Club Obi Wan

I live less than ten miles from the David Morgan store in Bothell, WA, and I decided today was the day I'd stop in to look around. His store is located in a business park. Business parks always seem deserted on the weekends, so I wasn't surprised to see just two cars in the entire parking lot when I got there. Telling the staff that I just happened to be in the area wasn't going to cut it.

An older gentleman helped with me choosing a hat stretcher. Then we started talking about Indiana Jones and bullwhips. He said, "Well, you know, I'm David Morgan. I made the Indiana Jones whips."

He had said he started making whips during a US embargo of kangaroo skin. He said kangaroos can do a lot of damage to wheat fields, and the farmers were killing the kangaroos rather indiscriminately. The embargo was to pressure the Australian government to get some kind of plan in place to deal with the situation. Morgan said he had thought the embargo would last just six months, he'd make a few whips to get through the 'drought', then start getting his whips again from Australia. The embargo actually lasted six years, and during that time he got the business for the whips used in the IJ movies.

He said that his wait list for whips used to be 8 months long, and that at his best he could make 3 whips per week. He went into the back and came out with a bullwhip and cracked it right there in the store. He made it look so easy.

He showed me some photos of cross sections of whips and how they are constructed. He talked a bit about choosing good leather and avoiding scars on the skins, as the scars cause weak spots in the whip.

He said he had heard rumors of IJ4 but had not been contacted at all. He spoke highly of the IJ fans and commented on how very focused the fans were of every detail in the movies. He thought that was good and appreciated how that brought the fans to his business.

It was too soon that he had to get back to work, but I'm sure I'll stop some time to say hello and hear more stories from him.

Rigor, thanks for letting us know about your visit.

It's wonderful to hear that Mr Morgan values Indy fans so much!

Great story, Rigor. Its good to hear that he appreciates us so much. If only HJ felt that way...

Glad to hear you finally met the man, I'll have to get over to that side of the country some day... :junior: -IJ

Sound like a great time! I've always heard he is a very nice fellow.

Rigor, that was a nice story. I had the same experience when I called once and he got on the phone. He was very friendly and just started talking and talking. He is a very nice man.

Rigor,

I've met David a couple times and am overjoyed to be in his presence... same as the way I felt talking to Peter Botwright. There's something about spending time with someone who was an important part of creating a hobby that I love so much.

I'm going to try and stop in to see David again before I leave Seattle at the end of the month. Maybe we can crack some whips too. The Edge and I are going to try and get another good day of cracking out before I take off.

Congratulations on the experience, I know I enjoyed mine and I'm sure you did too.

Mike

Nice story mate. just what we like to hear. Anyone else got the warm fuzzies?

TAZ

Nice little adventure you had there rigor. Did you know he was David Morgan while he was helping you choose the stretcher and let him intorduce himself? He does sound like a very nice man.

Best,
Herr Jones

Rigor,

You're story sounds exactly like my first experience meeting David over six years ago. Thanks for sharing.

I didn't realize you were so close. Let's get together for some whip cracking soon. Like FJ said, we're probably going to head out for a last (maybe penultimate) hurrah before he leaves Seattle. What's your schedule look like?

The Seattle area get together slipped my mind. Is it on then? I'll check for details after posting this. I'm taking the Rigor clan on vacation starting the 19th and will be back July 5th. (This week is probably filled with more trip preparations, but we'll see how it goes. PM me.) I'd enjoy the get together immensely, but I've never cracked a whip before. If it's going to be a whip event, I'll volunteer to be the photographer/videographer.

I neglected to mention the main reason I stopped in to the DM shop. I needed a whip to borrow. Yep, borrow a whip. (This is going to get a bit OT for the whip forum, so my apologies up front.) My wife and I will be hiking on Kauai for vacation while my rigorous kids hit the beaches. My wife and I are both avid photographers, and one thing I wanted to do while we were there before all the hiking is take a nice photo of Kipu Falls because of its Raiders connection. I must have taken a hundred shots of the falls the last time I was there but was dissatisfied with pretty much all of them. The falls are just not that pretty or spectacular. I can take nice photos of them from weird angles to jazz 'em up a bit, but no one at COW would recognize any Indy connection to the falls in the shots. What I thought I'd do is put a fedora, a whip, and a MKVII bag on one of the rocks in the foreground with the falls in the background. THAT would certainly drive home the Raiders connection! (OK. So it won't be a subtle statement, so kill me! )

So did I get to borrow a DM whip? Sure did, for a tiny fee. Well, not really tiny so much as full price retail plus tax with the understanding I could return it with 90 days if it was not cracked or damaged at all. You know, the Rigor special deal. BTW, I did tell DM what I wanted the whip for.

Herr Jones, I didn't know it was David Morgan when I first started talking to him about stretchers. I was wondering of course. I wouldn't have been surprised that he wasn't there on a slow day or that he had long ago retired to a nice beach somewhere. I'd have been a little disappointed had he not been there; who of us wouldn't have been? I was disappointed I didn't get to meet Peter when I stopped by the Wested shop in 1999. That's the way it goes if you don't phone first, I guess.

Rigor, the NW summit already happened... But if people are available, there is a park in Bothel that The Edge and I sometimes do some cracking in. I'll throw something down in the event section.

Mike

Yeah, I saw that. I gotta do a better job stopping by to check out the board. I'll be on the lookout for the next one.

Rigor, Thanks for posting. That’s a great first hand account of your experience with David Morgan and your visit to his store. I enjoyed reading it.

Dan

Very nice story indeed... Excuse me rigor, could you explain me better the story about the embargo? Some think that the raiders bullwhip were made of calf because of the embargo. From your story I guess he menaged to make them in Kangaroo anyway... I suppose he had many skins stored. Any further information would be good

thanks

[quote="erri_wan"]Very nice story indeed... Excuse me rigor, could you explain me better the story about the embargo? Some think that the raiders bullwhip were made of calf because of the embargo. From your story I guess he menaged to make them in Kangaroo anyway... I suppose he had many skins stored. Any further information would be good

thanks[/quote]

Yeah, as I wrote my story I wondered about what he made his whips out of during the embargo as well, but I didn't think to ask him at the time. If he's there when I return the whip I'll ask him.

The United States embargo on kangaroo products has actually been discussed here many times in the past. It went into effect back in December 1974 when the Red, Western Grey and the Eastern Grey kangaroos were listed as a threatened species by the U.S. and did not end until April of 1981. David used English kip side when he didn’t have kangaroo skins; Kip is processed from young cattle, it is type intermediate grade leather between calfskin and cowhide with very similar characteristics and appearance to Kangaroo skin. It’s hard to say how many Raiders bullwhips might have been made from it, maybe some, maybe all. We don’t know how much kangaroo David Morgan had access too during the embargo or when Glenn Randall jr. bough his whips. What makes matters worse is, as I understand it, It’s very difficult to tell the difference between the two just by looking at it. I’ve been told you have to look at the grain patterns of the leather under magnification to be sure.

On a side note, Kip is also the leather that forum member / whipmaker Bernardo makes most of his Indy whips out of.

Dan