Club Obi Wan

I finally finished my first 24-plait bullwhip. It's red and saddle tan kangaroo with a 'dragon bone' handle.

So, Bernardo, I see your 16 and raise you 8 ... to 24.

Now, as soon as I knock down a few more orders I'll make another 24-plait bullwhip, in red and black.

Paul, the fall and popper are Fraser's.

-Adam, www.winrichwhips.com

I really like that handle. It's very rustic looking. Beautiful. What exactly is that handle made of?
I also like the red leather. That is a very interesting whip. Well done.

The handle is genuine 'dragon bone', just like I said

Oh, okay, it's actually elk antler. I was going to leave a fair bit of knurl on the handle since i thought it looked cool, but when I went to crack the whip it wasn't comfortable. So I spent a few hours shaping the handle and polishing it so it feels comfortable in the hand.

-Adam

Hey Adam,

It looks great! But why did you have to go and waste a good Fraser Fall and popper on it,

Hey, How many hides of red kangaroo do you have?

-Adam

PS: Hey Nolan, I don't know what this whip is worth. Send me a PM telling me what you charge for an 8 ft 24-plait bullwhip. Then I'll know this whip is worth about $100 less than that

I'm going to tell you something that Janine told me a long time ago. Mate, you've got to figure out what it's worth for you. And don't sell yourself short like you usually do.

What I charge for an 8 foot 24 plait depends on what all goes into it, it depends on a lot of variables.

I can say that Joe strain sells an 8 foot 24 plait 2-tone bullwhip for $960.

http://www.northernwhipco.com/specialty_whips.htm

Either way, Good Job, The whip looks good, and the subtle 2-tone is cool.

Regards,

Paul Nolan
MidWestWhips

Oh yeah, and post some more pics.

I just measured it and it's a 9 footer.

Well, I know I won't get Joe's prices. I'm thinking $500 is a nice round figure, and I probably won't even get that much when I get around to selling it.

What do you need more pics for? Isn't two enough?

I've got two red kangaroo hides right now, and one is already spoken for as it's going into my next 24-plait bullwhip.

/A-dizzle-a-mizzle

Adam, that is one pimp whip! Beautiful coloring, and that Dargon bone is amazing, how long did it take you to hunt that beast down? Id say the whip should be more than 500, with all the effort u must have put in hunting down that dragon Great job man, and im glas to hear your starting on some other orders now....like mine hopefully??

Hey Adam

I didn't know we were competing...but I'll pay your 24! Prepare yourself to see your first 24 plait COWHIDE whip! hahaha

Your whip looks awesome! To be honest, I prefer fully-plaited handles, but that bone surely looks very unique. I concur with Paul, that whip deserves more pics!

Bernardo

Oh, I know it's not a competition. I've just been watching a lot of 'World Poker Championships' and I've got poker on the brain. And I thought it'd be funny, considering your recents posts of the very cool 16-plait cowhide whip.

Though, now looking at the plaiting in this whip, and the width of the strands, I almost feel that I could make a higher-plait whip if I only had a splitter.

-Adam, www.winrichwhips.com

Bernardo...

Just curious, but do you run the strands for your cowhide whips through a splitter? Adam's post made me curious. Which leads me to my next question......

Adam...

Do you split any of the strands in the whips you make? You mentioned you didn't have a splitter, but maybe you do it by hand.

Steve.

I did split a set of strands by hand once. It was for the buckskin stockwhip that went to racerx. I split the set of strands for the hanlde/crop to keep it from being too bulky.

-Adam

Steve,

Actually, Adam's post made curious too...what's does he need a splitter to cut the strands thinner? what's the answer Adam?

To answer your question, I don't split my strands, and to be honest I don't have a splitter.

When I first started I thought it was an essencial piece of equipment, specially if you wanted to get even tapered whips, but now I hardly have use for one. Besides, it's very expensive, not counting postage for such a heavy item...

Bernardo

As far as I know, you would use the splitter to take the back off of the strands so they lay in smoother. For really REALLY fine whips, when you start cutting the starnds 1-2 mm wide, the strands become almost square and don't plait up as smoothly. Simon Martin and Bernie could probably chime in here since I know they both have made some really finely plaited whip.

On Jim Jarrell's whip, I used a razor to shave the back of the strands down so that the overall handle would be thinner.

-Adam, www.winrichwhips.com

Thanks for the replies, Bernardo & Adam. I recall when I first became interested in whip-making, (not so long ago in fact) a splitter was recommended by several whip-makers, and even regarded as a necessity. But I haven't heard it mentioned much lately.
It makes sense though, as you mentioned Adam, w/ much higher strand counts, the splitter would be needed for those finely cut strands. Thanks guys.

Steve.

Adam's right in regards to splitting making the whip smoother. It is not really neccessary in whips where the strands are 3mm or wider, but anything under that is impossible without a splitter unless your leather is already really thin. I've cut strands down to 1mm and somtimes you split the wrong side
Seeing as I have a splitter I run all my strands no matter what width they are. I'm pretty sure Bernie does to. Also it makes it easier on two tone work to have a splitter because you can't always have 2 hides the same thickness. Personally I wouldn't do with out it, but thats just my opinion.

Kind Regards

Simon
www.whipmaker.com.au

Simon,

Thanks for your input on the subject. I always like to hear other whipmakers opinion. It seems to me that Bernie has had a strong influence in your work, as well as in Roy's work from Tasmania.

Interestingly, David Morgan and Paul Stenhouse don't use a splitter. I think neither do Joe Strain and Paul Nolan. Russell Schultz, who makes some of the neatest whips out there, pares his strands by hand on the underside edges of the leather...and strands of my Schultz bullwhip at the tip are only 3mm wide.

Master whipmaker Mike Murphy uses it ocasionally, and for the benefit of all here, here's what he said to me about splitters:

"Two schools of thought on splitters Bernardo,

It also depends on what sort of whip your making. Neat and even tapered
cowhide work, a splitter is needed if the leather is un-even from the
tannery or if you home-tan. In other words, if it's not even from the
tannery, find another source of leather until it's even. Will save you time.

On roohide, if it's good leather it will be even. But for fine work, a
splitter is helpful. A good whipmaker will cut different components of the
whip from appropriate parts of the roohide. Ie- the butt section is
thickest, so the heavy parts of a whip are started there. A splitter can be
used 2 ways, one is to take the high spots of leather. This is what I use a
splitter for. The strength of the leather is not reduced and I still take
care to choose the right hide for the right job. The other method is to use
the splitter to thin leather to a desired thickness. This reduces strength,
I'm not in favour of this method at all.

Splitters are expensive but useful. There are techniques you can use to get good results. It's not the be-all of whipmaking - the splitter."

Hope that was helpful.

Bernardo

Call me stupid, but... the thong's not gonna fly off when you crack that thing?? I'd think you'd need to braid down to the end of that handle to keep the thong and the handle attached. Even so - it looks really cool. Very original too, I don't think that's ever been done before.

Great job!

In Christ,
Shane

Adam Winrich,

It looks great, it has an ancient aura to it.
The second pic just above the fall, where the seam changes a bit is that where you dropped a strand?

Best,
Herr Jones

Very Nice Adam, I really like that elk antler handle. It kind of reminds me of those old English fox hunting whips with the antler mounted in the crop handle. Not to mention When your done cutting targets you can always use the handle as a billet to chip flint stone tools.

You know if you whip makers ever wanted to have an IndyGear whip making competition. I would be happy to volunteer to test them out, put them though all the paces and judge them all fairly. Of course you will never see any of them again after that, but it’s a small price to pay for bragging rights

Dan

Hey Dan, Quite trying to steal all our whips!!!

Shane,

Have no fear, the plaited part of the whip is securely attached to the antler. I drilled out the antler and glued in a 3/8" threaded steel rod to which most of the layers of leather were firmly tied, and then the last bolster was stapled to a recess I cut in the antler. I'm pretty sure this means that the handle on this whip is about as solid as any fully plaited whip.

Herr Jones,

Yes, in the smallest coil in the pic of the plaiting you see a strand drop. I used to drop strands one at a time and it helped hide the strand drops but it had a tendency to put kinks in the whip. Now I drop them two at a time no matter what.

Dan,

Yeah, they have whipmaking competitions in Australia, so why don't we have them here? Maybe we could organize something to go along with the WWAC national convention.

-Adam, www.winrichwhips.com

Hey Dan, Quite trying to steal all our whips!!!

Paul you make it sound so wrong when you put it like that .

Yeah, they have whipmaking competitions in Australia, so why don't we have them here? Maybe we could organize something to go along with the WWAC national convention.

Adam, With the skilled whip makers working here in North America, I think that would be a great idea. Friendly competition like that would only help to push the art of whip making to higher levels, and give folks a chance to really have some fun, push the limits of their skills and really show off what they can do.

Dan

I'm lost! Did you make a 16 plait whip, Bernardo? And if so, can we have some photos?

Best Regards,

Paul Stenhouse

Paul,

I already posted some photos of my 16 plait bullwhip. Please check the topic entitled "My "indy look" 8 plait cowhide whip from WSP".

Let me know if you like it...

Regards,

Bernardo