Club Obi Wan

Just saw on the news that the Aussie drought has ended near Sydney, so perhaps roo hide costs will start to go back down?

Well, they may have received some rain, or even a lot of rain, but that doesn't make the drought over. It will take several years of regular average rainfall to overcome the effects of the drought. It will take a while for the 'roo population to bounce back to healthy status. Many are diseased and many have not borne any young for a while. It will take a while for them to build the heard back up also.

And the biggest reason for the difficulty in getting decent 'roo is the fact most tanners are producing vast amounts of chrome tanned hides that are used for making footwear and for garments. This 'roo is shipped to the far east. It is easier and more profitable to use that tanning process than it is to drum stuff, and the whipmaker trade is but a minute user of the 'roo hides when considered in the overall market.

But we'll keep our fingers crossed that the drought really does end and that the Australian ag economy can recover, and that the 'roo population comes back to some semblence of it's former self. I'm not sure the ag folks down under really want that tho'

Just throwing out a few bits of info.

Jerry R

Jerry,

I have to admit that I don't know how the hides are obtained. Do they farm kangaroo? Are they hunted or trapped in the wild? If they are farm raised, are they kept like cattle?

I also wonder the same thing about much of the leather I buy from commercial leather dealers, like deerskin, elk, buffalo, etc. I hate to think that the world's deer population is being slaughtered so that hobbyists can make bad Davy Crockett shirts. I mean, that's a LOT of animals! I'd much prefer that they were farm-raised and that the rest of the animal is used, too.

Todd

jerryrwm wrote: It will take a while for the 'roo population to bounce back

bounce back? They're hopping on it right now as we speak.

Todd,

They don't "farm raise" roos down there. They have licensed permit hunts usually. Almost all states are allowed to "harvest" the roos except Victoria. I've read where the army will be ordered to kill several thousand of the roos and then dig a big hole to bury them in.

A couple of months ago I met a couple of Aussies from W.A. (western Oz) and he was commenting on my pistols. They have no guns down there anymore though he did say farmers have rifles for shooting roos to protect their fields. They can be a nuisance like any animal getting your fields to destroy your crops that you worked so hard to grow. I asked what they did with the dead roos and he said the majority of them were left for buzzards, but would occasionally take one and butcher it for meat for their dogs.

Jerry is correct about the garment manufacturers and such buying loads and loads of roo hides while the whipmakers using drum stuffed is hardly more than a pimple on a boars ### in their business.

Drought or no drought, high roo prices are here to stay along with the supplly and demand curves changing every day because of shoes, boots, gloves, etc.
So all you whipmakers and wannabe whipmakers better pony up for high prices if you want to stay in the roo leather. Plus you need to put your order in and wait a good six months for the colors you want in the quantities you desire.
I still have about 25 natural tan roo hides for Indy bullwhips, along with a smattering of saddle tan, red and black. It's about time for me to make another order and sit and wait.

Your right about the prices Robert. I've been making whips for 35 years now and a living from it for 30 and in that time I've seen the prices go up from $6 a square meter to what it is now at $92 last time I looked. I have never in all that time seen prices go down. It's not the roo population being down that is the problem ,they are still out there in great numbers, it's the quality of the hides and as you said Robert, us whip makers are a mere drop in the ocean as far as tanneries like Packers are concerned. I think you will find the shoe trade is the biggest user of kangaroo hides. All those little bits of leather in your Nike and Addidas shoes are kangaroo leather. Now you know why there's a bounce in your step when you put them on.Have to get my walking stick now and hobble up to the workshop.
Bernie

Bernie,
I hope you are really not hobbling up to the workshop. Good post and good to hear from you. When are you going to invite me to visit you in Tazland?
I'd like to leave Texas and see the land down under and especially visit your place.

As some whipmakers do on here after buying David Morgan's whipmaking books or his whips want to try and make one. David Morgan will also sell you the drum stuffed kangaroo hide. I requested a quote for an average hide in NATURAL TAN (color used on Indy's whip). I just got a quote for $112 plus $7 handling. That's not any shipping. I'd figure about $10 or so for an average to ship to someone in the U.S. That makes the leather alone for the whip worth around $130 US Dollars.
Now you wonder why people are buying cheap cowhide whips.

Profits keep going down... profit?? someone said I was making a lot of money selling whips? LOL I guess I need to find a source in Malaysia, India or Mexico and sell them on ebay if I want to make any money selling whips. I won't get rich selling whips unless more movie production companies buy my whips. A new movie coming out soon called "Sin City" has purchased some of my products. Movie release date April 1, 2005. Directed by Robert Rodriguez & Frank Miller. Some of the stars: Mickey Rourke, Bruce Willis & Elijah Wood

People aren't hardly willing to even pay the price of the leather, let alone your hours that you spend cutting, stretching, skiving, braiding and everything else to finish it. Don't even count the tools and advertising costs.