Club Obi Wan

I recently bought a bullwhip from a guy on ebay. Seems pretty nice. 12 plait 7.5 ' Indyish Brown and black. 2 layer core & 2 layer belly-1 plaited 1 wrapped.
Figured it would be better than a similar priced Mexican whip with a rope core or some @#$%.
Anyway, been crackin' the mess out of this thing and slowly but surely have decreased the length of the fall to under 8". It was only 10 or 12 " when I bought it. I've read that when the fall gets shorter than 12 - 18" to replace it. I guess the fall was a little dry and it also seem a litle puny. I've only been using this whip a few weeks albeit quite frequently (I can't put it down).
This whip maker plaited over the fall a couple inches and then tied off the final 4 plait as opposed to hitching right at the fall. I removed the old fall and tried to re-plait and tie it off until I get a new fall.
Where is the best place to buy a fall? Should it be redhide or whitehide? I also need some dressing or something for the falls and whip. Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Joe

Hi Joe,

I'd suggest first checking with the whipmaker or fella you got the whip from, see what he has say about it, possibley free replacement, or sending one out to you.

There are however many places to obtain falls made from either white hide or redhide, as to which is better, it seems to fall (no pun intended) , under personal preference.

To me , it looks like you need a bit of a heavier fall, something from redhide or latigo to match the point of the whip.

Length for falls average from two feet to three, with two feet being the norm, I myself perfer two feet , depending on the length of the whip over all.

Keeping the fall well greased will extend the life of it, I use Pecards and febings leather dressings, both can be obtained via ebay or from Western stage props, I'm sure somebody here will have some excellent website listing for these products.

Cheers

Jim J.

Looks like you could do with a cracker/popper too!

That pic is from the auction itself so you can see how short the fall was to begin with. I twisted my own crackers and eventually popped off 6" of the fall. The fall appeared to be made from the same leather that the whip is overlaid in. So, a heavier redhide or latigo is the way to go? I have a Tandy shop not far from here. Is that something they would carry?

Tandy's will not likely carry falls, you could get a hide and cut your own but that can be pricey because you would have to buy a whole hide. I carry them in latigo and can sell you one or more if you like. Let me know, James

Hi Joe, you’ve gotten good advice so far. It looks like the fall you had on there was a lil mismatched to the whip. It should be a pretty easy fix though. I’d contact the maker first and see if he/she will fix it for you. If they just want to send you one or put on the same type of fall, then I’d recommend going to one of the other whip makers/ suppliers and getting a replacement fall from them. Murphywhips.com northernwhipco.com and Westerstageprops.com are three places off the top of my head that have pretty good replacement falls but there are many others.

Tell them what kind of whip it is, the weight, etc, or just send it out to be replaced. Changing falls isn’t that hard, but if you’ve never done and don’t know where to start it it can be a bit intimidating, sometimes its easier just to send it out and let the pro’s replace it for you and tune the whip up for you while they have it. I wouldn’t be surprised if one of our resident whips makers here popped in and offered their assistance. I agree with Jim.J though, given the style of bullwhip I’d probably recommend going with a slightly heavier more suitably tapered Australian style fall and having the hitch redone. I think you’ll find that it will also improve the performance of the whip. White hide or red hide is just personal preference. I use both but find white hide tends to wear a little longer, has a bit more give and is less prone breaking at the popper knot. Speaking of poppers, im not sure if your using one on your whip, but if not you’ll want too. That will save you wear and tear on the end of the fall and make a much better crack.

As for a leather dressing, If your in the U.S. Pecards classic leather dressing or Fibings Aussie Dressing are the way to go. You can order pecards, from their website www.pecard.com Red Wing Shoe stores also carry Pecards classic leather dressing under there own name brand. It comes in a translucent 6 oz tub with a black lid, but it’s the same stuff. Some of the Tandy leather shops, tack shops and tractor supply place will usually carry the fibings brand.

Dan

Just catching up, and thought I'd throw in my two cents to the already considerable wealth of great advice and info.

I can say that Western Stage Props has some REALLY nice whitehide falls in stock right now. They look like they were done by Joe Strain. Just got a couple, and REALLY like them.

Now, Latigo might be better for your needs than whitehide, (whitehide's tough stuff, but it can dry out quickly if you don't keep an eye on it.) I was pretty set on wanting whitehide for the whips I needed them for, so I went with WSP, because Northern Whip Company currently only has latigo falls in stock, (REALLY needed whitehide for what I was doing,) and if I know Joe's work, a well maintained latigo fall from him will probably outlast the whip it's on, (and the apocalypse! Just that fall, cockroaches, and Keith Richards sitting around the fire.)

All the best, good luck, and happy crackin' this holiday season!

-The Other Dan ;-)

Thanks for all the advice guys. I went to Tandy and got some latigo scraps from the remnant bin and some aussie leather conditioner. I got black latigo that was thick and some brown that was thinner. I cut a black fall first, replaited the last 6" of the whip and tied it on. Quite stiff, I was having a hard time tying the cracker on tight enough. I just cut a narrower piece of brown latigo (much more pliable) with more taper and will replace after work and see how that goes.

James, Thanks for offering you services. If everything I try blows I'll get some falls from you.

Again, thanks to all who responded.

By the by....Is this the only whip forum in the free world?

Joe

Hi Joe,

There's a Yahoo! Whip Enthusiasts group/forum that's fairly active, as well as a couple whipmaking groups on Yahoo! I like the IndyGear bullwhip forum the best.

-Adam

Yeah, I figure if whipmakers and the like are on Indygear forum it must be the best.
The redhide fall I cut this morning made all the difference in the world. It's longer, thinner, more supple and has a little rat tail taper. First throw with the new fall on and B O O M! I'm proud of the repair. I'm back crackin'.

I have to agree with Adam, that this whip forum is the best one out there. Sergei and Borton run a tight ship, and keeps us in line pretty well.

And yeah, new falls are often prone to reject knots for poppers at first. They'll adapt in time.

What I do to "Seat" my new poppers on new falls is grease up the tip of the fall with leather dressing pretty well, tie the popper on. Then hand tighten it by planting a foot on the fall and tugging backwards on the popper. Then I work tighten it by going out and doing a series of circus cracks. I start really light, so the whip is hardly making any noise, and gradually increase force until I'm getting good lound clean cracks. I know a lot of folks who just try to set the popper by giving it a big powerful crack.

I used to do that too, until I went through about 3 poppers in under 10 minutes because I blew them off to neverland. So I start light anymore so that if I DO blow the popper off, I don't have to go out so far to find it.

Then, I'll do a cattleman's, (overhead,) crack to finish the job, inspect the knot to make sure it's well set, and the end is frayed out well and call it done.

Glad to hear you're back to happy cracking! Enjoy, and happy holidays!

-The Other Dan

Adam and Dan, Thanks for the kind words about this forum. We really do appreciate them and are glad that the effort put in here is worth it . I may be a little bias, but of the four or five whip related forums and mailing lists on the web, I really think ours here is one of the best. We couldn’t keep it going as strong as it has been though for as long as it has been with out the input and advice of our valuable and knowledgeable whip enthusiasts and whipmakers here, members like the both of you. So thanks for that.

Joe, Another tick you can do is thin the tip of the new fall, especially if its still a bit thick. Then just wet the tip with water, tie the new popper on, pull it to seat the knot up tight and give it a few cracks like Dan suggested, finishing it. When the leather dries, the knot will shrink and tighten becoming even more secure.

Dan

Now THAT is a great tip!