Club Obi Wan

My first whip was such a fiasco. I was not happy with Texas Bullwhips for several reasons which I will not mention here (again).

I have been corresponding with Rhett Kelley and he is making my nylon whip this weekend. It is an 8-footer with the strap on the handle. Rhett is a very personable and friendly guy.

For anybody who has not seen his whip yet:


I do not have deep pockets and this seems the perfect way to get a decent whip for less than $120.00. My first mistake, er - I mean "whip" used the Indiana Jones name and fell short for a lot of reasons, so I can hardly wait for this one.

I know, I know - pictures. As soon as I get the whip. "Throw me the whip, I throw you the pictures."

Congrats Rick! Yes I agree that Rhett is really a good guy and a man of integrity. It's hard to believe that the picture posted is nylon and not leather. Let us know when it comes in.

-S

You know, I think that whip above looks great. I truly do. I might just have to consider getting one for myself, it looks so good.

Consider this praise where praise is due. How it handles remains to be seen, but I can't imagine it handling poorly. It looks to have a great taper to it, taking into account the foreshortening of the picture.

Best Regards,

Paul Stenhouse

Hey Rick!

I'm awaiting my nylon whip too, only from Tim Bass. I must admit, I think that photo makes the whip look a lot like leather too! Guess we'll be posting photos soon, eh? I just have to figure out how to do that one.

I.J.

To me, the handle seems a little long. Can he shorten it some? If he can, I am all there!

Cheers,
Pyro.

Pyroxene wrote:To me, the handle seems a little long. Can he shorten it some? If he can, I am all there!

Cheers,
Pyro.

Oh come on, Pyro. Rhett is not into the Indy accurate target market. His market is making a durable, nylon whip that will have similar performance with leather whips in weather conditions that would be harmful to leather whips. With all due respect, this nylon beats the #### out of anything similarily priced in this range! This has 2 bellies and has shot loading for balance. This will really outperform anything in this price range. Trust me.

-S
p.s. I am sure he can modify the handle foundation length.

rick, which color nylon is that in the picture? tan or dark brown?

Sergei wrote: Oh come on, Pyro. Rhett is not into the Indy accurate target market.

Hey hey hey! You never know unless you ask. I wasn't knocking the man's work. I don't know enough about about nylon whips to know if that was worth while or not.

Besides, you forget that I am the guy who goes around cracking $34 whips.

Oh well,
Pyr.

Sergei wrote:this nylon beats the #### out of anything similarily priced in this range! This has 2 bellies and has shot loading for balance. This will really outperform anything in this price range.

Sergei,

Do you know anything about the construction of Tim Bass' nylon whips? I was wondering b/c that was a very kind statement to make about Rhett's nylon whips.

Just curious,

I.J.

p.s.-- for what ever it's worth, my order with Tim is $20 more than Rick's order with Rhett.

Rick,


Thanks for the press! It sounds like there is a
definite market there. I have tried to get into
Indygear and I cannot for some reason, in fact, the
link keeps taking me back to my Yahoo! email
account...? That's weird...

To answer the questions the Forum has, YES the handle
can be shortened to 8" and YOUR whip will have an 8"
handle. The whip in the picture is tan, however, it
was recently waxed before the pic was taken and it was
a bit darker than it will look after some use.

If any would like to email me personally concerning
the whips, they may feel free to do so at any time.
However, as you well know, there is a considerable
waiting list that clients will encounter.

Thanks,

Rhett

Here is Rhett's e-mail address for anybody interested:
rhettswhips@yahoo.com

Indiana Joe wrote:

Sergei wrote:this nylon beats the #### out of anything similarily priced in this range! This has 2 bellies and has shot loading for balance. This will really outperform anything in this price range.

Sergei,

Do you know anything about the construction of Tim Bass' nylon whips? I was wondering b/c that was a very kind statement to make about Rhett's nylon whips.

Just curious,

I.J.

p.s.-- for what ever it's worth, my order with Tim is $20 more than Rick's order with Rhett.

Sorry IJ, I was a little to bold in my statement and not thinking of Tim Bass. It's just that Rhett's been doing it for over 10 years and as developed a rather big reputation with articles written up about him. Tim is very good, but relatively new to braiding. I think about 3 years. He is very methodical in his style, so I'm sure he doesn't cut corners. He errs on the, "let's do it right side".

So, what I was trying to say, for the price that Tim and Rhett charge for their nylon whips, they outperform all the leather ones in that price range.

-S

Man! That is a great looking whip! I had never seen a picture of a nylon whip and frankly had my doubts. I mean, I figured it would look obviously non-indy...but quite obviously I am wrong! I might just have to invest...any word on waiting times (from Rhett)?

-John

I think I placed my order in June. Rhett admits a "considerable backlog." This is very easy to believe since he made my whip in a weekend. A whip every few days with a 4-5 month wait equals a lot of whips for one man to make!

I try to be a good vendor as far as customer service
goes. I got popular fast and I was flooded with orders
and it now takes months to get whips from me, but I
hope I can do better on my waiting list without
becoming unpopular and fading away.

Tim Bass got my payment this past Friday.

He e-mailed me yesterday (Monday) to say that with his other orders, Christmas shopping, and preparing for a holiday party at their home, it will take "a few weeks." Do I interpret that as three?

Hey, if I've waited 21 years for my first whip then I can surely hold out for another "few weeks."

From what I understand, Rhett is good. Really good. For that, he is also quite popular and swamped with orders. For those not wanting to wait a few months, you could wait a few weeks instead. Remember that Sergei recommended Tim in another thread

http://www.indygear.com/community/forum ... php?t=1774

and Mr. Bass just won a nylon whip-making contest in Houston a few weeks ago.

Perhaps we'll have to plan a mini-summit and make sure there are some nylon whips present so we can compare and contrast some of the nylons together and crack a few (ITG's, Rick's, JohnNdy's, mine, Heith's, Dan's, Indiana Hall's, etc.) of them.

Just a thought.

I.J.

I received my whip from Rhett on Tuesday, November 26. Since it was only made over the weekend, this is fast service!

First impression is that it is too skinny for what I was looking for, but then, the quality and workmanship exceeded my expectations for the cost. You can tell it is a high quality whip, that's for sure. Pictures will be coming once I figure out what is wrong with my website

Rhett has customer service and communication skills second to none, that is for sure. This will be more of a display whip than anything and will suffice until I get my DM!

Indiana Joe wrote:
Perhaps we'll have to plan a mini-summit and make sure there are some nylon whips present so we can compare and contrast some of the nylons together and crack a few (ITG's, Rick's, JohnNdy's, mine, Heith's, Dan's, Indiana Hall's, etc.) of them.

Just a thought.

I.J.

I second the motion! Who knows, maybe if the next few whips I make are decent, I can contribute something to the list of nylon whips present.

Rick, congrats on the new whip. I can't wait to see the pics. Also, don't worry about the whip seeming thin. The whip is braided from hollowed out strands of paracord. Naturally, a nylon whip will be just a slight bit thinner than a leather whip. There's no need to worry about the diameter of the whip; it will not affect the whip's performance.

High Regards, Indiana_Hall