Club Obi Wan

That is some very fine plating Bernardo, I could tell by the pictures you been posting that while its an Indy style bullwhip it does have a bit of Australian finesse to it. You arer right in that many Australian whip makers tend to use a thinner and finer cut lace with their whips, my Terry Jacka whips are the same way.

By the way, Mark is adding a new Russell Schulte whip to the John Brady collection his 2006 catalog. It’s a shot loaded bullwhip with a 13 inch handle, and its supposed to be a very fast and responsive.

Dan

May I assume that the Russel Schultz whip costs the same as Joe Strain's whip when bought through WSP?

Jim wrote:May I assume that the Russel Schultz whip costs the same as Joe Strain's whip when bought through WSP?

That is correct.

Bernardodc wrote: The leather Russell uses is thinner than what Morgan and Joe use, also like you noted the strands and the tip of the whip are very very thin, and that's an 8 strand point!

What's more remarkable about this whip is that its tight, and at the same time its very supple, specially towards the tip. It's the best flowing whip I have, and it didn't need any breaking in.

Overall, Russell Schultz is making a more australian version of the Indy bullwhip, since aussie whipmakers favor thinner skins, with finer strands, like Mr. Morgan states in his book Whips & Whipmaking.

Mr. Morgan deliberately chose to use thicker leather and wide strands to enhance durability under rough conditions.

Next up on my list is another Schultz bullwhip, this time the Brady style.

Bernardo

Hey Bernardo,

I wanted to chime in here about Russel and his whips.

I was able to meet him in 2001 I think it was, at the WWAC in Vegas, and he was extreemely nice, and gave me a few pointers and we chatted whips a little bit. I was also able to watch him repair a whip or two.

In my opinion Russel's work is probobly some of the cleanest plaiting I've ever seen, and what I mean by that is that all the strands sit in perfectly, the braiding is smooth, almost to the point that you cant even see the edges of strands, and his seams are very straight, and the plaiting is evenly tight.

From the whips of his that I have been able to see and the couple that have come in for repair, not only is the roo hide very fine grained and thin, but he also splits the leather down even thinner, also the strands are beveled on the bottom.

Russles Indy whips are more of a finer version. It isn't that they aren't durable, but it won't take as much abuse as the thicker hide unsplit whips will. I've had the same 8 foot schultze Indy come back in for repair 4 times within the first 8 month the owner had it. Unfortunately, he was relatively new to whipcracking and this was his first nice roohide bullwhip, but he kept snapping strands down toward the point. my guess is he was muscling it too much, and/or hitting rough objects with the whip.

Basically my point is, I wouldn't suggest getting a russel indy if it is going to be your first whip, and you will be learning on it.

His Stockwhips are pretty nice too. And speaking of, (shameless plug), I have a 5 foot 12 plait stockwhip of his for sale if anyone is interested. It is almost brand new, was never cracked by the original owner, and cracked a little bit by me. I traded a customer a 6 foot bullwhip of mine for it, because he had just bought it from WSP a day or two before that, and was wanting something more heavy duty to learn on. I think the point on it may be just barely smaller than the one in bernardo's pic. If anyone is interested, let me know. I have pics as well.

Also, that is a great set of pics of your indys bernardo! Thanks for sharing.

Regards,

Paul Nolan
MidWestWhips

Hey Paul,

Those are some good points about the Russel Schultz whips. A friend of mine bought one of his whips about 4 years ago. Beautiful as that whip was, it didn't hold up at the point for very long. The guy who owned the whip was an experienced whip handler, so he wasn't cracking too hard or muscling the whip. I think Russel's whips are more designed for performances where the whip is being used for a few minutes during a show; not for cracking over and over during practice sessions. After two weeks of using that whip, he had two broken strands in the point. He had it repaired and eventually sold it.

But if you want to see a first class piece of work, pick up a Schultz whip. The couple I've seen in person were as smooth as glass, and as Paul said, you almost can't feel the edges of the strands if you run your hand down the thong.

Jim