Club Obi Wan

Hi folks!
I read on several whip sites about shot belly.
What is it? :
Best Regards
Darth

its basicly a lead wheighted whip.

http://www.em-brand-whips.com/bulltutorial.htm

also read that. it should explain it well.

Not that many whipmakers use this technique - shot loaded belly's, for weighting and balancing. Bernie is the most famous that comes to my mind. The most popular technique for weighting and balancing a whip is to use lead tape.

In whip cracking terms a shot belly is a long narrow leather bag filled with lead shot. It’s sometimes used as part of the whips core i.e. belly to add weight to a whip, or balance it out.

Dan

Is that what Adam Winrich meant when he wrote this about his IOAB whips?

This whip is made with an 8" spike handle and a lead-shot core. A bolster of heavy cowhide goes over the core, followed by a four-plait cowhide overlay. It is carefully weighted and tapered to crack loudly and easily.

Wasn't sure if 'core' and 'belly' meant the same thing, but I assumed they did. But this means there is still something rigid for the handle, and it's then at the beginning of the thong that the core/belly starts?

J

Your quote from Adam doesn't really say it was a shot belly.. just "lead-shot core and carefully weighted"

Shot belly - whatever... a belly is the inside parts of a whip.... double plaited bellies, single plaited belly whatever.

Sergei is correct - most whipmakers including myself use lead tape.

A shot bag, or shot belly, if you will, does begin at the end of the stiff handle an 8" x 3/8" spike as Adam mentioned.

Another note in some whipmakers difference - - the plaited bellies on Indy bullwhips aka David Morgan's et al are not plaited over the handle, but plaiting begins at the handle/core junction. The handle loses 2 layers of kangaroo, slimming it down slightly. How 2 layers? With each plaited belly you have 2 layers. So if you eliminate 2 bellies plaited on the handle you have only 1 layer as in a bolster over the handle instead of a plaited section.
In a way, its like the stockwhip technology with what the Aussies call the "swing belly". The thong at the beginning of the stockwhip starts small then gets bigger and then tapers. Its like a viper - snake head. Gives it some zap!

Plus on the Indy style bullwhips the handle isn't so thick and fits more comfortably in the hand. At least it does for me.

last i remember,
Adam w. changed the construction style, and dosent use the lead anymore. I think it had something to do with the handle width.
Adam

You're right, Adam, I don't use lead in the IOABs anymore, but I haven't updated my website since I made the design change so it still says 'lead-shot core'.

In the description I wrote that the whip had a lead-shot core because it was the very first layer of the whip. As Robert wrote, the term 'belly' refers to anything on the inside of the whip and most whipmakers agree on this. I consider the term 'core' to refer to the first flexible layer in a whip. In most whips this is a tapered strip or strips of leather that can either go for a few inches off the handle or for the full length of the whip.

-Adam, www.winrichwhips.com

So, Adam (W), did you use lead in just the prototype, or for the first several? I think I got your third or fourth one, maybe a little longer...just wondering what the construction of MY whip is, now that I think of it...

I started making leather-cored IOABs after getting back from the WWAC National Convention in April of this year, so anyone that ordered an IOAB after April 2005 should have a leather-cored IOAB.

So, Jerry, yes, your whip has lead in it.

-Adam

You can tell the difference too! I got a buddy of mine a 1st Gen IOAB, (shot loaded belly, American-style fall,) in black. We ended up calling it "The Bear." They're heavy, (especially after several months with my Strain.)

The IOAB whips Adam brought to Annie Oakley were SO MUCH better IMHO. Australian Fall, more pronouced taper, MUCH lighter.

Went cracking whips with some Ohio people last night before we went and saw "Legend of Zorro," and Lee Shade was working with his.

winrichwhips wrote:So, Jerry, yes, your whip has lead in it.

Thanks, sir - I LOVE the weight, personally, but now I will refrain from chewing on it.


J