Black Snake

Whip #22 is an 8ft, solid black, nylon snake whip with a weighted twisted-tapered core, 2 bellies and a 16 plait overlay. It has an English eye fall hitch, a 30 inch double ended, weighted fall, and a 12 inch cracker made from Fast Flight+ bowstring. The heel knot is not actually a knot but a hand shaped piece of poplar that is epoxied to the thong. The joint between the heel piece and the thong is covered with a Spanish ring knot. The first 8 inches of the thong is plaited using a short herringbone plait before transitioning into a standard 16 strand whip maker’s plait.

The core is two strands of gutted paracord that are loaded with lead core line and twisted together to form a taper.

The taper is formed by dropping some of the strands as you twist. Here is the finished core.

The core is bound with artificial sinew

The first belly is an 8 plait that is also bound with artificial sinew. The start of the belly uses a diamond plait to add a little additional stiffness to the first 8 inches of the thong before transitioning to a whip maker’s plait. The belly ends by twisting the final two strands of the belly into the final strands of the core.

The second belly is a 12 plait also started using a diamond plait for the first 8 inches, then continuing with a whip maker’s plait. The last two strands of the belly are twisted into the last strands of the 1st belly. when the twist had tapered to only two strands I cut one of them shorter than the other and threaded it into the middle of the other to taper the belly even more. The belly is bound for the 1st foot or so to stiffen the handle section even more.

The overlay is plaited by cutting the two longest strands of the overlay, middling them and threading one inside the other for a couple on inches and then starting the 4 plait, adding the core and bellies after about 6 inches and then adding a strand every 6 inches or so until all 16 strands are being plaited for the last 1.5 to 2 foot of the thong. The last 8 inches are transitioned into a short herringbone to help stiffen this area of the thong and for a little decorative effect and all the strands are secured with artificial sinew, trimmed even and singed to keep from fraying. A hand formed poplar heel piece is drilled out to the same diameter as the thong and is epoxied over the last 2 inches of the thong, covering the sinew. I tied a 7 part, 10 bight, 3 pass Spanish ring know just under the heel piece to give a more finished look.

The English eye