Club Obi Wan

Got the spring/summer catalog in the mail today - yikes! Whip prices have gone up!

#451 Bull Whip, 6 ft. .......................................$655
#453 Bull Whip, 8 ft. .......................................$770
#455 Bull Whip, 10 ft. .....................................$910
#456 Bull Whip, 12 ft. ...................................$1,060

That's some pricey roo hide. But heck, if they can still sell whips for that price, all the better for them (just not for us!). I wonder if they raised prices to slow down new orders while they get caught up? - just guessing. Funny how while the U.S. economy is in the dumper, Indy-style whips (and guns) are still enjoying a brisk business.

#455 Bull Whip, 10 ft. .....................................$910

"They no nuts.... They crazy!"


Crack On!
Allen

I'd love to know how they come up with such crazy prices when other whip makers don't charge anywhere near that price and still provide as high of quality whips.

Supply and Demand.
Gotta love the Free Market Economy.
Ron

That's about what I paid for mine about a year ago. I got the catalog the other day and they state that they have a 4-6 month wait list for their bullwhips, so they're selling.

I am soooooooo glad I ordered mine when I did.

Strain 10 ft.=$600
Del Carpio 10 ft.=$600
midwestwhips 10 ft.=$605
DM 6 ft.=$655=

ST wrote:I am soooooooo glad I ordered mine when I did.

Strain 10 ft.=$600
Del Carpio 10 ft.=$600
midwestwhips 10 ft.=$605
DM 6 ft.=$655=

Hi ST,

Quite an interesting price comparison! Never thought of looking at it in that way.

By the way, $605 is our regular price for the 10ft Indy, but we have a long standing discount on our Indy whips that we have ONLY offered exclusively to COW members, so the COW member 10ft price is actually $565.

And here are our Indy whip prices after the COW Member Discount:

6ft - $405
8ft - $465
10ft - $565
12ft - $680

I just thought y'all might like to know, since the Comprehensive price comparison post hasn't been updated in a while.

Regards,

Paul Nolan
http://www.midwestwhips.com

While we are at it, here are a few of my favorite makers in no particular order
Russel Shultz
IND-8 8ft $475
IND-10 10ft $570

Bernie Wojcicki
8FT $410.00
10FT $480.00

A bit of sticker shock huh, At least the prices only went up about $25 to $50 from the Fall 08 Winter 09 catalog.

Paul, the comprehensive price comparison post lookes pretty up to date to me

Dan

Hi Dan,

For a minute there, I thought I was going crazy! Thanks for updating it!

Regards,

Paul Nolan
www.midwestwhips.com

$20 for a Disney Land toy; The expense for a Morgan whip? ...Priceless. And the economical recession continues...

I thought the 10-footers had been at that price for a few years now. I remember after I got mine, there was an increase and I want to say it was in the $900 range.

I still think it is funny to hear people comment on the cost of a whip, especially David's. Hides aren't cheap, there's a lot of time invested in the construction, and they do need to turn a profit. Plus there is a supply and demand issue. If people weren't willing to pay for it, maybe the price would be lower. Personally, I think it's just fine.

Mike

I bought my DM in 2000 and it was $600 so they've gone up roughly $33 a year. In my mind, yes, it is a lot for a whip but just as with any other vendor they have their price and if you want it you pay it. If not, you don't. It's oh so simple. To a gearhead tho, the fact that DM himself isn't really doing the whips so much anymore (if at all) means a great deal and that price does not justify the purchase when we have so many other talented whipmakers here and abroad who can do just as much of a quality job.

FloatinJoe wrote:I thought the 10-footers had been at that price for a few years now. I remember after I got mine, there was an increase and I want to say it was in the $900 range.

I still think it is funny to hear people comment on the cost of a whip, especially David's. Hides aren't cheap, there's a lot of time invested in the construction, and they do need to turn a profit. Plus there is a supply and demand issue. If people weren't willing to pay for it, maybe the price would be lower. Personally, I think it's just fine.

Mike

Actually Hides ARE cheap. With the current exchange rate anyhow. Morgan trades on his name. If you look at all the other whips out there most of them are the same price (+/- $50-100).
Ron

rjallen70,

I am just basing hide prices off of what David sells them for. Right now, the cheapest hide is $123 and his most expensive one is $212.50. I realize that there is some profit in there as well, but just the supplies for the whip are there.

Also, another whipmaker that I didn't see mentioned above is Terry Jacka. Right now his 10-foot bullwhip from his primary American dealer, The AUSTRALIAN STOCK SADDLE Co, is running $895 American. Perhaps they are both completely marketing off their name.

Mike

Also, another whipmaker that I didn't see mentioned above is Terry Jacka. Right now his 10-foot bullwhip from his primary American dealer, The AUSTRALIAN STOCK SADDLE Co, is running $895 American. Perhaps they are both completely marketing off their name.

Mike

Hi Mike,
Fortunately, if you order it from Terry's site in Australia ($900 ASD), it is about $645.00 American (at current exchange rate) but the wait list is pretty long. And we get a $50 discount (go DAN!)

Crack On!
Allen

Allen, I saw that too. Does anyone know if the COW discount applies to his other whips too, or just the Indy whip? I'd really like one of his De Longis whips, and the $50 discount might help convince me that it is more important than a new jacket.

Mike

Well, if memory serves, I got mine for $389. I'll have to go check the ol' price list from '89.

Nice return on my investment, I guess. Glad I'm not looking for one now.

FloatinJoe wrote:rjallen70,

I am just basing hide prices off of what David sells them for. Right now, the cheapest hide is $123 and his most expensive one is $212.50. I realize that there is some profit in there as well, but just the supplies for the whip are there.


Mike

You can get 1st grade hides from Paul & Lauren at midwestwhips.com here in the U.S. for considerably less. $80 average.
And from Simon Martin and Richard Taubman Down Under for even less than that if you order enough to make the shipping worthwhile.
The whipmakers mentioned except for Morgan charge a very fair price for all the work and skill that goes into a whip. Raw materials (not counting tools) is less than $200.
DM's prices are what the market will bear, and set at such to limit the amount of whip work coming in. They do a lot more than whips, and if you could buy one for $400 they wouldn't have any time for anything else, and the wait would be 10 years.
Ron
P.S. Mike, your whip adjusted for inflation would be 618.00 today...so still a bargain.

FloatinJoe wrote:Allen, I saw that too. Does anyone know if the COW discount applies to his other whips too, or just the Indy whip? I'd really like one of his De Longis whips, and the $50 discount might help convince me that it is more important than a new jacket.

Mike

Mike, I hear you brother... If it were not for the Indy 4 whip order, $50 off or not, I would have already pulled the trigger on that one!


Crack On!
Allen

Gaucho wrote:Lets not skirt around the word filter, shall we? –Mod

?

One thing about getting hides from David Morgan is that he picks you out the best hide. I've never had a bad hide come in from him. Also he sorts his hides into thickness (which can be very helpful to a whipmaker)

What I found very helpful about getting hides from David when I was starting out is that when I ordered them I could tell him the size of the bullwhip that I wanted to make and he'd pick me out the appropriate size hide for the job.

Is that worth a couple of extra bucks...YES!

Here's how I see it:

Gas to drive to bothell to visit David: $5.43
Thick drum stuffed kangaroo hide: $123.00
Spending time with David Morgan: PRICELESS

xoxo

Louie
http://bullwhips.org

Is David still selling A grade hides with 1.2mm thickness?

BreinederIndy wrote:Is David still selling A grade hides with 1.2mm thickness?

We always stock a good quantity of drum stuffed skins that are around 1.2 mm, what we classify as heavy, see http://www.davidmorgan.com/product_info ... ts_id=1027

Because of the last decade's weather conditions in Oz our stock is currently running in the fifty DM range which is historically small. This means an amateur whipmaker would likely need to use two skins to get an eight footer overlay and two bellies cut to David's pattern. Some makers use cow hide innards arguably with some benefits, of course there is more than one way to make a whip.

We will pick from our stock to suit. If you can't come in to the store, rest assured we guarantee all of our products for ninety days money back apart from the 8 dollar handling charge, should you be unhappy with the suitability of your purchase just ship it back.

Our kangaroo is tanned by Packer Leather, http://www.packerleather.com/ the premier kangaroo tannery in Australia.

Packer knows their trade, and they maintain a large and steady volume from which to manage selects and grading. They use state of the art processing equipment and recycle a high percentage of the large amount of water used in processing, Packer is a good neighbor to Brisbane's watershed.

Many larger / older animals harvested are shot in areas of Australia divided by barbed wire fencing, not good for the quality of the leather given the willingness of Kangaroos to go through a fence to get into a farmers' field as likely as they are to jump over it. We request top quality, and Packer delivers, sending us skins from animals that live in more open ranges which means less cutting around scars that you can see, and fewer broken strands and splicing overall from those you can't.

Packer follows the wildlife protection laws as do we. International endangered species treaty management: the export and import permits and customs brokering that ensures protection of the kangaroo, are costly. Permitting serves and protect the kangaroo, especially those kangaroos of the greater number of species that are not so pervasive and _not_ legal to harvest as the five that are managed by harvest. When you pay for one of our skins you know that you are taking a kangaroo responsibly.

Will, I'd just like to say thank you for your participation in the board. I enjoyed my time spent talking to David at the shop, and I hope that I can make it back out to the area to visit again sometime.

A few years ago, right before I left Seattle, the fall on my whip was getting short and beat up pretty hard. On one of my last whip cracking sessions with Kyle (TheEdge), we stopped in to see David as was customary. I had David replace the fall for me, but the treat was watching him do it in the workshop and just listening to him show me around the shop and how the whips are made... his personal collection was pretty cool too.

Sorry for the slight detour.

Mike

Thanks Mike! We like having visitors... and David I think has been a pretty special host over the years.. he has a good number of yarns for one thing. We are working on cleaning up and cataloging David's 500 piece leather goods collection so look to see more of that in future.

Thank you for your answer, Will. It's good to hear that you still ofer the 1.2mm, even if they became smaller. I might make create mysel a swinging whip someday and I want to have it rock solid then.
Good to see that your company cares for wildlife protection, too!

So how many kangaroos does it take to make one, say, 8 or 10 feet 12 plait Indy whip?

I need 1 1/2 hides in general

So how many kangaroos does it take to make one, say, 8 or 10 feet 12 plait Indy whip?

Kangaroos don't make whips, people do

THAT was funny.