Club Obi Wan

I asked Joe Strain to make a color accurate Raiders whip, meaning not just the 8 inch handle, not just a bit thinner than most whips are made these days (compare to Harrison's fingers in the pictures below), but to match the two different colors of kangaroo hide (meaning the top knot is darker) as in the below still from Raiders opening sequence:



Of course, the hides will age and both darken on there own, but they will age separately, and keep the look as in the above picture and the below pictures:





And here is the finished result (yes, it is resting on top of my Nowak Raiders jacket):



I have been using whips for the past 27 years, and it is simply the finest whip I have ever held in my hand.

Thats a mighty fine lookn' whip!

I really love shape of the turkshead! Joe did great job!

Awesome looking whip. I really like my Strain 10-footer. Enjoy yours!

Gotta get me a Strain.

Travis

Tundrarider wrote:Can't go wrong with a Joe strain!

I'll second that for sure.....I love my Stockwhip from Joe.

Regards,
Kenton

Thats a really nice whip! Congrats on that! Pure Raiders Enjoy it!

Woow! This whip looks awesome!

Seems like all of our forum members are experiencing great package day. That is another great looking whip. How does she crack?

Excellent workmanship! You never get tired of seeing new whip pics from the top whipmakers!!!

To answer the question asked, "how does she crack?"

Honestly, right out of the Fedex box, it was like a whip I had been using for years or something. I actually took video of that moment.

Maybe it is the whole "just like Indy's in "Raiders" feeling" ... but I love it and it is a very fluid whip.

faststreetsofhongkong wrote:To answer the question asked, "how does she crack?"

Honestly, right out of the Fedex box, it was like a whip I had been using for years or something. I actually took video of that moment.

Maybe it is the whole "just like Indy's in "Raiders" feeling" ... but I love it and it is a very fluid whip.

J. Strain told me the Riders whip has a lighter thong (0.83 inch diameter vs 0.95 inch for most Indy whips). Have you noticed any pros or cons to the lighter thong?

Another amazing whip from Joe! I´ve had mine for nearly a year and It just gets better with age!
Thwak!

IndianaBravo wrote:Another amazing whip from Joe! I´ve had mine for nearly a year and It just gets better with age!
Thwak!

No Doubt!
I own a Morgan, Jacka (aussie), Del Carpio and a Strain. Hands down, the Strain is amazingly fluid. I spend more time with it now than the others, and no matter how much I use it, it still looks tight as a drum.

Crack On!
Allen

CONGADULATIONS ON YOUR NEW raiders whip; I had J. Strain make me a Raiders whip about 2 months back just like yours with the different collored roo leather thong knot and I simply Just love his work. His whips are excellent and i would recomend them to any one looking for somthing screen accurate and regular usage.

Absolutely stunning....congrats!

IndianaBravo wrote:Another amazing whip from Joe! I´ve had mine for nearly a year and It just gets better with age!
Thwak!

+ 1 on that, IB! I love my 2 year old Strain! I take good care of it, but I don't baby it either. (It gets a LOT of use.) I'ts smooooooth!

I'm not really a whip person, but that is one beautiful whip... What type of leather is the jacket, shrunken lamb?

It is not the shrunken lamb, I didn't get that version yet, only because I have a shrunken wallet right now ...

I just received this same style whip (10 ft.) from Joe, and I've never handled anything so smooth! It looks EXACTLY like the one in the first post, so I'll not take up any space with pics, but this is one beautiful whip--insanely tight braiding, super fluid, and the thing nearly cracks itself! Awesome work, VERY quick turnaround (less than 2 weeks), deadly SA...I can't recommend this whip and Joe's craftsmanship enough. He's truly earned his "Machine" nickname.

Thanks for the ultimate Raiders whip Joe--my search is over!

Cheers,

Mac

faststreetsofhongkong wrote:It is not the shrunken lamb, I didn't get that version yet, only because I have a shrunken wallet right now ...

If it's not the shrunken lamb, do you remember which leather it is?

He sent me four swatches of leather so I could compare. The shrunken lamb is the softest, most buttery, but I understand it's the most expensive. I'm gonna guess that your jacket is (going by how he labeled the swatches) either:

vintage goat (which is sorta stiff)

OR

Nowak New goat (which seems softer, like the lamb)


Oh yeah, and just to keep things on subject: I ordered a 10' Joe Strain Raiders whip the other day! Can't wait! I'm also waiting on a 9' Del Carpio (same thing) and I ordered one of the AB Raiders whip in 8'. I know I'm not wealthy, but my typing fingers seem to think otherwise.

DHW

Very nice!

Why doesn't anyone want the ashy coloring of the 2nd half of the thong?


louie
http://bullwhips.org

Louie. I'm guessing that it's from being drug in the sandy dirt seen in the streets. I would think that there were multiple takes of some of the scenes allowing the dust/dirt to collect.

Just guessing.

Take care,
C

PS
I just received two of these from Joe yesterday. An 8 and 10 foot.
Wonderful whips. My Morgan is now around 18 years old and seeing less work, so I got these two to replace it (so to speak).
I was almost transported back to the day I opened my Morgan after getting it in the mail. You open it up and just think to yourself " ... wow. this is what I've always wanted." It was fun to think of that time again. Thanks Joe.
Now I'm going outside to play.

C

[quote="Canasta"]Louie. I'm guessing that it's from being drug in the sandy dirt seen in the streets. I would think that there were multiple takes of some of the scenes allowing the dust/dirt to collect.

Just guessing.

I concur.

Multiple takes would mean that the whip was already dirtied when we first see HF pull it from his belt.

My other theory is that if they belonged to Glen Randall, he might not have taken as good of care of them, and they may have been almost "stained" with dirt and dust, etc. But more than likely, the ashy color came from the streets of Cairo filming.

DHW

My question wasn't how it got ashy...but why that's the one bit of coloring that no one wants in their SA whip? A lot of people "distress" their new whips to get the darker color of "aged" leather...but they leave out the ashy part.

I guess it's more of an observation than a question.

Louie

If you want it to look "ashy", take it out in the sand and play with it!



DHW

You know, I completely misread that question.
My bad.

C

Louie, I do remember a few discussions in the past with members asking if dusting a whip with fullers earth was bad for them, so someone out there wants that look.

These are great looking bullwhips; you’ll never go wrong with one of Joes Whips!

Dan

Very nice whip, job well done Joe

GeordieIndy

Just.... couldn't .... resist....

I just ordered one last night. This is my first ever whip purchase,and I'm giddy with anticipation. I haven't been this excited since my Nowak jacket purchase last year...

I sure do hope I made a good choice. Being a novice, I can't help but wonder if I should have gotten one of the low end whips instead, but this just looked so cool...

The website says lead time is about 3 weeks for most whips. Is that accurate for this one, too?

Here you go guys.

First pic: Joe Strain 10' 28th Anniversary Raiders whip




Same whip compared to my 8' Joe Strain KOTCS whip (which I have had for about 10 months).



Last pic: 10' Raiders compared to Terry Jacka 10' KOTCS whip




Plus video of me cracking all three:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ge99-_EEKr4

Joe's whips, as anyone might expect are very similar to each other. The Raiders whip being a bit thinner though.

Terry's Whip is a monster. Very heavy, very thick, and though it requires more energy to lift the darn thing off the ground, it cracks a bit more effortlessly. Both TOP QUALITY WHIPS!

My Del Carpio 9' Raiders arrives next week!

Then in a few months, my 8' AB Paul Nolan Raiders whip.

THEN . . . I'm done for awhile.

Wow


Just amazing. My next whip is a Strain.



Regards.

Good Stuff Daren,

Correct me if I am wrong, but you have not had the Jacka IV whip that long. I noticed your transition has really relaxed alot! Mine is still really stiff around two feet (a month old) and yours seems as relaxed as if it were a year old.

Crack On!
Allen

Indiana County Jr. wrote:Good Stuff Daren,

Correct me if I am wrong, but you have not had the Jacka IV whip that long. I noticed your transition has really relaxed alot! Mine is still really stiff around two feet (a month old) and yours seems as relaxed as if it were a year old.

Crack On!
Allen

Hey, Allen.

Did your Terry Jacka look like this?



I have been using it, obviously, but also "working" the curve to get it to settle a bit. Something Anthony showed me to get the whip to break in a bit. If you watch that Dacron (Anthony De Longis Content) video, you'll see Anthony doing it to his whips to get them to loosen up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR6Sv2tTtjA


I have no doubt that Terry braided mine just as tightly as yours, but I've probably just worked mine in a bit harder.

But, don't be in a hurry . . . it'll loosen for sure; just let it.



DHW

Yes it does,

I can feel it loosening slowly.... Looks like I have my work cut out for me...


Crack On!
Allen

Here's a couple more pics.

All of my whips at once:



The whip collection as it stands from Right to Left: 8' Joe Strain KOTCS; 10' Joe Strain Raiders; 10' Bernie Wojcicki "Indy Style"; 10' Terry Jacka KOTCS; 7' Terry Jacka "De Longis Style.



ENJOY!!!!

DHW

Wonderful whip collection Darren!
That Bernie's whip is almost as thick as Terry's, isn't it? Is it modern Bernie's whip with 4 bellies?
Have a nice time with breaking in them!

Yes, Bernie uses 4 bellies, no bolsters.

DHW

Man Daren, thats a sweet looking Raiders Strain whip you have there. Enjoy that one!

Just got my 8 ft Raiders anniversary whipofrom Joe Strain. It's beautiful.

Indiana Jake

Indiana Jake

Congrats on your new acquisition!!! How do you like it? Can you post pics of it when you have a chance?

After the Indy movie marathon in Aug and seeing those guys crack their whips in the theater I just had to buy a real whip too

so I ended up getting a Caicedo 8' 8 plait whip, really nice i must say for a beginner like me.

but one day I'd like to get another whip within my price range and maybe this Strain might be it...

anyway, enjoy yours and happy cracking!!!!

Hi

Why only Terry Jacka made whips with this strong thong? Is not easy to made??




Thanks.

In Australia traditional whipmakers and crackers feel that a whip should have an action as close to a stockwhip as possible. Ask an Aussie who has experience of whips to crack a short handle bullwhip like a Morgan and they'll more often than not hand it back with a less than impressed look on their face and say, "handle's way too short mate". Mr Jacka is Australian and puts a lot of binding in the first two feet or more of the thong to stiffen it.

It probably is a bit more difficult to make but any whipmaker could do it if that is the type of whip they wanted to make. The other Morgan style whipmakers are just making a standard short handle whip with no or very little binding material in the transition; just leather. The feel of the two types of whip is very different.

Basically Terry makes the whips that he likes and makes them the way that he feels they should preform. He wants a strong transition that provides tension in the whip so that is has a characteristic he refers to "progressive flexibility". That is a bullwhip that starts out very stiff from the handle and becomes gradually more flexible the further down the thong you travel. Unlike that action of a stock whip with a hinged keeper or a bullwhip made with a less reinforced transition where the thong flexes more sharply as soon as it leaves the handle. His philosophy is a person who wants a bullwhip with a thong that drops from the handle quickly, really wants a whip that handles more like a stock whip and would happier with a stockwhip even if they don't know it . At least That's how he explained it to me.

I am sure others could try to make a whip like this if they wanted. Most professional whipmakers I know though tend to prefer to make there own whips, and not (with the exception of the Indy style bullwhip) exact copies of someone else's whip out of respect or professional courtesy. I know some have tried to recreate Terry's Indy 4 style bullwhips, but usually it's just to reproduce the look, not so much the action. Terry makes his whips differently them most other whipmakers from the start though so in order to recreate them exactly would take a bit of reverse engineering as well.

Dan

Yeah, by the way Terry Jacka makes a great bullwhip. I was reading what I wrote above Dan's post. Some might think I was saying that the Jacka Indy whip is similar in action to an Australian stockwhip. Forgive my writing, as that isn't what I meant. I meant that many Aussies tend to like whips with longer handles on them, even when they make bullwhips. I guess it is fair to say that Terry's indy whip handles somewhat similarly to a longer handled bullwhip in some ways than the usual 8" handle model, though also different because of the progressive flexibility. It is like the transtion is spread out over a few feet of the thong, making it unique amongst bullwhips. It is a monster of a whip, hugely thick, and very different to a stockwhip of course

It almost looks like it could cut a cow in two with a single massive crack. And now, back to Joe Strain's very fine whip. I would like to own one, yes indeed.

I love my Terry Jacka whips . My 10ft aussie with a 10 inch handle handles flawlessly, makes me look much better than I am at cracking it .

Crack On!
Allen

Great looking whips! The long, slender handle of the Raiders' whip is my favorite.