Club Obi Wan

This one is for the other whipmakers here. Where are you all getting your kangaroo skins from these days? I'm trying to find the best prices, but they are going way up. Richard Taubman recently told me that they may hit $100 US per skin very soon.

Jim

I've been getting mine from Charles Hardtke, as I'm sure a lot of other whipmakers have been doing. Right now their prices are $8.55 per sqaure foot, but with the sizes of the hides that they're getting I haven't seen a $100 hide yet.

I do have a couple of natural tan hides (which are both very nice) that I got from David Morgan and I think each one of them was $100. I just got his latest catalog and I see his 450 series bullwhips have gone up in price. A 10 foot bullwhip is up to $700.

-Adam, www.winrichwhips.com

G'day Jim,

Well mate its getting harder to source hides let alone quality hides these days. The drought has really knocked the hide industry around. You can certainly get hides if your not fussy, but I'm a fussy bugger and you have to pay through the nose to get the quality stuff.........if you can find it!
Unfortunately I don't believe we will ever see the cost of hides come down or hold, the reality is the price has been going up and up every year for a few years now.
Its weird when I first started making whips ....and I might add it wasn't all that long ago..... I was purchasing hides for around $25 bucks a hide and I thought that was pretty expensive. Now days I'm paying around nearly 4 times that! But if you want the best leather in the world to plait and work with what do you do? I think the hardest part is passing that cost on to the client, its getting harder and harder to make a quid as a whipmaker, and one seems to be doing more work to produce a really good product to try and justify the prices of whips these days. I know I seem to be adding on extras in detail in my whips and not charging what they are really worth! So its a dammed if I do and dammed if I don't situation mate! Sorry I cant be of help as to where to purchase hides I just stick to the two best sources that I know and that is Richard and Parker Tanning. Cheers to you and all and have a Happy Easter!

Hoo Roo

Janine Fraser
RIBUCK LEATHER CRAFTS

“Let a FRASER whip do the cracking for you!” ©

ecwhips wrote:This one is for the other whipmakers here. Where are you all getting your kangaroo skins from these days? I'm trying to find the best prices, but they are going way up. Richard Taubman recently told me that they may hit $100 US per skin very soon.

Jim

Hey Janine,

You hit a couple of points that I have really been wondering about, the main one being, how does a whipmaker turn a profit working in roohide these days? Even as a hobbyist? With hides costing anywhere from $75 to $95 by the time you add on shipping and/or customs fees, plus the fact that most of the hides I've gotten over the last year have been very small (65 dm if I'm lucky) and not yielding very much on top of it. Tack on 10 to 18 hours labor depending on length or if someone wants something really fancy, and the bottom line doesn't look very good at all. Unless your last name is Morgan, or you're shooting the kangaroos yourself and tanning the hides, the profit margin seems to be very thin.

Jim

Janine Fraser wrote:G'day Jim,

Well mate its getting harder to source hides let alone quality hides these days. The drought has really knocked the hide industry around. You can certainly get hides if your not fussy, but I'm a fussy bugger and you have to pay through the nose to get the quality stuff.........if you can find it!
Unfortunately I don't believe we will ever see the cost of hides come down or hold, the reality is the price has been going up and up every year for a few years now.
Its weird when I first started making whips ....and I might add it wasn't all that long ago..... I was purchasing hides for around $25 bucks a hide and I thought that was pretty expensive. Now days I'm paying around nearly 4 times that! But if you want the best leather in the world to plait and work with what do you do? I think the hardest part is passing that cost on to the client, its getting harder and harder to make a quid as a whipmaker, and one seems to be doing more work to produce a really good product to try and justify the prices of whips these days. I know I seem to be adding on extras in detail in my whips and not charging what they are really worth! So its a dammed if I do and dammed if I don't situation mate! Sorry I cant be of help as to where to purchase hides I just stick to the two best sources that I know and that is Richard and Parker Tanning. Cheers to you and all and have a Happy Easter!

Hoo Roo

Janine Fraser
RIBUCK LEATHER CRAFTS

“Let a FRASER whip do the cracking for you!” ©

ecwhips wrote:This one is for the other whipmakers here. Where are you all getting your kangaroo skins from these days? I'm trying to find the best prices, but they are going way up. Richard Taubman recently told me that they may hit $100 US per skin very soon.

Jim

Mate..... I have no answers unfortunately. Its hard going for everyone I guess. Just got to hang in there and keep making the best products we can.

Hahahh..... we cant even shoot and tan our own roos mate, unless you have all the bloody permits and licence you need its a big no no!!!!!

Believe me I see 15 to 20 roos while im on my walks in the bush every morning so I would love to be able to tan my own mate!

Anyways better get a rattle on I still have to pack the Ute to do a show over the Easter weekend. Got 1000 km to do and haven't even started to pack my plaiting gear or greased my whips up ready for the show. So catch ya later mate.

Good luck on the search for good roo hides.....hey if you find a good supply on hides I hope you will give us the drum on where to purchase them too!

Hoo Roo

Janine Fraser
RIBUCK LEATHER CRAFTS

“Let a FRASER whip do the cracking for you!” ©





[quote="ecwhips"]Hey Janine,

You hit a couple of points that I have really been wondering about, the main one being, how does a whipmaker turn a profit working in roohide these days? Even as a hobbyist? With hides costing anywhere from $75 to $95 by the time you add on shipping and/or customs fees, plus the fact that most of the hides I've gotten over the last year have been very small (65 dm if I'm lucky) and not yielding very much on top of it. Tack on 10 to 18 hours labor depending on length or if someone wants something really fancy, and the bottom line doesn't look very good at all. Unless your last name is Morgan, or you're shooting the kangaroos yourself and tanning the hides, the profit margin seems to be very thin.

Jim

Well, I did find these guys: http://www.bonsella.net/Contact.html
Maybe you know who they are, Janine. Their prices are the best I've seen, but who knows what the quality will be and so far, I can't get a response to my inquiries. Oh well, off to band practice I go!

Jim

Jim,

Ive got my only few from Sheridan Leather outfitters in wyoming.
That was 4 months ago and i was told then that they had almost none
left. I was lucky enough to get the last of the natural tan. After that
there were only 2 hides left. Sorry i cant help out more than that
but i mostly buy cow hides. Currently it looks like david morgan may
actually be selling them for a good price. Have you checked ebay?
Its abit risky but sometimes you can get lucky.
Hope you find what you are looking for,
Kindest Regards
Adam