Club Obi Wan

I just recieved the new DM catalog and I can't believe that his 10' Indy is now at $700.00 retail!!! I bought mine when it was in the low $600s! Pretty soon these whips will go for $1,000.00. It's madness!

I read in another post that the price of roo skins is going through the roof due to poor availabilty. And I've read that Morgan is VERY picky about skins. So he's either paying even higher prices or getting fewer and fewer hides.

It's probably both, shame though, given I passed nine dead kangaroos driving home from Easter holiday today. If only I knew how to skin 'em and tan e'm I could make a buck...

I see that the website still lists the price at $635.00. Maybe the catalog is a type error. Or maybe they haven't updated the site yet. I wonder why roo skin is so expensive? I thought that in Aus., roos were nothing more then pesky oversized rats and that farmers and large land owners were more than happy to get rid of em.

Yes, it's been discussed by me and another thread started by ECWhips just recently - where to get cheaper roo hides?

Morgan has been raising his prices because the roo hides have gone up steeply in Australia. Why? There has been a massive drought in Australia that has affected the quantity and quality of kangaroo hides. Kangaroo is the best hide for making bullwhips - due to it's unbelievable weight to strength ratio. It's the strongest leather in the market. Roo can be cut very thin, which makes it very easy to braid/plait intricate patterns and yet it has strong tensil strength.

When you have the sole raw material going up massively to make roo bullwhips, then whipmakers have no other choice but to charge extra. It's a shame the price for whips are going up, but there is a good reason - this time.

-Sergei

With the cost of skins where it is now, and going, it will cost me just about as much to make my own whip as it did to buy one already made just a couple of years ago.

Jim

David is having a lot of trouble getting high quality heavy weight roo hides these days. He's told me that he estimates that by early Summer or so he may actually be out of the heavy hides he uses to build the 450 series whips. It is a real possibility that he may have to suspend production of them soon. He won't even sell me any more heavy skins these days so I have to make due with medium.

The reason for his most recent price increase could be his way of curbing demand so as to stretch out his leather supply a bit longer.

Argh!
Do you think it is possible that the whips get cheaper anymore or should I buy the whip I want (10 ft.) just now?

I doubt you will ever find a brand new Morgan cheaper than what his prices are. He is at the top of his game as far as getting the prices he wants for his whips. I'm sure that when he stops making whips altogether or d..s , his whips will be worth even more $$$$. But the bright side is that more and more people are taking up the art and you can find many Indy accurate whips out there for under $500. Strain and Steinhouse are a couple of outstanding whipmakers who don't charge you an arm or a leg. But then again...they didn't make the original Indy! You can always hold out and get one on Ebay....but Morgans still sell for lots of money even used.

I have an order for 20 skins from Queensland, Australia now... I asked for 14 natural tans, 2 blacks, 2 saddle tans, 2 whiskeys, and 2 reds.
They are not processing red colored roo skins at this time because they sell limited amounts.

Another thing that bothers the whipmakers in this ever increasing pricing of good quality whip thonging roo skin is the sports market from shoe and glove manufacturers. To the tanneries the whipmakers have shrunk down tremendously on the food chain. They're obligated to send hundreds of roo skins to these sport manufacturers. So, it's not just the drought, although it is a bad situation - has been and wil continue to have long lasting effects. Buy now while you can bnfore it goes up again. That is either roo skins for you whipmakers or the kangaroo whips from your favorite maker whether he be David Morgan or whoever.

Snap, crackle, POP

Robert Duke
http://www.DukeWhips.com