Club Obi Wan

If I was the wrap a whip around a tree limb and swing over a pit? Could I do it once and then the whip would be runined or would my weight break the whip, causing me to fall into the pit?
Aside from whipping things, can a whip be used to do anything that Indy used it for?

Most well-constructed whips would most likely hold your weight, but it would damage the whip beyond repair. The leather would stretch out of shape and could even break a few overlay strands. IT IS NOT RECOMMENDED! Certainly not with a whip that cost you quite a bit .

That being said, as a kid I got pretty good at whipping onto a tree branch, swinging, then getting the whip off just like Indy. Of course this was with a whip that was maybe $20, and did eventually break. It was an 8-plait cowhide swivel-handle whip.

Honstly this question is a little like "can you make a real lightsaber?"....

HOWEVER, even Fantasy is sometimes grounded in SOME kinda reality.

so I will REPHRASE the question... could a SPECIAL bullwhip be made with the specific function of supporting a adults weight and STILL be able to be used as a bullwhip?

Hmm, this sounds like a Mythbusters question...
I happen to know Adam Savage and hes a whip enthusiast himself... maybe i should email him? lol

Shagbd wrote: Hmm, this sounds like a Mythbusters question...
I happen to know Adam Savage and hes a whip enthusiast himself... maybe i should email him? lol

Absolutely! I think they need an Indy-centric movie myths episode (they did the raft drop, right?).

And the awning jump from ToD.

CAN it be done? Sometimes, yes, under special circumstances and at a high risk of bodily injury or even death. SHOULD it be done? NO, NEVER!!!

You have to understand that there is such a thing called editing in movies, and what you see is NOT what you get. The whips that Indy swings from ARE NEVER the same whips that he wraps around the oject in question. In other word they will film a shot of HF thowing the whip around a tree or something, cut. Next camera set-up, install a safety line with a whip-like braiding over it to the rafters in the roof of the studio with double or tripple safety reddundencies and call in the stuntman, secure the other end of the safety line to a harness that is hidden under his Indy costume, make sure everything is working as it should, double check the safety mats that are on the floor out of camera line, and then roll camera. The stun performer does the swing and they cut.

THIS is how films are made. It is NEVER EVER EVER the SAME whip people. You HAVE to accept that this is fantasy and not reality. Try this over a real bottomless pit, and they may never find your body for real! Realbullwhips are NOT designed the same way as safety lines and do not do the same thing. A real whip will be fluid and crack beautifully and will do in the right hands some amazing tricks. Likewise a safety line will support your weight and keep you from falling. But they cannot do the other's job, or at least not well. You will never get a safety line to crack and swinging from a real whip is a really stupid risk to take. So don,t do it. EVER!

Canuck Digger wrote:CAN it be done? Sometimes, yes, under special circumstances and at a high risk of bodily injury or even death. SHOULD it be done? NO, NEVER!!!

You have to understand that there is such a thing called editing in movies, and what you see is NOT what you get. The whips that Indy swings from ARE NEVER the same whips that he wraps around the oject in question. In other word they will film a shot of HF thowing the whip around a tree or something, cut. Next camera set-up, install a safety line with a whip-like braiding over it to the rafters in the roof of the studio with double or tripple safety reddundencies and call in the stuntman, secure the other end of the safety line to a harness that is hidden under his Indy costume, make sure everything is working as it should, double check the safety mats that are on the floor out of camera line, and then roll camera. The stun performer does the swing and they cut.

THIS is how films are made. It is NEVER EVER EVER the SAME whip people. You HAVE to accept that this is fantasy and not reality. Try this over a real bottomless pit, and they may never find your body for real! Realbullwhips are NOT designed the same way as safety lines and do not do the same thing. A real whip will be fluid and crack beautifully and will do in the right hands some amazing tricks. Likewise a safety line will support your weight and keep you from falling. But they cannot do the other's job, or at least not well. You will never get a safety line to crack and swinging from a real whip is a really stupid risk to take. So don,t do it. EVER!

Fine then, I wont try it... you sold me...
But I am going to jump out of a plane in an inflatable raft, that must be a safe and reasonable stunt....

floyd1977 wrote:Fine then, I wont try it... you sold me...
But I am going to jump out of a plane in an inflatable raft, that must be a safe and reasonable stunt....

Let us know how it goes.

floyd1977, be my guest.

I started to jump out of a plane on an inflatable raft once but i chickened out and lashed my whip onto the wing instead.......er yeah thats what i did

Id just like to point out, one of our own COW menbers indymcfly, demonstrating this very stunt.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SD_wJvkf ... re=related

Even the military was fooled by editing techniques like this. When "Thunderball" came out, they were asking MGM how they created a pen-sized SCUBA device. After all, Sean Connery was able to stay underwater for ten minutes with the thing, so it must have worked.

darthinvictus wrote:I started to jump out of a plane on an inflatable raft once but i chickened out and lashed my whip onto the wing instead.......er yeah thats what i did

My question is... how'd you get the raft into the plane?


Also - although I DID "demonstrate" that stunt, it's important to watch that video WITH this, less rehearsed, more candid one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsXKbDVpJ0M

Shane

you'll never appear on mythbusters, indymcfly edition, if you give away your own stunts....

I've said this a bunch of times but I have swung from my old swivel handle bullwhip more times than I can remember. It was my first "real" whip and I still have it today. If I can I'll swing from it again and video it. No tricks...I'll strait up do it.

You know I'd actually try that with a Nylon whip made from 550 (para) cord. I've seen what the riggers use that stuff for and it should work. I don't know enough about leather and plaiting to know if I'd try it with a leather one.

Do not try to swing from a whip. It is very dangerous. That said, however:

It is possible to lock a whip around a limb by overwrapping the coils with the last coil. I've done it. Not perfectly secure but good enough for a brief application of tension. A lightweight application of tension is feasible. This isn't in the realm of lightsabres or jumping out of planes in inflatable rafts.

But do you do it? No, I don't, because whips are expensive and are really made for cracking. It is the same as asking do you crack whips on rough concrete. No, you don't, because you'll badly scratch the leather. However, if necessary a whip can be cracked in such situations, and survive the ordeal.

It makes using whips more appealling to me if I know that they can be used as more than just for cracking. I very much like the fact that whips can potentially do other things other than just make noise. They can strike things (not that I see too much application for this in general), or be used as a safety line in an emergency. I think David Morgan mentions in his book that there was at least one performer who did do a stage act where he swung from a whip, with minimal damage to the thong. But I agree, not good to do. This is a contentious issue, and many whip crackers are against any talk of swinging from whips. I think that's a bit hardline, given that people can certainly do it.

Picture this: you're walking through the outback and fall down a disused mineshaft. They are all over the place in some areas, uncovered, sometimes with wild ferns growing over the top, obscuring them. You manage to halt your descent by grabbing with your arms onto a rotting piece of timber jutting out. Do you A) try to wrap your whip to that nice timber above you within reach, to help you climb out, or do you B) say to yourself, "well that's it old boy. I'm not gonna try and put my expensive DM to the test. Looks like this is it. AAAAAaaaaaaaaagh!" Splat!! ?

Not sure if the issue is could, so much as should. Yes you are right, a good quality whip could hold a light weigth individual for a short period of time. I guess the reason I'm so much agaisnt it isn't because I hold whips as holly grails and it would be such an afront to use them in this manner. That's just a load of doo, it's your whip, you do whatever you want with it.

BUT

We always have to be extra careful that we do not encourage this practice in case some young hot headed buck decided he was going to try swinging across the local ravine outside his town...

It's also important for people to understand just HOW a film is put together and that when we say a whip with a cable inside was used, this whip is NOT the same as the one you see beign wrapped around the tree the shot before. People walk away from partial annotations with the wrong idea that all you need for an all-purpose whip is to put a cable in it. Then they wonder why it doesn't behave like the one they see onscreen. They are movies, only movies, and if they entertain you then that's just swell, but don't confuse that with reality.

When we went out west as kids we brought home a western whip and it would hold our weight as children 50-60lbs but it started breaking down after being rough with it.

Good point Canuck Digger. I agree very heartily that everyone should be very well aware that such a stunt would be extremely dangerous for anyone to attempt. Only trained stuntmen with proper equipment should really attempt it (cable core whip and safety harness or whatever). A leather whip is only designed that it will survive cracking over a long life of many years if well looked after. It can do other things but is not designed for anything else other than cracking. Some can and do use the whip for such purposes as asked in the original post. But if you are reading this and are thinking of trying it, please don't. You may fall and hurt yourself or worse. Be happy just to crack your whip only.

Carful Shmarful....I'm gonna do it and video it. I've done far more dangerous stuff in my sleep.

Somehow, I don't think pulling a "Steve O" of jack#$$ fame type stunt is very dignifying to the traditionally made leather bullwhip. I don't stick fire crackers in ant hills anymore either. I guess I'm just getting old. What a drag....

bluzharp wrote:Somehow, I don't think pulling a "Steve O" of jack#$$ fame type stunt is very dignifying to the traditionally made leather bullwhip. I don't stick fire crackers in ant hills anymore either. I guess I'm just getting old. What a drag....

This isn't steve-o type garbage at all. I'm not swinging over the grand canyon. I'll be 2 feet off the ground at most. I've wrestled wild hogs, caught live rattlesnake and other outdoor stuff thats way more dangerous sice I was a kid. do yall really think dropping 2 feet to the ground is gonna hurt you? Cmon now....lets get realistic about how "dangerous" this really is. Driving to work is more dangerous, think about all the factors you cant control on your daily commute.

Agreed, Vegeta. It could be done safely, and many other things in life are dangerous as you say. I was just trying to be responsible and warn off impressionable young minds from doing anything silly as i'm sure you appreciate. I'd like to see your video if you can get the time to make one. I don't think it's undignifying to the traditional leather whip.