Club Obi Wan

i looked around and maybe i missed it, but i just got a new cowhide 10 ft tan bullwhip off of ebay and it is a little stiff . i know if you oil it up it will be a bit more flexible and crack better , my question is what oil should i get and where can i get it --- should i check a shoe store for the oil or look at a leather shop ? much help would be helpful, thanks , Mark

Pecard's leather dressing is considered to be good for whips.

and i should be able to find that at any leather shop or shoe repair store then ?

I think its pretty easy to get on the web.

The best place to get Pecard's is directly from there site. (don't use any kind of oil, they are not a good choice for any kind of whip) But you should only apply the pecard's about every month or so +- (but to the fall about every/every other cracking session, depending on how much you are cracking). The best thing that will help to break in your whip naturally is just regular cracking, any other way of forcing the break in process is not recommended. Hope that helps to answer your questions and if you have anymore feel free to ask or send a PM I would me more then happy to answer.

Keep Crackin,

James

thanks , yeah i want to get this whip cracking i use to have a whip when i was a kid that i bought at a garage sale and it would crack like crazy --- but like i said i got this new whip and it is still a bit stiff --- i will work with it and then order some pecards to use on the whip

Avoid neets foot oil, it oversoftens leather.

Looking at prices including shipping, I don't understand why it is better to go direct to Pecard other than a reputable whipmaker, thereby supporting the industry, unless perhaps you live near Wisconsin and the few days ground shipping are a critical factor...

http://www.davidmorgan.com/product_info ... ucts_id=27

http://www.northernwhipco.com/Accessories.htm

http://www.midwestwhips.com/Accessories.html

We have a flat shipping rate, get yourself an Akubra Adventurer at the same time and you'll make out like a bandit.

I don't know if Joe, or Paul and Lauren have a nice print catalog like the one we throw in that you might also enjoy looking at, but certainly if you establish an order history with any of us you'll be setting yourself up for smoother transaction in future should you wish to ship a whip to your office instead of home / billing address in future.

the stuff that i use is fiebings aussie leather dressing it a a bees wax base and works really well on my cowhide whips you can gedt it on line and at retail sites also

thanks to all , i will try and see who is cheaper and where i might find it locally also ---

As most folks have pointed out, Pecard and Fiebing Leather Conditioners are the most common. Both work great. Some folks swear by one, and some by the other. If you want a TRUE evaluation of one product vs. another in terms of ingredients, PM Bernardo Del Carpio. He has some interesting info on that.

You can often find the aforementioned Fiebing Aussie Leather Conditioner at Tractor Supply Company. That's what I tend to use because I can usually find it locally.

I also occasionally use Fiebing 4-way Leather Conditioner on my whips, (Word of warning though, it's a liquid rather than a gel, you have to be MUCH more frugal with it. However, if you've got a whip that's REALLY dry in the core because the previous owner didn't know how to take care of the whip, it REALLY penetrates fast. I also cheat often, and just take my popper off, dip the fall in the 4-Way down to just shy of the fall hitch for a couple seconds before pulling it out and letting it sit for a minute before wiping it off. Lazy fall conditioning!)

All the best and happy cracking!

-Dan

Pecards Classic Leather Dressing or Fiebings Aussie leather dressing are both readily available via mail order. Tandy Leather and The Tractor Supply co. usually stocks the Fiebings brand. Red Wing shoe stores will often carry Pecards Classic leather dressing too, Pecards makes it for them but its marketed under there own brand name. It comes in a semi translucent 6 oz plastic container, Identical to Pecards only it has a black lid rather then white and is labeled as being manufactured in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The dressing itself looks like yellowish Vaseline. (You don’t want the one with mink oil or the one with pine pitch in it though)

Many of the Australian and New Zealand based whip makers and crackers have there own products too like Jay-el beeswax dressing, Oakwood Leather Conditioner that they swear by and they work very well too. Any of these will work just fine for leather whips, and are important to not only help keep the whips supple and strong by adding back the oils your loosing from the leather as the whip is used but also to help stay off long term effects of leather oxidization which leads to deterioration.

We all have our favorites we swear by, but basically the brand name is less important as long as your using a good quality hard fat type leather dressing to condition your whips and you are trying to stay away from light oils like neat’s-foot oil or mink oil. As with neat’s-foot oil, light oils (The kind that are liquid at room temperature) can easily over saturate leather causing the fibers to swell and loosen, weakening it in a similar way that water can. If you use too much you might get mushy, oily leather. Not to mention the fact that it is more likely to hold moisture which can start to rot the leather and act as a food source it making mold a potential issue as well. Vermin are also attracted to the smell. They also evaporate out faster which calls for more frequent reapplication.
Something else to keep in mind, depending on the quality of the whip you just got and how new it is, quality made whips are characteristically stiff when new. They take time to break in and the best way to do that is just to use them. Trying to soften them with oils or leather dressing is usually unadvisable. Now, If it is a budget whip or if the leather itself is dry, which isn’t uncommon on many of the whips sold in mass on eBay, go ahead and give it a healthy application of dressing.

Dan

I have never tried Pecard's and Bernardo recommended it to me... still, I stick to the ole leather dressing made with fat and soap. It is the one I use on the whips I made 10 years ago, and nothing bad has happened to them.

I remember, and by no means am proud of it... I used to have this stiff rawhide whip, 14ft in length which I softened by saturating it with Armor All!!!! LOL. It did ok, and although I know nothing of it, since I sold it to a friend, I barely think it got destroyed (and I used to swing from it ). Would never do that in a kangaroo whip, though!