6' 12 plait indy style kangaroo bullwhip - With Video

[riku1914]

Just finished a 6 footer, in natural tan roo hide. 12 plait, all the indy bells and whistles, here it is :



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It cracks incredibly well, and it very well balanced. I cracked it before doing the heel knot foundation, to decide how much

more lead to add ( originally had 85 grams in the heel but the whip turned out a little thicker than expected so I knew I would

need more ).

It's for sale, if anyone is interested. You can pm me email me, which you can find in the bazaar thread.

[Misa]

Whip is really beautiful. I have a question, you mentioned a lead counter weight. Soon I finish my first bullwhip so I wonder in what form is that lead in handle, like weighted rope or pieces of lead ??? Thanks
in advance...

[PyramidBlaster]

Riku, it looks great! I'm hoping my stuff looks as good someday... Eventually, I'll go back to leather and make a Roohide whip of my own!

[riku1914]

Riku, it looks great! I'm hoping my stuff looks as good someday... Eventually, I'll go back to leather and make a Roohide whip of my own!

Thanks! Your whips looks great, don't sell yourself short!

Whip is really beautiful. I have a question, you mentioned a lead counter weight. Soon I finish my first bullwhip so I wonder in what form is that lead in handle, like weighted rope or pieces of lead ??? Thanks
in advance...

You don't have to put lead in the heel, some even put lead shot in the thong of the whip to put more weight there. I put lead in the

heel because to me, it makes the whip feel like it's lighter ( kind of weird I know ) and it also makes the whips not want to "jump"

out of my hand when cracking.

Let me see if I have an imageshack picture of the lead, if not I'll go take some...



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You can see the lead at the start of the handle.
That particular whip I attached the lead after the first belly, but now I typically attached it at the earliest after the second belly,

but usually after the second bolster has been attached.

The very end of the core, first belly yoke, etc. ( right where the nail head is ) I wrap VERY tightly with artificial sinew. This gives

a sturdy base for the lead. I staple the lead in with a staple gun, but a lot of people use tacks. Either works, I just find the

staples easier. I have to sort of hammer the staples in after the initial shot, but they hold it in place immediately which is what

I like.

It's just sheet lead, 1/32" thick. I bought it here :

http://www.rotometals.com/product-p/leadsheet2pound.htm

It's called soft lead, so it's very easy to wrap around the whip. I cut it between 1" and 1.25" wide, depending on the knot size

I'm wanting. This particular whip ( the 6 footer ) had 1" wide lead. The amount you put in varies wildly between whip length,

thickness, and most of all, personal preference. What I did for a while was I'd finish the overlay,attach the fall and

cracker, roll it , then go and crack the whip a couple times. This time, with the 84 grams in the heel, it didn't feel right. So I

went and found my lead. I had a piece about 1" wide and 16" long, and I cut a piece about 4" long off of this, stapled it on,

then went and cracked the whip again. It felt much better this time, so I left it alone.

[Misa]

Thank you for information, i understand. I thought about that, and I will put the weight on the end in order to have better balance. It's the same principle as in medieval swords that have heavy pommel on handle end. I just wanted to see which method you use to do this, once again thanks ...

[PyramidBlaster]

PyramidBlaster wrote:
Riku, it looks great! I'm hoping my stuff looks as good someday... Eventually, I'll go back to leather and make a Roohide whip of my own!

Thanks! Your whips looks great, don't sell yourself short!

You're too kind... Nah, my current Nylon stuff i'm quite happy with, but... I'm always looking ahead to the time when I buy a bunch of Kangaroo for a nice Indy whip. All I can remember from my leather days is how much of a mess it was, and how much worrying I did that I was gonna pull too hard and break a lace!!!! But there was nothing like finishing a leather whip...I don't get quite the rush from finishing a nylon whip. Just somethin' about leather.

Dunno... I'll probably just jump in and do it, either this summer/fall, or early next year.... At least I have more resources this time around!

[riku1914]

PyramidBlaster wrote:
Riku, it looks great! I'm hoping my stuff looks as good someday... Eventually, I'll go back to leather and make a Roohide whip of my own!

Thanks! Your whips looks great, don't sell yourself short!

You're too kind... Nah, my current Nylon stuff i'm quite happy with, but... I'm always looking ahead to the time when I buy a bunch of Kangaroo for a nice Indy whip. All I can remember from my leather days is how much of a mess it was, and how much worrying I did that I was gonna pull too hard and break a lace!!!! But there was nothing like finishing a leather whip...I don't get quite the rush from finishing a nylon whip. Just somethin' about leather.

Dunno... I'll probably just jump in and do it, either this summer/fall, or early next year.... At least I have more resources this time around!

Lace breaks will happen, but you just gotta not think about it. I pull the strands SOOOOO hard, and I haven't had a single lace

break on one of my overlay's yet. Only lace breaks I've had were from the crappy roo I got at tandy. Plus, lace breaks are

easy to fix, it's just that you don't like undoing what you've already done. I don't worry about a lace breaking unless it's much

less than 4mm wide, because even with it that wide you can pull the thing really hard and it won't break. Roo leather is

amazingly strong! As long as you have plaiting soap in it breaks are few and far between!

[PyramidBlaster]

You've got a point there-I'm used to cowhide and redhide. Didn't have many problems with the redhide, other than the fact that it was beginning to be too thick for what I was trying to do---And you're right about Kangaroo...It's crazy strong. But then again, that's why it's the preferred leather, I guess...

[riku1914]

Decided to give it one last roll and apply an extra coat of shellac. Looks much nice now in my opinion :



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It handles very well. I cracked it before tying the heel knot to be sure there was just the right amount of lead in the heel. I had to add some, then I did the heel knot. The whip feels VERY well balanced. It cracks with very little effort, flows out very straight,
doesn't jerk your arm, not very much more you can ask for, right?!

It's still for sale if anyone is interested...

[riku1914]

I managed to get some video of a few test cracks. As you can see, it cracks very well. The whip still needs to loosen up quite a

bit before it's broken in, so it will only get better from this point on!

http://youtu.be/3Q0GMXa3RYw

It's still for sale!