Club Obi Wan

About a month ago or more I received a 6' Kip hide "Raiders" whip from Graeme Roberts (http://www.midlandwhips.com)

First of all, I wanted this whip for about three reasons.

1. I wanted a 6' Indy whip (I already have a 5' Indy from Bernardo and it is AMAZING!)
2. I was curious to own a kip hide whip (since apparently one of the original Raiders whips was made in Kip, as is my understanding)
3. Graeme's whips looked very nice and very affordable.





Well, all I can say is that I'm extremely pleased. Yes, the kip is lighter in weight than the kangaroo, but I find that for this whip, it is so well balanced that the light weight is not a distraction. The whip is deadly accurate and rolls out with extreme fluidity. It wasn't until I started using this whip that I had the confidence to wrap my trusty sidekicks around their necks and fingers (having graduated from waists and wrists, mind you).

I love this whip, and I already have another matched pair on order. I won't say what they are, but when I get them, I'll be sure to post pics.

So, thank you, Graeme, and to anyone out there that is looking for, a) an affordable costume piece that is very SA, and/or b) a real cracking whip that will hold its own with a kangaroo whip, then you've come to the right place.

Graeme does fine work, he is honest, and he is a gentleman.

He also builds Kangaroo whips, though I have not handled one of his, so I can't attest to his 'roo skills. But as someone who does own 8 other kangaroo whips, I can say with confidence that I'm getting a lot of use out of this kip hide whip.
It doesn't feel like a "B" whip. I enjoy using it, I trust it, and I can't wait for my next order from Graeme.

Daren Henry

Very cool! Never seen one of his 6' whips before.

Thanks for posting the review. I've seen lots of pictures of Graemes whips, but, not alot of feedback on the performance. I'm glade to hear they perform as well as they look.

Great whip Daren! Maybe you can make a video with this whip

Graeme's whips are very nice and fun to crack, as well as being affordable.

Noah wrote:Great whip Daren! Maybe you can make a video with this whip

Yeah Daren, I'd love to see it!!

I totally agree Daren. You can see my Raiders 10 foot in action on a recent thread. Graeme is a pleasure to deal with and, as far as I´m concerned, gives you a bigger bang for your buck! I love the look and feel of English kip as well.

Cheers!

Bravo

Darren


What you think about kip? Crack like roo?


Nice job !!!


Gaucho.

Gaucho wrote:Darren


What you think about kip? Crack like roo?


Nice job !!!


Gaucho.

For the money, yes. And I'll take a kip hide whip over Nylon every day of the week, that's for sure.

Like I said, it is lighter, which could lead you into problems. But if the whip is balanced well, and I really feel that this whip is, then it's fine. I mean, sure it isn't roo, but this whip performs: it flows out well, it's consistent, the crack is clean, the whip is sturdy.

Worth every penny.

Daren Henry

It's lighter in comparison to which whip? Bernardo's 5ft?
I'd appreciate a video Darren, it would help future customers to decide wisely

tomek9210 wrote:It's lighter in comparison to which whip? Bernardo's 5ft?
I'd appreciate a video Darren, it would help future customers to decide wisely

Yes, it's lighter than Bernardo's 5 ft, for sure. Both of my Del Carpio's have fairly heavy weight. In fact, Graeme's kip hide whip is the lightest of all my whips. At first, I didn't know what to make of it, so I asked Graeme and he said,

"Kip hide is lighter than roo so its hard to get the weight you want without using a ton of lead in the butt and making the whip too handle heavy, if you know what I mean."

So, in light of this information, I can see that Graeme's first concern is the overall balance of the whip. According to Graeme, the hide is just lighter, so trying to make the whip weigh the same as a roohide whip would be mistake. The overall balance is what matters, and this whip has that. The action is the same, it's just faster. If it were too light, and the whip handled funny, I wouldn't be writing this review.

So, in the immortal words of Tony Nowak, "WELL . . . SAME IS SAME". It's NOT roo hide, and its never gonna be roo hide. But if it did have the same weight as roo hide, I almost wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

Daren Henry

PS Gimme a little time, and I'll put together a video that you'll really appreciate.

DHW

Graeme wrote in one topic that his 10 footers are close to 1kg in weight, so I think longer kip whips are more "comparable" to roo whips. He's right, that making very heavy handle with light thong would be a mistake.
It would be great Graeme to chim in and tell us more about the kip

DarenHenryW wrote:So, in light of this information, I can see that Graeme's first concern is the overall balance of the whip. According to Graeme, the hide is just lighter, so trying to make the whip weigh the same as a roohide whip would be mistake. The overall balance is what matters, and this whip has that. The action is the same, it's just faster. If it were too light, and the whip handled funny, I wouldn't be writing this review.

I asked Graeme to make my whip medium weight so it is around 700 g. I thought it would be a little heavier but like he said kip is lighter than roo. Like Daren said, it cracks nicely and it's well balanced.

Guys


Can be use shellack in kip hide whips?


Regards


Gaucho

700g of 8ft bullwhip (if that's medium weight, I'm sure heavy whip will reach over 800g), I've read here that Joe Strain's 10ft weighs 820g, Morgan's about 1kg, Del Carpio's have surely the same weight. It's a weighty subject, isn't it ?

Congratulations on the whip Daren, Graeme's work is always fantastic!

Crack On!
Allen

Here's some my of latest handywork using Graeme's 6' Kip hide whip.

Yeah, she's accurate all right!









That's my agent, by the way, in the photos. She does a Fire Show with her husband, and she also gets me gigs for kids b-days and other events.

Thanks again, Graeme!

Hope you're doing well. Can't wait to get my matched 7' pair, and my other 6' whip to make a pair out of this one!

Daren "Jack" Henry

Cool pics Daren! Looks like you were having fun!

Graeme's whips are very good and nice to crack.

I like it!!