Help with my cheap whip

Kokopelli · Post by **Kokopelli** » Fri May 16, 2008 6:48 pm

cheap quality, not price...I bought this thing 10 years ago for $75for a halloween costume. I'm going to try to dye it darker all one color and paint the swivel handle to match. I cannot get this to crack at all.
Take a look at it, what's it missing or need to be able to crack it? Thanks

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http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b341/ ... _2483.jpg http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b341/ ... 0_2485.jpg

Fink · Post by **Fink** » Fri May 16, 2008 6:59 pm

No image is viewable! :!:

Kokopelli · Post by **Kokopelli** » Fri May 16, 2008 7:36 pm

my computer at work is possessed today- lets see if it stays this time...

thefish · Post by **thefish** » Fri May 16, 2008 8:10 pm

Well, one thing is there's no popper on the end from the look of it.

Something else could be the core. How heavy is it. If there's no mass, it's not going to crack easily at all.

PyramidBlaster · Post by **PyramidBlaster** » Fri May 16, 2008 8:18 pm

There are many things at play when getting a whip to crack--The stiffer the whip, the easier it transmits kinetic energy down its length to the cracker, where the magic happens. If the whip is limp, it will tend to absorb rather than transmit this energy, so you have to work harder to crack it.

Also, if the fall is too wide or long, it can have negative balance and aerodynamic effects. Yours looks a little wide, and maybe a little long. I keep my falls at just over about 12"-14" in length.

I'd say trim a bit off the width and length of the fall and add a cracker...You might be in business then.

Kokopelli · Post by **Kokopelli** » Fri May 16, 2008 8:54 pm

thanks guys- it is pretty light and limp -the whip-

I'll trim the fall...is there anything handy to use for a popper-string, etc?

Bardoon · Post by **Bardoon** » Fri May 16, 2008 9:08 pm

I have one of those, bought it a loooooooooong time ago except mine is more of a natural tan color. Good for costumes but not for whipcracking.

I've bought even cheaper whips on eBay that actually crack.

Boggstandard · Post by **Boggstandard** » Fri May 16, 2008 9:13 pm

I have had good luck using mason's twine for the cracker/popper.
Also, nylon binders twine works well for me.

Fink · Post by **Fink** » Fri May 16, 2008 9:15 pm

I did a small experiment not so long ago with a cheap bullwhip; I didn’t want to dye it in order to avoid transfer to my pants or anything else, and so I tried this:

viewtopic.php?t=28523

I don’t know if this method might work on your bullwhip, but I believe it could help to darken those white lines where the leather was cut with out going to much darker on the regular surface area of the leather, perhaps it may work, but is up to you if you want to give my method a try!

Canuck Digger · Post by **Canuck Digger** » Sat May 17, 2008 12:03 am

Well the inside of this whip may not have a plaited belly. In fact it may not be leather at all (possibly rope), which means that although it has the shape of a bullwhip, it may not have the density and the weight of a properly made whip. Still, all is not lost. If you take a straight edge and trim that fall a bit in width so it tapers down a bit and is not so wide, and tie on a cracker at the end, you may be able to crack it. Having said this, you can't turn a Lada into a Ferrari no matter what you do to it... but you may be able to enjoy what you have a bit more with some minor changes. Also, if you're going to start cracking that whip, you will need to start applying leather conditionner to the leather, but especially to the fall. The thong itself can go a while whitout, but the fall should be greased often.

Good luck and let us know how it works out.
Cheers,

Franco

racerx · Post by **racerx** » Sat May 17, 2008 1:10 am

Ah, that looks like the first whip I had, well similar anyway, I'd say make sure the fall is the same width as the last three feet of thong, even a tiny bit thinner wouldn't hurt, that would make it more arrow dynamic.

And definitely having a good popper on the end tied on, something like six or seven inches long, what ever your preference, experiment and see what you like.

that whip should crack though, at the time , the insides of my first swivel handled whip was straw, no plaited belly, no nothing really, but it gave out a loud crack, particularly the side crack and overhead actually, it was 12 feet long.

Good times,

.

All the best

Jim J.

PyramidBlaster · Post by **PyramidBlaster** » Sat May 17, 2008 7:34 am

If you look around in the forum, you'll find a couple of posts about making and attaching the cracker--Nylon Masonry twine makes a very acceptable one pretty quickly.....

Kokopelli · Post by **Kokopelli** » Sat May 17, 2008 6:49 pm

thanks guys...you got me on the right track! I trimmed the fall to half it's width, and tied on about a 5" piece of some type of synthetic string I found in the junk drawer. I actually got a mild crack out of that setup!

The 'cracker' immediately came off, but now I have a plan! I'm gonna hit home depot for the mason string.
I also bought some leather dye and sealer, so we'll see how that works out. I'll post 'after' shots when I'm done.

Luke Warmwater · Post by **Luke Warmwater** » Sun May 18, 2008 10:05 am

Try cutting off all that fringe too. That adds aerodynamic drag, not a good thing when you are trying to break the sound barrier. I did that with my POS whip and it improved the cracking potential.