How to make a paracord flogger

In this tutorial I show you how to make a paracord flogger.

There are many flogger designs out there. I made this one by using a variety of whipmaking techniques. Because I have lately been featuring a variety of tutorials on turk’s head knots and braiding, I thought it would be a nice idea to put them to use in an actual project, hence the paracord flogger.

Due to my mostly cheerful nature I feel compelled to state the uses for the flogger:

That being said, let’s see how to make this flogger.

Supplies

I used supplies I had around and what I thought would be most functional:

The paracord flogger tutorial

We start by cutting our cord. I cut 6 cords of the same length for the body and the falls (the cords made for hitting). These will be folded in half over the steel ring, meaning that the actual length needs to be double the final length of the flogger.

Fold your cords in half and place the O ring at the middle.

Wrap the handle portion of the flogger. You can use electric tape or sinew, I use the inner strands of paracord.

I used the constrictor knot to start and finish the wrap. The tighter the wrap, the rounder and firmer it will be. In my case the handle is very stiff, almost like it had a wooden/metal core.

Handle after being wrapped with an inner strand. In fact, several strands were used for the entire length. Starting with a constrictor knot, as well as finishing. Before running out completely, I added a new one strand, and still used the previous one to wrap over the new one.

The next step is plaiting over the core made by wrapping it. There are several patterns to choose from, including the herringbone plait (I used this one), diamond plait, round/checkerboard plait or even the gaucho braid.

Whichever you choose, start at the bottom of the handle. The secret to a nice looking plait is the tightening process. The tightening should start the moment you start moving your cord, so it should be under tension almost the entire time.

Shawn Evans was kind enough to remind me that rolling the plait after it is done, be it between two boards or just by placing it on the ground and rolling it with your foot will let the braid sit even nicer.

To secure the top of the braid (at the top of the handle), another wrap is made the same way we used for the core.

This will ensure the braid stays put.

The wrap at the top is then covered with a decorative knot. You can do with a 5L4B turk’s head, a gaucho knot (I used the gaucho) or any other decorative knot you feel like using.

You can also see that I have cut the cords used for the braid. You can easily cut more of the ends, hide them under the knot or just let them fall to have even more ends to strike with.

I also covered the start of the plait at the bottom by using a spanish ring knot. I really like the look of this one, although in retrospect, I think I will be using a wider turk’s head in my future floggers.

I gutted the ends of the falls to finish.

Waxing the flogger, especially the handle should be considered (whips are often dipped in wax- careful not to have the wax too hot though when dipping, or you will ruin the cord).

The video walkthrough may come in handy as well:

With that, the flogger is complete. Thank you for joining me on this project, it has been fun and I do plan on making a variety of these, trying out different handle lengths and plaiting styles.