Micro Pocket Snakewhip

These micro snakewhips are very compact, measuring 21 inches from the heal knot to the fall hitch. They do crack and are incredibly easy to carry around because they fit effortlessly into any pocket. They consist of a shot loaded core, a 4 strand belly, and an 8 strand overly. This is a great beginning whipmaking project due to its low time and material requirements. It takes me about an hour from start to finish to make on of these little whips.

Step 1: Making the Core

Cut a 17'' length of paracord. This will be the core of the whip. to prepare the core to be filled with bbs, you will need to twist and melt the core 6 inches in to form a stopper for the bbs.

Step 2: Filling the Core With BBs

Begin feeding bbs into the longer end of the paracord, pushing them as far as they will go into the core. Continue adding bbs until the longer side of the core is completely filled.

Step 3: The Belly

For the one and only plaited belly you will need to to cut two 19'' lengths of paracord. Follow the above gif to attach the strands to the core then begin plaiting following the pattern under 1 over 1 alternating taking the upper left and upper right hand strand. Once you have plaited for 3-4 inches you will need to tie of the strands in a way that tapers. Begin by tying off the top of the strands with artificial sinew. Then cut each strand with increasing length . Finally, wrap the remaining strand down and back up with artificial sinew, then tie off the sinew with grapevine hitching.

Step 4: Plaiting the Overlay

For the overlay you will need to cut 4 6ft strands. Attach them using the same method as the previous belly by treating pairs of two strands as one. Plait with 8 strands using the pattern under 2 over 2 until you reach the end of the bb loaded part of the core. Once at this point you will need to drop two strands. Continue plaiting with six strands until you reach the 15 inch mark using the pattern under 2 over 1. At 15 inches drop to 4 strand and plait to the 21 inch mark.

Step 5: Dropping Strands

Strand drops are done by pulling the strands to be dropped down into the core then plaiting over them as if they are part of the core. after about two inches of being plaited over, the dropped strands can then be trimmed. When you drop to 4 strands you will want to keep one of the dropped strands long so the whip can reach its full length of 21 inches.

Step 6: Making the Fall and Fall Hitch

To make a fall we are going to cut an approximately 2 foot length of paracord. We will then thread a lacing needle on to one end of the paracord and lace the paracord back through itself at it’s halfway mark. We will then cut and fuse one end of the paracord and leave a small loop on the other. The fall hitch will then be tied with a series of half hitches tied around the fall using the 4 plaited strands. (See Video)

Step 7: Heel Knot

For the heel knot we will attach a leather foundation, then tie a 5 by 4 turks head knot around it. (See Video)