Todd's 10-foot kangaroo hide whip

[Oildale Jones]

I saw IndianaBravo's thread about his new Todd's 12-footer so I rushed to toddscostumes.com and used the live chat to check inventory. Kristen said they had one 10-footer so I ordered it immediately. She put it in the mail that day and I had it the next. Those guys (and girls) are the BEST!



It's an Indy-style 10-foot 12-plait bullwhip in kangaroo hide. (No idea what the guts are.) The whip came with a .75oz tub of Pecard's leather dressing and a pair of clear safety glasses. Nice.



Here it is next to my Wild West Whips 8-footer, which as far as I know is what Todd was selling a few years ago. I believe that one is goat hide.



It looks great and only shows its flaws on a close inspection. The strands are very uniform, although some show some bunching on one edge. At this price, I'm not at all surprised. My major gripe is the skimpy coverage on the butt knot.



I have no idea what the internal construction is. Under the fall hitch there's a piece of thick plastic, so could it have a plastic-covered cable core? The fall is red hide and not SA white hide, which I will rectify soon.



Although the handle is weighted, unlike the 8-footer, it's still pretty light and takes effort (and proper timing, which I'm still working on) to crack well and consistently. I'm hoping that a generous application of dressing will add some weight and improve its performance. That said, I understand it's never going to perform like a $500 whip. Here it is after a trim, some brown shoe polish on the ring knot and a decent slathering of Pecard's.



Frankly, I'm glad I got the 10-footer and not the 12, as the 10 is hard enough for me to crack as it is. I'm much more proficient (as in "better than barely") with an 8. I think this will look even better as a belt hanger and part-time cracker than my 8-footer. Eventually, though, I will have a quality crackable natural tan Raiders whip on my belt. I'm really leaning toward Crease N Corral because I'm so in love with my 8-foot KOTCS, but first I would like to spend some time with a quality traditional whip just so I can compare them.

In conclusion, for a decent whip that you can crack sometimes but looks great all the time, you can't beat this for the price. (If you're lucky enough to get one, that is.) When I put my video up, I'll link it here.

[IndianaBravo]

Hey Oildale, congrats on your purchase. According to Todd the internal construction is basically roo as well. Slapping on a new fall may seem a bit daunting but it is easier than it looks. Joe Strain has a video on his site on how to do it as does David Morgan. If you can tie a hitch knot, then this is not a problem, although you may need to practice. For sure this is not a 500 buck whip, but then you didnt pay 500 bux. At any rate with a little fine tuning I am sure that you will get alot of fun from this whip. I already have my high end whip quota filled, so for me this is just to mess around with and have some good times. BTW I did not get the wee Pecards tub, hmmmm.

Cheers

Bravo

[riku1914]

Hey Oildale, congrats on your purchase. According to Todd the internal construction is basically roo as well. Slapping on a new fall may seem a bit daunting but it is easier than it looks. Joe Strain has a video on his site on how to do it as does David Morgan. If you can tie a hitch knot, then this is not a problem, although you may need to practice. For sure this is not a 500 buck whip, but then you didnt pay 500 bux. At any rate with a little fine tuning I am sure that you will get alot of fun from this whip. I already have my high end whip quota filled, so for me this is just to mess around with and have some good times. BTW I did not get the wee Pecards tub, hmmmm.

Cheers

Bravo

You don't need to retie the fall hitch to replace a fall, you know that right? I'm just being sure because it sounded like it from your

message.

[IndianaBravo]

Yes riku, I am aware, but I thought I would make some new hitches, if anything just for practice. Also I find it alot easier than fumbling with pre made hitches...

[Oildale Jones]

Hey Oildale, congrats on your purchase. According to Todd the internal construction is basically roo as well. Slapping on a new fall may seem a bit daunting but it is easier than it looks. Joe Strain has a video on his site on how to do it as does David Morgan. If you can tie a hitch knot, then this is not a problem, although you may need to practice. For sure this is not a 500 buck whip, but then you didnt pay 500 bux. At any rate with a little fine tuning I am sure that you will get alot of fun from this whip. I already have my high end whip quota filled, so for me this is just to mess around with and have some good times. BTW I did not get the wee Pecards tub, hmmmm.

Cheers

Bravo

You don't need to retie the fall hitch to replace a fall, you know that right? I'm just being sure because it sounded like it from your

message.

I didn't know that.

(Time passes...)

I just watched Robert Dante's video on it. I can do that! Thanks, guys.

[riku1914]

What did you mean by "skimpy coverage on the butt knot"?

IndianaBravo, two things, first remaking the each regularly will take a lot of length off, wouldn't you agree? Also, you may want to

try getting a super jumbo ( or whatever they're calling it ) perma lok needle. It makes changing out falls, especially naturally loose

nylon ones, SO much easier than trying to push it through by hand. That's especially the case with as tight as I tie the fall hitch.

I find it very difficult to do it without a needle on mine.

[Oildale Jones]

On the few other whips I own, the heel knot covers much more of the end (as illustrated in the picture). I didn't expect to see so much of the underlying leather. If it's no big deal, it's no big deal.

[riku1914]

On the few other whips I own, the heel knot covers much more of the end (as illustrated in the picture). I didn't expect to see so much of the underlying leather. If it's no big deal, it's no big deal.

Nah that's pretty normal. I actually prefer more showing on the heel than less. It's a little more difficult to tie it and prepare the foundation showing more, but it looks better when done right, in my opinion.

[Oildale Jones]

Thanks for the input. I've got my eye on you—I mean, your whips—by the way.

[IndianaBravo]

What did you mean by "skimpy coverage on the butt knot"?

IndianaBravo, two things, first remaking the each regularly will take a lot of length off, wouldn't you agree? Also, you may want to

try getting a super jumbo ( or whatever they're calling it ) perma lok needle. It makes changing out falls, especially naturally loose

nylon ones, SO much easier than trying to push it through by hand. That's especially the case with as tight as I tie the fall hitch.

I find it very difficult to do it without a needle on mine.

Hey Riku,, I have a fid that I use for that sort of whip work, works great to get knots out of falls and poppers too. As far as losing length on the whip is concerned, considering it is a 12 footer I suppose I have room to play with. As I said, this is just for kicks, I mean cracks
IndianaBravo

[riku1914]

What did you mean by "skimpy coverage on the butt knot"?

IndianaBravo, two things, first remaking the each regularly will take a lot of length off, wouldn't you agree? Also, you may want to

try getting a super jumbo ( or whatever they're calling it ) perma lok needle. It makes changing out falls, especially naturally loose

nylon ones, SO much easier than trying to push it through by hand. That's especially the case with as tight as I tie the fall hitch.

I find it very difficult to do it without a needle on mine.

Hey Riku,, I have a fid that I use for that sort of whip work, works great to get knots out of falls and poppers too. As far as losing length on the whip is concerned, considering it is a 12 footer I suppose I have room to play with. As I said, this is just for kicks, I mean cracks
IndianaBravo

I have a fid as well

[IndianaBravo]

What did you mean by "skimpy coverage on the butt knot"?

IndianaBravo, two things, first remaking the each regularly will take a lot of length off, wouldn't you agree? Also, you may want to

try getting a super jumbo ( or whatever they're calling it ) perma lok needle. It makes changing out falls, especially naturally loose

nylon ones, SO much easier than trying to push it through by hand. That's especially the case with as tight as I tie the fall hitch.

I find it very difficult to do it without a needle on mine.

Hey Riku,, I have a fid that I use for that sort of whip work, works great to get knots out of falls and poppers too. As far as losing length on the whip is concerned, considering it is a 12 footer I suppose I have room to play with. As I said, this is just for kicks, I mean cracks
IndianaBravo

I have a fid as well

Of course you do, I mean being a whipmaker and all. I didnt mean to sound smart alecky or nothing, I think you produce some excellent work. I really went through alot of trouble to locate a fid around these parts and now I find it an invaluable tool that no whip enthusiast should be without and should learn how to perform basic whip maintenance. I was daunted at first of the very idea of goofing around with an expensive whip. Having had two Todds whips, and also my own very modest plaiting efforts, plus the excellent videos by midwestwhips and Joe Strain have really helped me to tackle things such as tying hitches, etc...

[Oildale Jones]

Why don't you guys just compare the size of your fids and get it over with?

I took my whip out today to see if the performance had improved any after dressing it, and it has. It cracks louder with less effort. Also, it packs a wallop when you execute a careless throw and the thong whacks you sideways across the back of the neck.

I dressed it again liberally and it's soaking as we speak (type). Once I replace the fall, I'll put up another picture.

[riku1914]

Why don't you guys just compare the size of your fids and get it over with?

I took my whip out today to see if the performance had improved any after dressing it, and it has. It cracks louder with less effort. Also, it packs a wallop when you execute a careless throw and the thong whacks you sideways across the back of the neck.

I dressed it again liberally and it's soaking as we speak (type). Once I replace the fall, I'll put up another picture.

I wouldn't give it a third coat. It'll make the leather loosen up. With the leather already dry, and it plaited dry, it didn't stretch as

much as it could in the first place, and it didn't have any lubrication to be plaited tighter, so giving it a lot of dressing at once will

make the strands stretch, and what tightness the whip has will basically go away.

When I work with dry hides, I give each side of the hide a coat of leather dressing before doing anything to it. After the strands

are cut out , stretched and prepared, they are given a coat of plaiting soap, and stretched again as they are plaited.

I'm just warning you, be careful

[Oildale Jones]

Duly noted. Thanks.

[Oildale Jones]

You know what I hate? When you spend time composing a post and then your computer kicks you out of your login and loses the post.

Anyway, here's my whip after a second coat of Pecard's and some time in the sun (way more than I'd intended), and a new white hide fall from Dusty at Crease N Corral. (I hope he doesn't mind too much that I attached it to an inferior whip.) It was fairly simple, but I forgot to investigate those little plastic bits. Ah, well.

It cracks better than it did out of the box, but that extra two feet really changes the handling, compared to an 8-footer. Still happy with it for the price.

[IndianaBravo]

Hey Oildale, that looks great. Yeah its not cool when you are posting and your machine conks out The whip looks great and congrats on changing the fall. I had mine out in the sun way too much also, but just to help in the absorption process of the Pecard. Hope fully today Illl be able to take er out for a spin!

Cheers
Bravo

[Oildale Jones]

Thanks again for the heads-up, Bravo. Good lookin' out!