Club Obi Wan

Here's a few pictures of my latest custom bullwhip, made for a wonderfully nice fellow in Germany who owns whips from many of the best whipmakers in the US and some in Australia, several of which are here on COW ) !! Besides Shagbd's katana whip, it seems like practically all I've been making for the last couple months have been Indiana Jones style whips (which I'll always love doing), but it's always a particularly fun challenge for me when I get a truly custom order like Shagbd's or this one.

This particular whip is a 6ft 12 plait with a 10" handle, specifically made for straight precise targeting. The customer wanted it to be all natural tan, but with a little something special (but not gaudy, he emphasized) in the handle section to differentiate it from his regular Indy style whips. So you can see the simple bands I braided into the handle, the butt knot is a 6x7 at his request, and the transition knot has a few extra parts (though the same number of bights) as a regular Indy whip transition knot. Overall I think it turned out pretty well - simple yet unique.

Anyways, here are the pics!









Lauren Wickline
www.midwestwhips.com

WOW!!!!!!!!!

Lauren you at THA WOMAN!!! (said the same way you say "THA MAN" but ya know... changed for political correctness and whatnot..)

that is GORGEOUS!

I have discussed several times with you my love, yet boredom with the "standard indy whip"
its a gorgeous design, but it is really refreshing to see variations.
I also like that it doesnt have a wrist loop.... Wrist loops are something im fast learning have little REAL purpose besides "screen accuracy"...
on most of my whips that have um, i just tie the Delongis Figure 8 knot in them....

anywho.... that looks excellant and i KNOW that the customer is going to be very pleased..... and HEY, if he decides he doesnt want it... you can always send it to alabama!

Lauren,

That is truly a work of art! Very nice work indeed. I love the job you did on the handle - almost reminds me of the Zorro whip. The soon to be owner of this whip is one lucky guy....

Highest Regards,
- Chris

Nice Job Lauren! Thats a really nice looking whip. I like the pattern in the handle "simple yet unique" Awesome!!

Nick

That is AMAZING!!! Your precision is incredible.

I am so impressed with the attention to even the most minute detail in your work. Very well done.

I will however, add take a cue Shagbd and crank out videos of a test cracks or if you can manage plaiting, for awesome projects like these.

Very nice Lauren, I really like the way that bullwhip turned out.

That’s a very similar pattern that Joe Strain uses on the AG/Zorro whips, inst it? It’s very subtle but at the same time elegant in the darker natural tan overlay you used. Good job.

Dan

Always nice to see something a bit different )

I have a small question for you Lauren, did you skive your strands both on the flesh side? How thick was the hide you used?
Regards,

Franco

Very nice looking whip Lauren !

Thanks everybody. ) I'm happy a couple of you noticed it's similar to the Zorro handle! I was trying to make just the simplest patterns I could, not really thinking about anything else I'd seen, and I too was a little surprised at the end when I caught myself thinking, "haven't I seen that pattern before?"

LOL, there are still a couple differences in pattern between mine and the Zorro whip Paul owns, most noticeably that the Zorro whip uses a full 6 bands, where mine has a couple rings of diamonds instead of the 2nd and 5th bands. Bands like this in general are very common in whips that have patterns braided into them... They're also one of the most basic patterns because the braided strands of a whip are already split into two sections during the braiding process: half the strands spiral to the right around the whip, and half of the strands spiral to the left around the whip. For a band, you just have to make all of the strands spiraling around one direction stay totally on the top layer, and all of the strands spiraling around the other direction stay on the bottom layer. It's a little easier said that done in practice, but still one of the simplest and most common pattern pieces out there.

Also, Franco, yes I did bevel (lightly) both undersides of the strands for this particular whip - it seems to give a handle with patterns a smoother finish, IMO. And the hide wasn't particularly thick. Maybe somewhere on the medium to thin side, if I remember right. The customer finally received the whip a couple days ago, got to try it out, and he seems extremely pleased with the end result. )

In case anyone is interested, below is a picture of the two handles photoshopped side-by-side.

Lauren Wickline
www.midwestwhips.com

THATS IT! What I mean is, Lauren, thats the whip I had in mind that I was discussing with you and Paul when I came up a few weeks ago.

2-3 more months and I should have the scratch saved up to order one. After seeing the photographs, I can hardly wait. Thats one beautiful whip, Ma'am.

Hope to see you both this weekend in Covington.

Cheers,

Andy