Isn't it typical when....

Harrison_Davies · Post by **Harrison_Davies** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 11:38 am

you've just literally learnt to crack1 hour ago, scare the dog and create that gunshot sound, spread your lips in a wide wide smile with satisfaction...only to lose your cracker...

what a bummer.

Ripper · Post by **Ripper** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 11:50 am

That or the old neighbor lady comes out and gives you the evil eye......

Post by **Michaelson** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 11:53 am

Nope. Usually I've swung the whip, wrapped the whip around my head AFTER scaring the dog immediately after the cracker has just clipped my calf and I fall ON the dog after losing my balance from hopping around on one leg and making whimpering noises....

But no....I've never lost a cracker in the performance of the above action.....and I never smile either when this occurs.8-[

Regards! Michaelson

Ripper · Post by **Ripper** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 12:19 pm

Swindiana · Post by **Swindiana** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 7:08 pm

That's why you have 10 readily made spare ones in your Mk VII/Fedora/Wested/Back pocket...

I recognize it somewhat though. The very last crack for the session with all the muscle you've got to 'go out with a bang', and the popper is vanished in thin air. It seems to happen when you give the whip all you've got before you go home. Weird.

Just get some good material and learn how to make crackers yourself. It's really quite easy and totally worth the small effort in the long run, and I don't even crack that much.

I think I've seen cartoons of what Michaelson described and would love to see that in real life, if it's humanly possible that is. I too smile at stuff I haven't seen sometimes.

Regards,
Swindiana

Harrison_Davies · Post by **Harrison_Davies** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 5:31 am

What are they made of? I've tried mailing Winrich Whips to ask how to order but so far no reply.

Kt Templar · Post by **Kt Templar** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 6:16 am

Harrison_Davies wrote:What are they made of? I've tried mailing Winrich Whips to ask how to order but so far no reply.

Adam will tell you to learn to make your own.

They are really easy to make, the slight problem is getting the right stuff to make them out of. In America it's called baling twine.

Over here that's pretty hard to find, you need some type of polyproplene or a waxed twine. Green gardening string will work. If you go to one of the big diy chains they will have lot's of different gauges of string and rope. The main issue is finding some in black.

You may actually have better luck in a small local hardwareshop. The twine itself is quite thin maybe 1mm dia?

ok this is how to do it:

Cut yourself a piece of twine maybe a metre long.

Tie one end to a hook or a nail. Tie the other end to a pen or something.

Twist, twist, twist the pen. You'll see the twine start to double up on itself.

Keep twisting but keep the twine taut. Once it seems so tight that you can't keep it from doubling up on itself place one finger at the centre point of the twine and then fold it in half, it will twist together. The loop were you folded it will be the bit that attaches to your fall.

Cut the end at the nail and on the pen and tie a knot 2-3 inches up and fluff the end.

There's your cracker.

You'll need to experiment as to how long you want it to be and as to how tight you want it to be too.

Harrison_Davies · Post by **Harrison_Davies** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 10:54 am

Blimey thanks....

Bufflehead Jones · Post by **Bufflehead Jones** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 1:47 pm

Here you go, order some of this stuff.

Harrison_Davies · Post by **Harrison_Davies** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 1:51 pm

Bufflehead Jones wrote:Here you go, order some of this stuff.

Thank Buff...do you have a recommendation from that page?

Bufflehead Jones · Post by **Bufflehead Jones** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 2:03 pm

Size 138 black nylon bonded

You'll have a lifetime supply of poppers.

Harrison_Davies · Post by **Harrison_Davies** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 2:13 pm

Thanks again...

Harrison_Davies · Post by **Harrison_Davies** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 2:55 pm

Bought an 8 oune ball, gonna split that with a user here...wonder how many i mess up before i perfect the technique.

wonder if there's a market for poppers?

Swindiana · Post by **Swindiana** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 9:36 pm

I think there might be on the planet where your left/right socks and lost pens end up through the unlocated black hole in your home.

Regards,
Swindiana

Post by **BullWhipBorton** » Sun Sep 03, 2006 11:42 pm

Hi, You can also try going to your local fabric store and purchase a spool of nylon upholstery thread. I usually use Coats & Clark brand which is widely available here in the States, it's a bit thinner then the stuff you ordered but you can double it up. It works well and comes in assorted colors. It is also pretty cheep, a small spool s only a few bucks and i usually get 20 to 25 poppers made from a single spool.

There are several tutorial on making poppers on the web so you shouldn't have too much trouble, figuring out how to make them, if you do we can help you out. Nylon Mason twin works nice too, and Baling twine is a cheaper alternative, but if you do a lot of cracking, like i do you'll find that the bailing twine poppers will wear down much faster and require changing more often. Thought they work better for couple handed whip cracking as they are less likely to tangle.

Poppers occasionally break off at the knot from use anyway, but cracking your whip a little softer and keeping your falls well dressed with a good leather dressing will make that less likely. Anyway, search the web and read though the archives here you'll find more information on how to make your own poppers.. Good luck.

Dan

Harrison_Davies · Post by **Harrison_Davies** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 4:34 am

Thanks for the additional info any help is always appreciated.

bleyd · Post by **bleyd** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 2:02 pm

Is there a written tutorial out there? I have some Kevlar thread that may work. It's not black but I can live with that. Bout how much does one need to make them?

Post by **BullWhipBorton** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 5:32 pm

Bleyd, First Keep in mind that Kevlar poppers while great for cutting targets are not so great for general whip cracking. Kevlar thread is brittle, so poppers made from it wear down pretty quick with general whip cracking. They can also nick or cut into your whip if you accidentally hit it or get the popper tangled in the whip while cracking it.

Some of the other common materials folks use to make whip poppers are baling twine, decoy cord, the inner strands of parachute cord, nylon mason twine, nylon upholstery thread, horse hair. I have even heard of them being made from dental floss or artificial sinew. Play around with what materials you have available to you to see what works best for you and your whip.

With that said, Bernie has a great tutorial at his site that shows one way to make a popper. www.em-brand-whips.com/makepopper.htm another can be found at www.whip-maintanence.com/popper.html

Good luck!

Dan

Harrison_Davies · Post by **Harrison_Davies** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 5:47 am

Awesome demonstration, should have no problem making them from that.

Thanks

Harrison_Davies · Post by **Harrison_Davies** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 5:48 am

I just want to say thanks Todd for the replacement Whip Holder.

VP · Post by VP » Wed Sep 06, 2006 7:34 am

BullWhipBorton wrote:get the popper tangled in the whip while cracking it.

That happens to me a lot, btw.

JAN · Post by **JAN** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 9:38 am

Bernie at "em-brand-whips" has a real fine tutorial about making/changing
poppers.

Have a look:

http://www.em-brand-whips.com/makepopper.htm

Best regards

JAN

Edit:
Danng.. BullWhipBorton just wrote this

Harrison_Davies · Post by **Harrison_Davies** » Fri Sep 15, 2006 9:50 am

Well the thread finally arrived all 1,327 meters of it haha.

Using the tutorial with one modification...

Use 6 outstretched arm lengths, folded into roughly a 2 foot length. (used my memory of what my old one looked like thickness wise)

Tied one end and twist about 120-130 times till this rather thin thread folded on itself and tied off to make a thicker and great sounding popper.

KT Templar (Jason) not sure how im gonna divide this bobbin... its an industrial size lol. I am willing to make you some poppers...I make em good....

Bufflehead Jones · Post by **Bufflehead Jones** » Fri Sep 15, 2006 3:43 pm

Harrison, I hate to tell you this, but those look exactly like the poppers that David Morgan sent me with my whip. Great job!

VP · Post by VP » Fri Sep 15, 2006 3:47 pm

Yeah same here. Looks like _the_ stuff. Let's see what I can come up with with Finnish stuff.

Harrison_Davies · Post by **Harrison_Davies** » Fri Sep 15, 2006 3:53 pm

Bufflehead Jones wrote:Harrison, I hate to tell you this, but those look exactly like the poppers that David Morgan sent me with my whip. Great job!

Cool, you should see the first two I made hehe

Cracked it now though.

Post by **BullWhipBorton** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 2:14 am

The popper you made looks pretty good to me.

Dan

Harrison_Davies · Post by **Harrison_Davies** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 10:56 am

BullWhipBorton wrote:The popper you made looks pretty good to me.

Dan

Thanks a lot....it sounds awesome too.

VP · Post by VP » Tue Sep 19, 2006 6:27 am

Got a MP3?

VP · Post by VP » Sat Sep 30, 2006 8:20 am

Here's what I came up with:

Top - Used Joe Strain
Middle - Mine
Bottom - Un-used Joe Strain

Harrison_Davies · Post by **Harrison_Davies** » Sat Sep 30, 2006 8:45 am

Yay! Really good...we are now official cracker makers.

VP · Post by VP » Sat Sep 30, 2006 8:53 am

I'm using Brownell's Nylon Serving Thread No. 4, BTW. 100 yards for 6 euros at the local archery shop.

But man that un-used JS is perfect.

Harrison_Davies · Post by **Harrison_Davies** » Sat Sep 30, 2006 11:44 am

VP wrote:But man that un-used JS is perfect.

What do you mean VP? I'm a little slow today.

Btw which tutorial did you follow?

VP · Post by VP » Sat Sep 30, 2006 11:47 am

The bottom one, a cracker that came with my whip and that hasn't been used yet. I used the one at Em Brand Whips by Bernie Wojcicki.

Harrison_Davies · Post by **Harrison_Davies** » Sat Sep 30, 2006 11:52 am

Yeah, well no doubt he's made zillions so they will be perfect. Practice makes...sore fingers...

Swindiana · Post by **Swindiana** » Sat Sep 30, 2006 10:07 pm

I just use a pen and my teeth and it's perfect all the time. One minute and the cracker/popper is done with whatever material or length that I like. Spin it around until enough tension and you can calibrate it a bit afterwards by smoothing it out between thumb and index finger if necessary. IF it tangles to much, try a different material.

Regards,
Swindiana

Post by **BullWhipBorton** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 2:02 am

Not bad VP... Now make more.

One of best tutorials I’ve seen for making poppers so far is on Paul Stenhouse’s dvd. Its how I make mine with some moderation and it produces a nice popper fairly easily with out too much effort.

and go to http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/3737/poppers3sg5.jpg to view a higher res image of some of the poppers I make.

To get started you need a weighted hook (1 1/2 to 2lbs works well) as well as another hook imbedded into a stationary object, like a shelf or workbench. Tea hooks work perfectly. Some twine material and a pair of scissors.

After making the initial 8 or 10 loops of nylon thread take hold of top of the strands in one hand. Then using your other hand attach the bottom of the loop to the weighted hook. The stands will tighten up with the weight. Spin the weight counter clockwise to twist the thread and twist it to the point where the thread has just enough tension in it to where it starts to kink. Keeping the twisted nylon tight, loop it over and around the hook bringing the top end in your fingertips to the weighted hook. Then loop that (top) end down it to the weighted hook and let go, the nylon will twist up on its own and the weight will keep it tight so that it twists together evenly. You may have to smooth it out a lil with your fingers as it twists just to help it along. When it stops spinning, Slip it off the hooks, tie a knot in it and snip the end that was attached to the weighted hook to make your fray. Anyway just another method to try out and play around with, see how it works for you.

Dan

VP · Post by VP » Fri Oct 06, 2006 3:42 pm

Been making a few crackers lately. I got some polyester thread that I also tried. Since I discovered that small crackers create a sharper and a bit quieter pop, I decided to check if a huge one would create awesome sonic booms. So I made one that is about 12½ inches long.

Doesn't sound much louder than the regular 8" ones though.

Post by **BullWhipBorton** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 4:27 pm

VP try not to make your poppers too long. Over 8 or 9 inches and they start to want to float in the air or act as an air break of sorts and will actually work against you when the whip is thrown out, same if there’s too much fluff on the frayed end. Keep playing around with them though and trying out different materials. I find cotton and polyester threads do not hold up as well, but will work in a pinch. I’ve been meaning to try using silk thread. Many of the old time whip crackers would swear by silk and would keep a spare silk handkerchief with them so they could make poppers when they needed one.

Dan

VP · Post by VP » Mon Oct 09, 2006 7:13 am

Thanks for the tip. Yeah it's definitely harder to get good cracks out of the übercracker, so I'll stick with the original 8" size.