For whip #10 I’ve made a departure from the standard bull whip and built a 6 foot stock whip.  The difference between the two is in how the handle is attached to the thong. A bull whip has the handle built into the thong and a stock whip has a separate handle (stock) that is attached to the thong by a pair of loops called keepers. Traditionally the stocks were wooden, most often a type of cane, but any stout,light wood would suffice. It was made separately so that if it broke it could be easily replaced without having to make another complete whip. the thongs are generally thinner than bull whips, often just a 4 plait of kangaroo hide wrapped around a single leather strand core. Some times the thong was loaded with shot and sometimes the stock would have a lead weight in the heel knot as an added weapon.

I used a 6 foot core of hollowed paracord loaded with BBs for the first foot and then wrapped with artificial sinew.

The 6 belly strands are flat woven in the middle for about 4 inches and folded over to form the 12 plait. The flat braid is one layer of the keeper that attaches the thong to the stock. The core is inserted into the belly and the plaiting continues about two/thirds the length of the core.

8 strands of alternating colors (OD green and chocolate brown) are also flat braided using a type of braid called a double-sided 8-strand flat braid (ABoK 2996), looped over the belly keeper and plaited using a 16 strand diamond plait for the first 8 inches then transitioning into a herringbone plait for most of the rest of the thong, dropping strands until there are only 6 left and then transitioning back into a diamond plait that terminates in a traditional fall hitch.

The fall is a 24 inch weighted length of paracord and the 12 inch  cracker is made of Dyneema.

I didn’t have any wood that I thought was suitable for the stock so I cut a 20 inch length of 1/4 inch steel rod and, using newspapers, athletic tape, and synthetic sinew I built it up to about 5/8ths of an inch at the thickest part, then braided another 6 strand flat braid in the middle of 6 strands of cord, folded it over and plaited a 12 plait layer down the length of the handle.

Finally I repeated the same 8 strand braid as on the thong and then wove a 16 strand diamond plait down the stock. About 2/3rds of the way down I switched to a herringbone plait for about 8 inches and then back to a diamond plait to finish it off in order to give a bit of separation to the hand grip.  The final step was to tie a 15 part, 8 bight type 1 pineapple knot over a leather foundation for the heel knot

The thong and the stock keepers are then threaded through each other and the whip was waxed.

The finished whip