So this is about a whip top experiment that I forgot to post about years ago. Well actually I did, but only briefly, I think just because I'm not done with the experiment yet. It all started when some whip top videos were posted here on the forum and I desperately wanted to try one, so set about to make my own. My first attempt was a chunk of Hickory (or was it Locust?) from my yard, with a nail as a tip. The whip handle was a piece of cane that also grew in my yard. Not much success with this first attempt, I could spin it but I couldn't whip it much at all. The top being solid and the whip having little weight and no taper were overwhelming hindrances. I was happy to donate this to Mike Hout's hall of fame.
So the next version I made out of a PVC pipe, a scrap 2x4, and a nail. I started researching whips a little and tried some latex tubing for weight. I did a smaller version and drilled a hole in one side in an attempt to make it whistle, and to my surprise it did indeed whistle when spinning fast. I quickly dropped that experiment because who knows how much time I would have spent perfecting the whistle feature, after all, I was here to make a whip top... or so I thought.
https://youtu.be/76oV8M3FK18This trial was much better, but it did not seem like I was getting much whipping action (lol). This is when I accidentally developed another obsession; whip making. Rob Tsou sent me some links and info, and suddenly my living room was covered in para cord. I have a video about my first whip on facebook;
https://www.facebook.com/Yophosis/videos/t.1353841832/1676494836250/?type=2&theaterI plaited three different whips (none for whip tops) before I was able to put the hobby down for a while. Later I found some easier methods for making whips that would be good for whip tops. Adam Winrich has a great video on making whips fast and cheap:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOcRZrESYCII took the the large pvc whip top and a better version of the latex whip to Kansas City Juggling Festival last year. Everybody wanted to whip the top, well not everybody... everybody who was not whipping the top wanted the guy who was whipping the top... to stop.