-intuitive, but it works.

[tech dawg]

I have two questions. How much does that amount of paracord cost and what do you need the chain for?

[ch5]

I bought mine in europe for around 35€ for 100m.
The chain is used to weight the whip.

[tech dawg]

Thx!

[rahkshi95]

I'm thinking of making one of these and I was wondering...
how long was the nail you used for the handle?
also, where did you buy your paracord?
BTW, great Instructable!

[ch5]

Hi, the size of the nail really isn't critical.

Just pick up what's available in your local area.It should be something that feels comfortable as a small handle, 1.5 to 2 times the length of your closed fist.

I live in europe (France)  where paracord is really little known.

I ordered it online from a very small website specialised in importing it there for an decent price with no additional port: http://booshcraft.eu.

Since then i think you could also get it from ebay or amazon for even less depending on where you live.

[hatfielda]

This is about the coolest thing I have seen. I have built 4 now, Khaki/maroon, maroon/khaki, black, and zebra (which is awesome). I have people complainting all over the neighborhood. It sounds like a small rifle. My kids can pick a leaf on a tree and remove it, they are trying to hit thrown objects. Thanks a million.

I have two questions

1) Could you make a suggestion to modify this to be a stockman's whip?

2) Would you mind making the instructable that would show how to make the whip head. I have tried a couple of tutorials online and I have not gotten it right yet.

Peace, Andy

[ch5]

Sorry for answering so late but I've been kinda busy lately.



1) I havent tried it yet, but thought about it. The way I'd go would be:

- When making the inner layer ( the part where you'd tie the strands around the nail ) I would obviously remove the nailn and use doubled strands instead of individual strands.

Then I would make a small loop at the folded end by twisting  a pair of them together. and secure them all together with a manrope knot or a couple crown knots.

Then i'd go on similarly to the rest of the instructions.

It's hard do explain in text, so here's a picture of sometihing close i found online.

Only picture this without the metal stuff, and with the braided part twisted instead of braided.Then a manrope knot where the green whipping is.



2 ) You mean the star knot for the handle ?

Unfortunately it's a knot that's easy to show but really hard to explain online.The ressource I give in the instruction is the really best I've found.

I'm afraid you'll have to try it out several times before you get it right, don't give up, it took me some tries to get it right for the first time, just pay real attention to every single word used in the tutorial.



Also, since I got my metal lathe, I was planning on making some sort of 3-in-1 whip handle.

It would be basically a snake whip but whith a hollow handle, and then you could screw in a hard handle to make it a bullwhip, or a piece witha loop on it's end to make it a stockwhip.But (unfortunately?) I've got soooo many other "new" projects to do before going back to whips and won't be putting that to test before a long time.



Have fun !

[camcm95]

did u twist them with the beads inside?

[ch5]

Yep

[camcm95]

2x 5m -> 4x 2,5 whats this mean? and how do u measure out if u wanted color? which ones would be which ex.black and orange