Coral Snake Stockwhip

The coral snake pattern has been one of my most popular patterns for cow whips. Back in April, a lady placed an order for a 4ft Australian stockwhip with that same pattern. At first I didn’t make any guarantees on if I could do it on a stockwhip.

With stockwhips, the keeper is a flat 6 plait that is changed to a round 12 plait to make the thong. This makes the pattern somewhat unpredictable until you actually lay it out and start plaiting. I knew every plait had to be in just the right place to make this happen. The good news is that I was able to make the pattern and it resulted in one of the finest nylon stockwhips I have made to date.

Here’s the whole thing:

Here’s the the keeper. My first couple of attempts at making stockwhip keepers left a lot to be desired. I am indebted to Tony Layzell for giving me some pointers this part; he actually took the initiative to get in touch with me to help. Not many plaiters will do that. Unbeknownst to me, Tony had pretty much perfected the nylon stockwhip before I started developing my own.  So while I hate to look like a copy-cat, I also recognize when it makes no sense to reinvent the wheel.

The plaited handle is made of light weight toheti cane and covered with a 16 plait. I decided to go with 2-tone turkshead knots to dress it up a bit.

Here’s the 7 part, 6 bight turkshead up close. This is the first whip I’ve made with this particular knot. I put a “12 gauge” concho on the end just for fun.

To order one of my nylon Australian stockwhips, visit my order page or email me @ Rhettswhips@yahoo.com for more information.