On accuracy ... The shortest distance between two points is a straight
line.
It is also the most accurate. So how does this relate to whips?
Well, this is how it breaks down. It's all a matter
of Calculus .I know, I know, your eyes just glassed over and you
are about to click on the next whip article. But stick with me for
a moment
and I'll try to explain it in a simple way.
Calculus very basically has to do with segmenting an arc
or circle. The smaller the segment the finer the arc. While whips do travel
relatively "in
line" in what ever plane they are traveling in. Whips as we all know also
travel in a sinusoidal wave form. This means that they create a loop down the
length of the whip until this loop terminates at the cracker. So the problem
then
... with regard to "pin point" accuracy and making a tight grouping
... is how to get this loop as small or as fine as possible thus approximating
a straight line as much as possible.
Now certain whips are better for this than others.
Bullwhip for example tend to be longer which give them the advantage
of time. By that I mean they have more time to develop the loop.
This is true with any long whip be it Bullwhip, snake whip, signal
whip or stock whip. Bullwhips , snake whips, and stock whips have
one advantage
over say a signal whip in that they have a fall where as a signal
whip has a braided in popper.when a whip has a braided in cracker
the
thong of the whip becomes tighter and carries more
mass
and
is less flexible where the cracker is joined to the whip, thus creating
a large straight segment in the arc at that particular point. This
is not conducive to creating a nice tight loop. When the loop travels
down
the whip and gets to the junction where the cracker is braided in
it flops to a certain extent, do to the added density and lack of
flexibility. This creates a wider arc with a flat spot. Which in
turn causes the cracker to float and thus makes it less accurate.
Now when you
add
a fall
you
are adding a piece of leather that is far more flexible than the
thong of the whip its self so when the loop in the whip gets to the
fall instead of widening the arc it actually tightens the arc reducing
the amount of float and making it far more accurate. Contrary to
popular belief the knot where a fall is attached to the thong of
the whip has far less effect on the flow of the loop than a braided
in cracker for all of the reasons I have already stated but also
because this knot presents a much smaller segment in the arc than
the junction of the cracker on a braided in cracker which is typically
4-6 inches long. This is why when you compare a snake whip to a signal
whip you will find that the snake whip is more accurate than the
signal whip They are basically the same whip with the exception of
the difference
in the way the crackers are attached.
Also contrary to popular belief a shorter whip does
not necessarily mean it is going to be more accurate. For instance
a 3ft. signal whip
will never be as accurate as a 6ft. bullwhip because the 3ft. signal
whip cannot make as tight a loop as the bullwhip can simply because
it
is too short for the loop to develope. While the 6ft. Bullwhip has
enough length in the thong to develop the loop and allow it to get
smaller at the cracker. this is also true with 3 ft. snake whips
but they compensate for their short comings by having a fall.
Oh and one last thing on the effects of signal whips
with changeable crackers. It never ceases to amaze me that the same
people that say it makes no difference
in whip performance to have a changeable cracker on a signal whip will then
go on to say that they change the popper to a different type to get different
effects like cutting targets or putting out candles or being softer on their
play partner. By doing this they negate the whole Idea that the changeable
cracker has no effect. Anyone who cracks bullwhips or any other whip for that
matter that has a changeable popper knows that the sound of the crack
changes with different types of material or different lengths.
I may be just splitting hairs here but that's just
me I am anal about this stuff. Just as I am anal about the way I
make my whips.
Of course you don't have to take my word for all this.
You can do the calculus your self. *grin*
Now if you really want to get geeky have a look at how Newton's Laws apply to a bullwhip.
