What is a whip?

A whip is a tapered cord, that by conservation of momentum, exceeds the speed of sound, emitting a loud sonic CRACK! Whips are generally made of tapered leather strips, braided together. Heavier whips, like Indiana Jones's whip, are made of many layers of leather braid, on top of each other, and often over a core of lead shot, to add weight. Less expensive whips can be made out of nearly anything, from common rope (nylon, cotton, hemp, sisal) to toilet paper! (note: I haven't actually tried this, but believe that it's possible.)

What makes up a whip?

Well, the handle of a whip is called, well, a handle. The braided portion is called the braid, or the thong. At the end of the braid is a single skinny piece of leather or rope, and attached to this is usually a narrow (1/16 in.) cord, that is frayed the last two inches. This is called a cracker or popper, and greatly improves the crack. The cracker needs to be replaced periodically.

What kinds of whips are available?

Bullwhips: Long (6-12 ft usually), heavy, slower-moving whips with rigid handles integrated into the braid. Indiana Jones had a bullwhip. Designed to crack loud enough to stop a charging bull dead in its tracks.

Stockwhips: Very long (8+ ft), skinnier, faster moving whips designed for herding cattle. Popular down under with ranchers. Characterized by a seperate, long handle, attached to the whip on a sort of flexible swivel knot.

Snakewhips: Basically a bullwhip without a handle. Smaller snakes can be coiled and carried in a pocket.

Signal whips: A short (around 4 ft.) whip, usually of nylon, made for driving sled-dogs. Supposedly, the dogs can be trained to turn based on what direction the crack is directed in. These whips are one-piece whips; the fall and cracker are braided into the whip and are not easy to replace.

Why?

Lots of noise, some danger, you never run out of shells, and it's okay if you miss -- hitting things is bad! Sport cracking is good excerise, teaches you new skills, can make an interesting conversation starter (refer to Indiana Jones -- everyone likes him and people won't think you're into S & M, unless you want that). The crack of a whip was once used to drive animals, and I'd bet that a good one might scare away a wild animal. Or a less then determined criminal, like a common mugger. A determined person would probably just rush you with their weapon.

Sounds fun, but I don't want to part with my cash. Can you tell me how to make one?

Certainly! I recommend making a simple pocket snake. I made mine from my family's supply of quarter-inch nylon camping rope, a 1/8 in. nylon cord, and about a foot of nylon twine for the cracker. It's about 5.5 ft long, including cracker and fits quite nicely in my coat pocket, and can squeeze into my jeans pocket. I can produce cracks that sound about as loud, perhaps a little louder than a 22 rifle.

First, you need to find your rope. You want to plan this out. Figure out what pieces you can make from your rope(s). You want a gradual taper. If you have a long, skinny cord, this should be the longest. Have that for the entire length of the whip, then say add two cords a foot later, braid them, add a cord to that a foot later, braid that... whatever. You'll figure it out. I've rebraided my whip more times than I can remember (over 20). Remember, the braid doesn't have to be exactly balanced; the whip should taper evenly, though. Make sure you start at the skinny end, so you don't have to tie the little end into a big, ugly, bad-physics knot (you can tie the handle end though).

You need to decide how you're going to braid this. A simple 3 plait flat braid will work alright, but doing a round braid is SO much better, even if you only do it for part of the way.

To do a 4-plait round braid, you secure the four sections somehow, then take them, two in each hand, then cross the center two. Lets say the left-center part is over the right-center one. Take the far-right portion, bring it around the braid, under the far-left portion, and over the center-left portion, so that the center-right plait is over the center-left plait. Then do the reverse; take the far-left portion, around, under the far-right portion, over the center-right portion. Repeat until you are done braiding. While braiding, the tighter you braid, the better the whip. I recommend that you take the occasional break.

Once you get it all braided, you need to attach the cracker to the end. You can just take a foot or so of twine, and tie it on. It's better if you make a twisted cracker, though. Take around two feet of twine and tie the middle of that to the end of the fall somehow. The cracker should be tied onto the fall, not the cracker and the fall tied together -- makes a smaller knot and makes it a lot easier to replace the cracker. Take the two ends, and twist each in turn until it starts to bunch up, then tie a knot a couple inches from the end and let go. It'll magically twist together and you have now made your first whip! Congratulations!

Okay, I got it together, now how do I crack this thing?

Well, first off, before you try it, I recommend wearing a heavy coat, a wide-brimmed hat, some safety glasses, and long pants. Ear protection comes later.

You can snap it like a wet towel, but that is pretty lame, and I always end up hurting myself doing it.

The easiest crack is to have the whip at rest, then to toss it slowly but steadily over your shoulder, then throw it forward. Like fly fishing. If you do it right, the whip will form a loop in it, which will travel down the braid to the cracker, where it exceeds the speed of sound, producing a pop. Timing is everything. Once you get it right (don't give up!), you can try doing it at an angle: toss the whip over your left shoulder (assuming you are right-handed), then toss it forward, at the same angle. Try doing it over your head! Experiment! With practice, you'll know what you can do and what will end up hurting.

You'll eventually be able to do the reverse of a crack, where you do just the opposite, for example, when doing the forward crack, have the whip go forward, then toss backwards. You can do the crack, then the reverse of the crack, to produce loud volleys of cracks. Good excercise!

Your writeup sucked and lacked information, where can I learn more?

There is a host of information available online. Use the force, Luke!