Are whip bags good for long-term storage?

Satipo · Post by **Satipo** » Fri Oct 12, 2007 5:29 am

I recently bought a great whip bag from Joe Strain's website, and I was just wondering if it's okay to store my 10ft Morgan in there for long periods of time.

I'm still a bit paranoid about hurting it by storing it incorrectly, so I take it out of the bag every day to give it some air and allow it to uncoil. Unfortunately, the bad British weather isn't allowing much whipcracking at the moment.

So, do whip owners with whip bags feel comfortable about leaving their whips inside them for long periods of time?

Or are the bags only meant for carrying the whips from A to B?

BendingOak · Post by **BendingOak** » Fri Oct 12, 2007 11:07 am

Good question. I just got a bag from JS myself and in Oregon we have the same weather ( rain is part of your daily life for most of the year ).

louiefoxx · Post by **louiefoxx** » Fri Oct 12, 2007 11:41 am

I keep a lot of my whips on a shelf out of the sun when not in use. But the whips I use regularly (weather permitting) are kept in a whip bag and in the trunk of my car most of the time. Since I'm in Seattle and it's fairly moist here, I put a couple of those "silica gel" bags into my whip bag to take care of any excess moisture that might be in the air.

xoxo

Louie

Chewbacca Jones · Post by **Chewbacca Jones** » Fri Oct 12, 2007 12:57 pm

Anybody have a picture of these whip bags? Are they fabric or plastic? Because I know it's a bad idea to store stained/dyed leather in plastic for long periods of time.

Also, whips should be coiled loosely for storage... are these bag large enough for that?

louiefoxx · Post by **louiefoxx** » Fri Oct 12, 2007 1:11 pm

Here's a picture of my whipbag:

It's one from Joe Strain http://northernwhipco.com/Accessories.htm and at $25 it's a sweet deal...get one from him!

And for fun, the whips outside the bag:

xoxo

Louie

VP · Post by VP » Fri Oct 12, 2007 3:20 pm

I have an identical copy of the JS bag that my mom made for me.

BendingOak · Post by **BendingOak** » Sat Oct 13, 2007 12:01 am

thats the bag I have. They hold the whips very well ( not tightly coiled at all).

Chewbacca Jones · Post by **Chewbacca Jones** » Sat Oct 13, 2007 12:11 am

Cool.

Satipo · Post by **Satipo** » Sat Oct 13, 2007 5:47 am

Yep, that's the bag I've got. It lets my whip lie in a loose coil too. Great value I think (particularly with the weak US dollar). But is it safe to store the whip in there for long periods of time?

winrichwhips · Post by **winrichwhips** » Sat Oct 13, 2007 10:12 am

When I got my whips from Chris Barr, this is roughly what I remember him telling me about storage:

Leather has a memory, and if you store a whip coiled up for a long time it will want to stay coiled up. Then when you go to crack your whip, it will fight the cracking motion because it just wants to stay coiled up. So Chris stores his whips so they hang straight, so that the whips won't develop a memory in storage.

Or, it you do keep your whips coiled up in storage, it helps to take the whip out once every few months to give it a gentle workout to take out the 'coiled' memory.

Though, some whips have more memory than others, and I think it has to do with how tight the plaiting is. With the Morgan whips I have, I wouldn't worry too much about them getting a memory in storage because the plaiting isn't that tight to begin with, and they'll uncoil readily. Though with a Strain whip (some of his whips were made super tight) it would be more likely to stay coiled if it's been coiled a long time.

I made a whip for a friend of mine, and I made it really tight (like, Strain-tight, people) and she stored the whip coiled up and in a bag. She never liked the way it cracked. Part of the reason was that she was used to a pair of more supple whips I had made for her a year earlier, but I think storing the whip coiled up didn't help, either. Eventually to took the too-tight whip, gave it a good coat of leather dressing, and baked it on the dash of a pick-truck on a hot, sunny day. That loosened the whip up and she liked it better after that.

-Adam

louiefoxx · Post by **louiefoxx** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 2:15 am

I don't think the whip bag is going to hurt them for long term storage...but for whips I don't use often I have them on a shelf out of the sun.

One whipmaker I've visited keeps some of his whips in a plastic tub (non air tight) and some in a whipbag. Based on seeing that he keeps some of his whips in a whip bag, I'm not too worried about keeping mine in one.

But honestly I think a whip is a lot like an old pipe organ, the best way to keep it "in tune" is proper maintainence, and to use it often.

xoxo

Louie

BendingOak · Post by **BendingOak** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 10:01 am

I keep mne in the bag on top of shelf but they come ot evey few days to go out back for a few moments to crack.

midwestwhips · Post by **midwestwhips** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 11:58 pm

I would say it depends on how long you are planning to store them.

This is the whip bag that I have been using lately. I usually keep the whips I use most often in this bag.

The whips I don't use as often are stored/displayed like this:

Although I tend to take each of them out from time to time and use them.

I don't think storing them in a whip bag would be too bad, as long as it isn't for years, or coiled tighter than it should be.

Regards,

Paul Nolan
www.midwestwhips.com

Post by **BullWhipBorton** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 2:25 am

Satipo, you have gotten good advice here. For the most part you just don’t want to store leather whips in the bag for long periods of time, especially If your in an area with high humidity. Dark and damp conditions open up a whole slew of problems with leather over time. A rosin bag, silica gel pack or even sock full of non scented kitty litter will help draw out the excess moisture from the air, but for any long-term storage it’s important for the Leather to breath and have air circulate around it.

Ideally the best way to store leather whips is to keep them is in dry area, out of direct sunlight either hanging up outstretched length wise or loosely coiled, you can also just laying down in a loose coil. If possible try to avoid letting different color whips lay touching against each other while in long-term storage. While it’s rare, I’ve heard of cases where black or red whips have stained white or natural tan whips while laying against each other in storage.

Dan

Satipo · Post by **Satipo** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 4:48 am

I agree, Dan. Lots of good advice and some interesting pics. Thanks for everyone's input!