From falls & poppers to plaiting & cracking technique, this section is dedicated in memory of Sergei, IndyGear Staff Member and Whip Guru. Always remember to keep "Celebratin' Life!"
I just got a set of pics from Bernardo. My 8' whip is on its way !! It looks amazing (as does all of Bernardos work that I have seen) and I cant wait to get my hands on it.
Thanks everyone. The wait has been a bit longer than I anticipated but I'm sure it wasnt any longer than necessary. Im sure the moment I touch it the wait will be completely forgotten.
While what I originally ordered was a Golden DM Daren, I gather that there were a few polite emails exchanged between Bernardo and the David Morgan camp and Bernardo decided to discontinue that name. Its basically the same design but we are calling it more of a modified last crusade.
Visually I am ecstatic with it and Im sure structurally I will be just as happy.
Hooray for package day!! My whip arrived today.Its every bit as amazing as Bernardos pics led me to believe. My cell phone camera cant do it justice so you'll all just have to be satisfied with the pics we already have. According to the tag, this is a Heritage whip.
I'll talk a bit more about it later but for now I think you know where I'm headed
I got word that my 9' Heritage shipped out today. w00t! Not in time for a trip to Yosemite, but in time for a trip to Vancouver and Calgary later this summer. Huzzah!
Im so happy with it. Its far and away the best whip I have now. It cracks so easily now I'm anxious to see how it feels once it gets broken in. I'm sure you'll love yours InexorableTash
Excellent choice with the Bernardo and I think you'll also find that the 8' length is ideal. As you know by now, his whips are beautifully made and second-to-none for screen accuracy. I also have a Bernardo 8-footer and it's by far my most-used whip. They break in VERY nicely--remain firm off the handle/thong transition for balance and control but nice and loose towards the tip, unlike Morgan's which are rock-solid all the way down the thong and take forever to break in comfortably (raider 57 - I think the 'tank' label is more suited to the Morgan . . . but I know what you mean). Enjoy cracking it this summer. I'm sure you'll get lotsa fun out of it!
I agree with you riku1914, but I still think that with the thick hides Morgan uses for his Indy whips it's braided just a bit too tight. In comparison, my Strain has broken in beautifully--not too firm, not too loose--with about the same amount of use, and Joe Strain is no slouch when it comes to tight braiding! But I do feel Bernardo's are VERY user-friendly. Mine cracks almost effortlessly, even though it's gotten a little floppy towards the point. I like it that way and it doesn't affect its performance one bit. (And also, I have a weakness for loose, SA-looking whips--in other words, floppin all over the place like a wet noodle, or as you said, half-dead! As someone alluded to in another thread, I think it would take running a Morgan through that TOD rock crusher a few times before it started to look that way. Kind of appropriate, cuz those things really are solid as a rock.)
InexorableTash wrote:
I got word that my 9' Heritage shipped out today. w00t! Not in time for a trip to Yosemite, but in time for a trip to Vancouver and Calgary later this summer. Huzzah!
...and now it has made some progress through the backlog following Peru's postal strike.
I knew I should have flown down to pick it up in person. ;-)
DarenHenryW wrote:So, Josh, when are we gonna hang out again?
Subtle, much?
Seriously... would love to. Possibly August, as I'll have a little free time between a couple of weddings I'm attending.
I had a chance to take it out today. Cracks beautifully, rolls out nicely. Tended to kink just slightly at one of the plait drops towards the end of the thong but that went away after a few minutes with the whip. The balance is about 2" past the faux-transition knot, basically right at the end of the handle. Beefy - like the 7' cowhide WSP (also made by Del Carpio) I have, but nowhere near a Jacka Indy IV. Any other issues I had (and I can't think of any) were due to being out of practice.
Lots of fun - now I just need to order another Super Holder from Egan.
(On that note, let me recommend http://bongoties.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; as a great way to keep whips under control.)
I ordered from Bernardo in December so I'm guessing it'll be a couple of months more....Ah well....Summer's almost too hot to use them outside anyway..But it's a shame, since I get a longer break for holidays then and it would have been nice to have something to mess around with....
Good news for you fifthchamber!! It cooled off enough today for me to get mine out there for a bit. It is a truly great whip.Im sure you will be every bit as happy with yours as I am with mine.
Yeah, I have no doubts about the quality that Bernardo turns out....I managed to see one he'd made for a friend here in Japan a few weeks back, a ten-footer, and although I had a hard time making it sing, the craftsmanship of the braiding and design were perfect...Mine'll be an 8 footer, and I'm expecting no less..
I should have some photos and a tracking number in a few days time, and will post the photos up here when I get them, and follow that up with photos when it arrives...
rawvoodoo wrote:I ordered my whip in early September of 2010. The wait was longer than I had expected but in the end it was well worth it.
Similar time frame for mine. There were a couple of completely understandable delays that really stretched out the time. Had I known I might have made a better choice, but it's hard to argue with the results; Bernardo is a true master.
I was in a brief panic for the last 24 hours because I took my Del Carpio with me on a trip to Calgary, but due to family obligations I only had one opportunity to walk half a block from where I was staying and give it a few cracks. It was in my luggage on the way back... which was "misplaced" by the airline.
Fortunately the suitcases were located and everything arrived safely... both the whips and a suit my wife had custom tailored, loosely based on Marion's "Washington" outfit for a wedding taking place at the SF City Hall in a few weeks.
(Sorry. I promise to never intentionall use graphical smilies again.)
Thanks for the timeframe info. My Raiders 2 was ordered and paid for in early December last year, but I guess I've got a couple of months yet before it comes in...
Of course it did! I guess you missed the post? It's here; viewtopic.php?f=3&t=53147" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Bernardo hit the time spot on and it arrived with no troubles at all...Which reminds me..I should post up some new photos showing the colour variation a couple of months down the line...It's tanned into a lovely tan/brown now....Although I can't use it today when I get home, my weekends and early days have been spent hitting myself raw with the aim of impressing my girlfriend...(She's nonplussed still..LOL)..
Fifthchamber - thanks for the link, that is one awesome looking whip! I would love to see some photos of how it has aged.
Still waiting to hear from Bernardo on mine
The waiting game is a hard one to do, buuuuut, at the end of it, the whip arrives and you realise that it was all worthwhile...Don't worry...I'd suggest you try and forget about it, since the time will pass sooner that way..I'm sure Bernardo has told you the same, but emailing customers and staying in contact takes time away from his work, so he's not always available..But that means he's working hard to get to your whip..So that's a good thing eh?
The whip is lovely now...From the photos of it when fresh I can see it's a fair bit darker now...I'll try and take some pics and get them up soon...
Although not the best photos of the whip's colour, these two pics from the last weekend might help show what I mean!
There's a large forest/lake/mountains area near my house in West Tokyo, just south of Tokorozawa in Saitama Prefecture...It's LOVELY for "Indying"...Large snakes in the forests though...Mamushi (Pitviper) alerts on several of the walks and spiders the size of my hand in the trees...LOL..Not many people, so wonderful for a real sense of "adventuring".....None of the paths are marked, so you can wander around for several hours all in the same area without being more than an hour from the closest "escape"....Great fun...
Spot on...Yes...I had taken some photos indoors the previous night of the whip for people here, but the colour wasn't the colour I was looking at with my own eyes on film, so I decided to take them in natural sunlight...You're right, it's only in the sun that taking photos can be a decent judge of colour, and even then, with something layered like leather, the small changes can't be seen, so you miss a lot...In my house, the colour I see is the one in the first photo..A fair bit darker than when the whip first arrived...I love the tones..
Franco, it's actually one of Todds Bantu Wind jackets....It's my "go to" for Raiders....And since it's still rather warm here in Tokyo it's also best for wearing right now..
Spot on...Yes...I had taken some photos indoors the previous night of the whip for people here, but the colour wasn't the colour I was looking at with my own eyes on film, so I decided to take them in natural sunlight...You're right, it's only in the sun that taking photos can be a decent judge of colour, and even then, with something layered like leather, the small changes can't be seen, so you miss a lot...In my house, the colour I see is the one in the first photo..A fair bit darker than when the whip first arrived...I love the tones..
Franco, it's actually one of Todds Bantu Wind jackets....It's my "go to" for Raiders....And since it's still rather warm here in Tokyo it's also best for wearing right now..
Regards..
Yes, when I'm taking pictures of my whips, I usually try to open all three windows in my room to let in all the light I can, they
They usually turn out pretty well, when it comes to color, though some of the recent ones I took were on cloudy days