Club Obi Wan

I haven't seen the the news posted before so I guess it may not be widely known that David Morgan had a fall about six weeks ago and broke his hip.
He seems to be doing o.k, he has a few nails and screws holding him together but he is getting around with the aid of stick and hopes to get rid of that soon. I reckon David is about eighty two years old by now and is talking about getting back into plaiting as soon as he is able. I guess you can't keep an old whipmaker down.
You all know what David means to the development, styling and popular appreciation of the american bullwhip and how he has given knowledge freely and willingly to all.
I was kind of hoping that we could show our appreciation of him by sending him our best wishes by whatever means. email, regular cards or whatever you think.
There are not many people on this forum that don't owe something to him, we may own a whip of his or even if we just appreciated the Indiana movies, if we all sent something it would turn into a flood of thanks. I think David would be very very pleased. He deserves this.

all the best....
litlejohn

Oh poor guy! I hope he's on the mend and makes a full recovery. I'm a huge fan of Mr. Morgan and he's been very helpful to me over the last couple of years. A very nice man. Get well soon.

This is the first I've heard of it. Glad to hear he's on the road to recovery.

With hopes of a speedy recovery.

Best regards,
Kim

I wish David the best of health and thanks for my fantastic bullwhip.

Warmest regards,

Satipo

Sorry to hear about Mr morgans fall but glade his is on his way to recovery. I'm not only a fan of his but is very greatfull for the time he spent with me on my visit to his shop and all the infomation and help about whipmaking. He is very giving of his time and himsel. Get well soon.

The title of this thread made my legs go weak. My heart is racing as I type this. I thought we had lost him. I'm so pleased that he is still with us.

This just in from Mr. Morgan:


Thank you. I am getting better…somewhat irritably and impatiently.

With kind regards,

David Morgan

Thanks for posting this Nick.

my 2 cents....you should really change the title of the thread as it eludes to david morgan passing away.....scared the #### out of me actually.

i was relieved to know that he is still with us and even more relieved to see that he is recovering. i wish him the best and hope he's back doing what he loves to do.

much regards,



G

Yes, I agree with Indiana G. You don't want to come across as an alarmist or something.

Subject was modified. Sorry littlejohn, for the edit, but given the recent death of Ron Edwards, this was being mistook for something more serious. Although a broken hip is really bad.

David, if you are reading, get your hands ready for platting again. You should be using your squeeze ball. <shaking fist towards Bothell>

SERGEI?!? Where the heck have you been my friend? Great to have you back!

Regards, Dr. J

Dr. J... yep, I have been gone awhile and too long. Slowly getting back in the saddle. I think we need an old timers convention in LA - break bread, smoke some fine cubans, listen to Adam's salsa music, ... how's the little family?

I was in Bothell six weeks ago visiting my Aunt, and when I went there I wanted to talk to him but was told he broke his hip. I'm interested in whipmaking so I wound up in the back of the shop were he doss his whipmaking with his apprentice (I forgot her name) and she taught me how to par and to cut the hide. When we were dun I walked out to the front of the store and there was a police officer telling the employees there is a voluntary evacuation. Because the bridge we just came over 20 min. ago had washed out (it was raining really hard). So we decided to leave but before we did my parents bought me roo hid as a early Christmas present It was the best present I got.

Wow, just discovered this thread - I will definitely add my well wishes to the rest.

I never realized that David was the same age as my recently-late father... you never know how much time you've got. I'm happy to hear David is still up and at'em...

I bought a 12' DM Indy whip back in early '95 I swear I remember it being 16-plait, but most of what I see these days mentions 12-plait, so perhaps my memory is faulty. Regardless, it's one of my most-prized possessions.

LZeitgeist wrote:I bought a 12' DM Indy whip back in early '95 I swear I remember it being 16-plait, but most of what I see these days mentions 12-plait, so perhaps my memory is faulty.

Do you have a picture? The experts around here could probably tell by looking whether it's 12 or 16 plait.

Well David definitely made a 16 plait bullwhip in the past. Just looking at the website he doesn't offer it anymore. I remember discussing this in the past with him on whether I should order a 16 plait. He convinced me to stay with the 12 plait whip for durability purposes - the strands are wider and less stress vs. the 16 plait.

Pictured is a 16 plait, 6 foot Bullwhip made by David Morgan:

To the best of my knowledge, DM only offered his 16 plait "Classic Bullwhip" in 6 and 8 ft lengths. Since LZeitgeist's whip is a 12 footer, perhaps it's 12 plait. Like Satipo said, with a pic it will be very easy to tell what it is.

Bernardo

I remember that whip from his website. Very finely-cut strands, and expensive as all-get-out ($700 back in the day). I really wanted one, too. So I ordered a 6-foot 16-plait from Bernie, thinking that it would look like David's, and it didn't. The overlay looks exactly like a 12-plait bullwhip. Still, she's a beaut!

This is the first that I knew of David's fall. I appreciate you letting us know.

David, get well soon!

LZeitgeist wrote:I bought a 12' DM Indy whip back in early '95 I swear I remember it being 16-plait, but most of what I see these days mentions 12-plait, so perhaps my memory is faulty. Regardless, it's one of my most-prized possessions.

While All the movie style model 450 whips he made where 12 plait, he did 16 plait whips for a while too. Most where 6 or 8 ft, but he may have made longer ones back when he was doing special orders.

There are 2 quick ways to tell the 16 plait classic bullwhips apart from the standard 12 plait. The overlay on the 16 plait whip David did, was done in an 8 seam pattern as it left the handle, then went into the 4 seam herringbone pattern down the rest of the thong. The 12 plait whips go right from the handle into the 4-seam pattern hearing bone style plait.

Another way is to pick a stand a few inches up from the handle, then count how many other strands it goes under and multiply that number by 4. If the strand goes under 3, it’s a 12 plait whip, if it goes under 4 it’s a 16 plait whip.

or you can just post a picture and we can tell you

Dan

No David, No Whip!!
Ciao David, I wish you untroubled and happy healing
Get well soon
Kind Regards
Giovanni Celeste

Sorry, didn't mean to hijack the thread, but I'll do some counting and pic taking/posting in a few days - I'll check the receipt for it as well. Order date would have been around January 1995...

Anybody got the latest news on Mr. Morgan's condition?

From what I could tell on my last visit with him he's doing fine. Honestly I probably wouldn't have known about his fall from his appearance if I didn't know about it.

Louie

I'm so glad David is doing ok.

I purchased one of David's 16 plait bulls a few years ago. It's still not broken in! Heh! There's no secondary front knot covering the transition zone, so it's interesting to see. I recall it also has an extra belly, which I think accounts for it's long breaking in period.

best,
Gene

genexs wrote:I'm so glad David is doing ok.

I purchased one of David's 16 plait bulls a few years ago. It's still not broken in! Heh! There's no secondary front knot covering the transition zone, so it's interesting to see. I recall it also has an extra belly, which I think accounts for it's long breaking in period.

best,
Gene

Hi Gene,

I would love to see a picture of the whip, and I am sure everyone else would as well.

You are right, the ad in the catalog said that it has a 3rd plaited belly. I didn't know there wasn't a knot on the transition though. I am very interested to see this whip.

Regards,

Paul Nolan
www.midwestwhips.com

Gene,

Got any pics? )

Paul, Bernardo:

A challenge! I rise to the occasion! Heh!

This is the first pic I've posted, so I hope it's ok. Sorry 'bout the cracker, been too lazy to tie one on in the off-season.

best,
Gene

Forgive me for briefly changing the subject, but Gene how do you post a pic on COW? Can you point me toward a tutorial or something on this site as I looked but couldn't find one. I have access to a digital camera, so I'm half way there.

genexs wrote:There's no secondary front knot covering the transition zone, so it's interesting to see.

That's a nice looking whip! But am I misunderstanding what is meant by a "secondary front knot covering the transition zone". I assumed that referred to a ring-knot, which I can see your whip has.

Perhaps he meant the second braiding transition. The braiding pattern changes twice - once at the end of the handle section and then again a few inches further on.

Very nice whip Gene! Thanks for posting the pic. We don't get to see many of those 16 plait Morgan whips. There's a ring knot there, so the first transition at the end of the handle is covered. Were you referring to the second transition?

Jon,

To post pics, first upload them to a website like www.photobucket.com
Then copy the pic's URL (the address). Go to your message window and clic on the Img tab once (to the right of your text field), then paste the picture URL, and clic again the Img tab. (You'll see it now has an *). That's it. Repeat as neccessary for posting more pics, and to see if you've done it correctly, clic PREVIEW below.

Regards,

Bernardo

OMG that's a beautiful bullwhip. I bet it rolls out like a dream. Could you post a few close-ups of the plaiting and handle detail for the rest of us to drool over?

P.S.- If you send it to me, I would be happy to tie a new cracker onto the fall!!!

Hi folks:

First off, thanx for all the nice comments on the whip.

Whiskeyman, Bernardo, and Satipo:

Yeah. I always called the knot just off the handle touching the thong the "front" or "forward" knot, to distinguish it from the Turks head knot. So yes, there's one "ring knot" covering the first transition, but the second transition is naked and there to see. For those who want to look around, I seem to recall Joe Strain had some pics at his site of whips with two ring knots. I think Western Stage Props had some for a while, too.

Whipwarrior:

Here's your pick. Hopefully the transition we are discussing will be visible, in the upper left hand corner of the pic. In regards to how it handles, it's really some whip! As I said, it's not broken in yet, and I'm going very slowly in that regard. The stiffness near the handle reminds me of Australian style bullwhips, more than David's 12 plait bullwhips; yet, there is no light, dainty, thin and long handle--it's the heavy beefy Morgan handle. It's as if it's and Indy whip having a dream of being and Australian bullwhip. Heh. In the next day or so, I'll post a pic of a Mike Murphy 16 plait 6 foot next to this whip. You can't imagine two completely different creatures!

best,
Gene

Hey Genexs, That is a beautiful example of David’s 16 plait Classic bullwhip. Thanks for sharing it here, we don’t see too many of those. It’s a bit more beefed up compared to a few others of David’s 16 plaits I’ve seen over the years, clearly a very serious whip!

As far as I know, David never a 2nd knot over that 2nd transition from the 8-seam pattern to the more traditional 4-seam patter he uses when plaiting his whips.

Dan

It's interesting to see how detailed the handle is compared to the 12 plait.

BTW, didn't some of the Zorro whips have a second ring knot?

Satipo wrote:BTW, didn't some of the Zorro whips have a second ring knot?

Only the ones Joe Strain made, but they where a differnt style of bullwhip then the ones David did.

Dan

Ah, yes. I had a feeling they were Strain whips. I think I saw them on Western Stage Props.

Hiya:

Thanx, BullwhipBorton. It does indeed seem to have received some extra beefing up. Glad I could contribute to the forum.

Here's the DM along side a Mike Murphy. Both are 6 foot, 16 plait whips, yet they are two very different beasts.

best,
Gene

Thanks Gene, That 16 plait bullwhip Mike Murphy made, looks like a real beauty.

Dan

A quick update on Mr. Morgan's recovery:

I called him last Saturday and he told me he was back to braiding! He had just finished a 12 footer. He said he has almost fully recovered from the broken hip!

His new book is almost ready to be sent to the publisher! It should take anywhere from 2 to 6 months for the book to leave the printers, he added.

Regards,

Bernardo

I'm very glad to hear that he is back to braiding, and that he is well. I can't wait for his new book! I'll be checking his site regularly.

Is that short herringbone pattern common on David's whips? I haven't noticed it before in the pictures I've seen?