Replacing a fall isn't all that hard!

Minnesota Jones · Post by **Minnesota Jones** » Tue Feb 11, 2003 9:47 am

Since we're going to Texas in.... what now, 2 days (yippee!), it was time to dust off the ol' 10 foot JS and get it ready for some whipcracking! It's been a couple months since I last cracked her (cold and snow and all....) and she's been on a wooden peg in the house all pecarded up. Now the fall was in bad shape. The white color was all but gone under a buildup of dirt and scuffs (this WAS my first whip and showed my learning curve of how to crack a whip on it's fall). So it was a perfect time to replace the fall, slap on a new popper, clean her up, and a little pecards for good measure.
Man, it's a brand new whip after all that. Replacing the fall is VERY easy if you take your time and follow the instructions. I had first thought you had to unweave the knot to remove it. ITG told me she did hers and it wasn't that bad, so I took the plunge. You just cut the old one off (be careful not to cut the thong!!!!!), and slip the new one in. That's basically it. I had a 6 foot JS as well I had out just to compare how it looked. Piece of cake. Then came a little saddle soap to wash the end of the thong up good after a half a year of use, let it dry, and a little pecards (a lot on the new fall) and by tomorrow nite, it'll be all set. Can't wait to crack her again!

Indiana Texas-girl · Post by **Indiana Texas-girl** » Tue Feb 11, 2003 11:15 am

Glad to hear it was a piece of cake!

The_Edge · Post by **The_Edge** » Tue Feb 11, 2003 11:26 am

Nice job! Being able to replace your own fall is essential if your going to be cracking whips on a regular basis. I'm glad to see you took the plunge.

Did you tighten up the hitch strands after the new fall was in place?

It's kind of scary when you replace on yourself the first time, huh? Just wait until you notice that the strands at the point are getting thin and you need to unbraid the thong a few inches and re-tie the the hitch around the fall. Talk about scary! Especially on a three to five hundred dollar whip! My advice is to start learning some very basic braiding (at least up to six plait) on some scrap leather and learn how that works and how the hitch is tied. Then when the time comes to work on a real whip it won't be so intimidating. I remember the first time I changed the fall on my DM453, my hands were shaking!

-Kyle

Sergei · Post by **Sergei** » Tue Feb 11, 2003 11:37 am

Congrats, MJ! If you are serious into whip cracking you need to master replacing the fall and doing it for the first time is scary. But in my opinion, it's easier replacing the fall then tying on a cracker. Really! The only tricky part is making sure that you don't harm the existing braids on the hitch or thong. Other than that it's a piece of cake.

Oh, BTW, on the Joe Strain whips, make sure to use a narrow fall. If you use Joe's falls that is not an issue. But I tried to replace a fall on one of Joe's whips and the fall I used was extremely wide (from another source). Joe's half hitches are sooooo tight and the tunnel so narrow that it was impossible to get in. In fact the replacement fall got stuck. I needed a weeks of patience to get the sucker out and skive it back down.

-S

Minnesota Jones · Post by **Minnesota Jones** » Tue Feb 11, 2003 12:31 pm

Yeah, when I heard he was taking a break from whip making, I ordered a bunch of poppers and two spare falls from Western Stage Props, so now I'm down to one spare. Since they were JS falls, it slid right in. I may have to buy a couple more, just to have, now that I did it once.

But untie the knot and unbraid the thong..... ugh! That scares me without even trying it! When it gets to that point, I may just bite the bullet and pay someone to do it. But you never know, I may enjoy whip braiding.... doesn't everyone need a second profession.... hmmm......

Indiana_Hall · Post by **Indiana_Hall** » Tue Feb 11, 2003 6:30 pm

Minnesota_Jones wrote: But untie the knot and unbraid the thong..... ugh! That scares me without even trying it! When it gets to that point, I may just bite the bullet and pay someone to do it. But you never know, I may enjoy whip braiding.... doesn't everyone need a second profession.... hmmm......

MJ,

Do not worry too much about undoing the fall hitch (or the thong's end, for that matter); it is not so bad. I do have one piece of advice for you, though: Be careful about getting into whip-braiding. I will tell you from experience that making whips is almost as addictive as whip-cracking.

High Regards, Indiana_Hall

Pyroxene · Post by **Pyroxene** » Tue Feb 11, 2003 6:37 pm

I would need to see somebody do it and I think I could get it down.

Sergei · Post by **Sergei** » Tue Feb 11, 2003 7:27 pm

Pyroxene wrote:I would need to see somebody do it and I think I could get it down.

Pyro,
I would recommend this link for your information:
http://www.whips.au.com/falls.html

The above is from Si Davey's web page. He's a significant whipmaker from Australia. This link is basically what taught me. But if you look at Step 11 (the step where you are ready to yank the old fall right out of the hitch area), I modify that where I place my foot over the end of the old fall and just pull the old fall right out with the weight of my feet on the old fall.

Just a little self advertising. But there are whole lot of tips located at the main Indy Gear Whip page located here:
http://www.indygear.com/gear/whip_links ... eplacement

I have put together a fairly good collection of links that should keep anybody serious in the sport reading for about a year. It reminds me, I probably need to do some housekeeping on those links. But for the most part most of them are still working.

-Sergei

Pyroxene · Post by **Pyroxene** » Wed Feb 12, 2003 10:08 am

Cool! Thanks, Sergei.