Club Obi Wan

As far as aging a whip goes i am just curious how long it actualy takes to naturaly age a whip to get it to look like Indy's. For some of you out there that have been able to do so how long did it take you? I have had my whip for a year at the end of october. I have really started to notice a color change especialy since i had to have the knot refinished due to my dog chewing the end of my whip. The new leather and the original leather look completly different. I will post some pix of my own whip so you can see how far it has come since i purchased it as soon as i can.

Really it just depends on how often the whip is used, if its abused, what type of weather its used in and how often you apply leather dressing etc. Theres no set time for a whip to age really.

Look in the mirror and see.

It also depends on what leather the whip is made from. If it is kangaroo, it will darken rather fast. If it is cowhide, I hope you like it's color when you bought it, because it will probably stay that color for a REALLY long time.

When I got my David Morgan kangaroo hide whip, I immediately posted a pic of it. I had to kinda laugh when some one posted, "That whip is almost white, it doesn't look very screen accurate".

Yes, it was a brand new kangaroo hide whip and it was almost white. In a couple of weeks, it had already taken on a nice golden tan hue, it was becoming more screen accurate by the day.

It depends not only on materials, but also how the whips treated and used, (not in terms of abuse, but more generally use,) how it's maintained, (how often, and what products,) and in a lot of cases the individual hide that the whip is made from, (how it's tanned, and the natural variation in the hide.)

I've seen folks with Kangaroo whips that are several years old that have barely aged at all, but I have a natural tan Kangaroo hide whip that is just over a year old that has developed a BEAUTIFUL orangey patina.

The hide the thong was made from was different from the hide that the knots were done from. I've conditioned and maintained both the same way, and the color is slightly different. They're aging subtly differently...And the effect is quite pretty.

I've also had cowhide whips that darkened with age as well. Not to the same degree as Kangaroo, but they darken as well. Just not as dramatically.

There's my two cents. It's 2AM, so sorry if In incoherent.

Happy Crackin!

-Dan

Bufflehead Jones wrote:It also depends on what leather the whip is made from. If it is kangaroo, it will darken rather fast. If it is cowhide, I hope you like it's color when you bought it, because it will probably stay that color for a REALLY long time.

That's not quite correct, I'm afraid. If its chrome-tanned or alum-tanned cowhide, then the color will pretty much stay the same. BUT, if it's a natural tan vegetable-tanned cowhide, then it will darken with sunlight just like kangaroo. In fact, any vegetable-tanned leather will darken with use, regardless of the animal involved. I have braided a few key lanyards with llama hide, and you wouldn't believe on dark they've become with use and exposure to sunlight. I'd say it will take a few months for the whip to get darker, asumming you are exposing it to sunlight.

Bernardo
www.delcarpiowhips.com

i still need to get those pics posted...sorry it has taken me a while. I will do my best to remember when i get back from my vacation. Thanks for the comments and the info. I have been trying to keep my whip in the sunlight as much as possible. Also the leather treatments have seemed to darken it quite a bit. Thanks again.