Club Obi Wan

Can you swing on a normal whip like indy does in the films? just wondering.

morgan

Morgan,

Once, maybe. Then the shape ought to be distorted nicely for you. It also depends on what part of the whip is wrapped. If the fall is wrapped only, I say the fall would break. Further up the thong about a 1' up from the fall hitch, it may hold. Then again, it may not. If you do in fact get it wrapped around something to hold your weight, it probably won't come off as easily as the movies make it look, which is nothing more than cinematography trickery. You might wind up climbing whatever it was and have to undo it by hand.

If you to try it , you can tell us all about it, but don't get hurt during the process.

Best Regards,

Paul Stenhouse

Sorry don't own a whip myself, far to expensive for little old me.

I was just wondering if you could, a simple yes or no answer would have been fine but I'm glade you went into more detail... I'm off to whip section in indygear so that I can decipher you answer .

morgan

Morgan,
The short answer is NO.

If you want, like Paul said, ruin a perfectly fine whip and perhaps injure yourself, then go ahead.

But anytime you see a whip being swung in any movie, it's a stunt whip. Specifically in the IJ Trilogy, there were special whips made that were really steel cables with leather wrapped around them. The stunt guys wouldn't use a real whip, because there is a potential the real whip would fail, thus causing serious injury. Any stunt guy and stunt coordinator, will do an evaluation of what the stunt is and any special props required for the stunt. The whole profession prides itself in safety.

Take Care...
-Sergei

In a word, no.

Somebody once said, whips are for cracking, ROPES are for swinging. I tryed it once with a cheap cowhide whip and it snapped like rubber band. So I would by no means take a DM or a Joe Strain whip and try and swing on a tree limb or what not. The whips used in the movies were stunt whips, they had steal re-enforced cables in the core of them, and stuntmen probably did the swinging (of course, knowing Harrison, he was probably the one swinging into Henry's room). So I would think before going out and swinging around the neighbourhood with a fine leather whip. Save your money, crack the whip and don't climb with it. just my .02

I wonder what would happen with nylon whip. Other than the problem of "climbing whatever it was and have to undo it by hand," would nylon react/deform the same as leather whip or as nylon rope? Aren't static climbing ropes made out of nylon?

Just wondering,
Pyro.

Yeah, but they are rock climbing grade nylon rope. It also has to do how the thong is attached to the handle foundation. From conventionally made handle foundations, it would just snap right off.