Sergei wrote:He's a machine - look at the seam lines, and the subtle, smooth taper. You know he is dropping strands when he transitions out of the 12 plait. The transitions are there, but well disguised.
Amen to that! I honestly have no idea how he can maintain such consistency in quality and design from a hand-made item, that has to be cut from organic material that varies in thickness, flaws, etc. etc. etc. And I'm not alone. I know other whipmakers who do the same.
I used to spend long amounts of time LOOKING for dropped strands, and minor little cosmetic flaws on my 8 foot Lonestar. I found where the strands were dropped, but even those inconsistencies in the pattern seemed to be part of the larger pattern itself. Did the same sort of examination to the 25 foot, (yes, 25 FOOT!) black Indy style whip that Chris Camp had Joe make for him, (how many separate kangaroo hides was that? 2? 3? Joe? Chris?) Same thing. Just amazing.
Your whip is no exception, Vegeta! But I'd expect no different. While I'd easily believe that is the original fall, the original popper too? That's darned impressive! My poppers tend to stay on well, but wear down or develop knots in the fluffy bit, leaving me with a little knotted string that didn't make much noise.
As to your weather, after a couple days of fallout from a prolonged rainstorm that turned to snow, (thereby laying down a nice even sheet of ice, covered by a nice powdery layer of snow,) I'd normally tell you to go perform a biological process that is quite difficult for the human anatomy, but seeing as how SOMEONE here is getting a chance have fun with really nice bullwhips, I won't hold it against you and try to find happiness vicariously through you ;-)
Happy cracking!
-Dan
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