Club Obi Wan

Good evening,

I had a question regarding "falls" and "poppers"... I have a 12' 4 plait cowhide bullwhip from about 1987. It has been through so much use and is still my favorite whip with no imperfections. I noticed that a lot of people feel 12' is going a bit too long to control, etc., however, I am about 5'5" (not very tall obviously),and handle it surprisingly well. Once broken in, it does have that feel like an extension of your self.

I decided to upgrade $20 more than my origonal, which is about $60.00. I know, not what you guys feel is a real whip. It's a 10' 10 plait bullwhip on ebay and it is just what I wanted. Some of you probably are familiar with it... It's the type with "Mexico" printed inside the handle. I call it my IOAEAB, (Indy on an EXTRA Budget).

Anyway, the old cowhide 12 footer never came with a "popper". I just got it from a horse and tack shop that special ordered it for me back then. It has about a foot of extra "fall". The thing is, is that it cracks like a gunshot. The new 10 footer has the fall and a popper, and with all the practice I have had, over the years mind you, it is almost impossible to crack!

Do I just need to break it in? It seems like the leather by itself would smack the air like crazy, but this little nylon piece of rope? What am I missing or doing wrong? I feel like ripping the popper off.

Thank you very much,

Michael B

yeah its possible that being that the new whip is stiff, it just needs breaking in a bit.

Also what is the length of the fall on the new whip , is it the same as the older one and is the fall a wide slapper type, if so it should have the sides trimmed a bit to make match the width of the point of the whip, which would make it crack easier as well.

hope that helps.




Jim J.

Hello,

I am adding some leather conditioner now. I just spoke with my grandfather, who raised cows, chickens, horses, you name it, and he said that a good saddle soap would help. he also mentioned a conditioner, but I have to get the name right. But, yeah, I think it just needs some breaking in.

The length of the fall is about 17". The older whip is about 21" But you are correct, this fall gets wider toward the end on the new whip. I think a litlle trimming may do the trick. It's just that the older whip is MUCH wider and cracks great. But I think some trimming would help, and it's not like I'm messing up an expensive whip.

Thanks for your help!

Michael B

i also have a bullwhip with mexico printed in the handle , it was a very cheap 10 dollar fognet bullwhip , bought it just for training purposes

Michael, I couldn’t say for certain what the problem is with out actually seeing the whip, but there could be several things causing the problem. The popper may be too long, or not frayed out enough towards the end to get a clean pop.

Many of the old tack shop bullwhips made in the 80’s where actually built better then alot of the budget whips sold on eBay today. Since a whip is built from the inside out, without a properly made under belly these whips can often be too light or made with such a poor tapered that they just don’t want to throw out well. This seems especially true for the longer bullwhips. Unfortunately that design flaw can cause some problems with it cracking properly, It’s bit like trying to crack a piece of rope. Leather dressing can help by adding weight to the thong. The wide slapping style fall also acts as an air break of sorts, so trimming it down so that it narrows to the point will help create a better taper may also help. The whip may be dry and stiff, who knows how long its been sitting around, it may need some dressing and time to be broken in. See if doing those things help, and let us know.

There are a few other tricks that can be done to make these whips crack better if what has been suggested doesn’t work, they go against my normal advice on whip care as ultimately not very good for the whip in the long run, so I would only recommend them as a last resort. Good
luck.

Dan