Club Obi Wan

I made this new post for one main reason. Just the other day, I was practicing my usual whip routine at the same park that I always go to. I have been using my whip there for a little over half a year now and have had no problems, what's so ever with the people around me until that day. An elderly man, with his dog, started to shout in my direction and it sounded like, "STOP, PLEASE STOP..." I do stop and approach him to find out what is wrong. He tells me that he apologizes because he realizes that it is a public park and I do have a right to do what I want there, but the noise was affecting his dog. I tell him that I am sorry if I was disturbing his dog and will now go. After this incident, I started thinking if there was a place where I could buy some silent crackers, or crackers that do not crack very loud so I do not disturb other people with their dogs. Someone please help because I do not want to give up my hobby over this, nor move to a different location. Thanks in advance.

Work on your technique and don't crack so loud. Turn it into less noise and more form and you'll find you can still "crack" your whip and do so in public places. That's what I do.

I find that thicker crackers, with longer tassels, tend to crack quieter when I crack during regular practice.

Also, some whips I have are quieter than others. I was practicing in a park last year that was filled with trees and had apartment buildings on either side. I was doing some quiet practice with a pair of stock whips and no one was complaining. Then some kids started watching me so I thought I'd show off with a couple loud pops from a 10 ft bullwhip. Those few loud pops was all it took for one of the tenants to start yelling at me. This was in Italy, so I don't know what he said, but I certainly understood his tone and hand gestures.

-Adam

You could always just remove the cracker from the fall altogether.
You'll still get a little snap from the fall, but, it will be nowhere as loud as with the cracker.

kwad wrote:You could always just remove the cracker from the fall altogether.
You'll still get a little snap from the fall, but, it will be nowhere as loud as with the cracker.

I thought that by doing this, it would put more strain on the fall and damage the whip. I think I read somewhere that one should always crack a whip with a cracker, or was it a fall? I'm confused

Did you mention to the guy that you had a dog allergy and that the dog's presence there was affecting you?

Here's the thing about the public park, it belongs to everyone...and until his dog get's a SSN, it's not a contributing member of the community (and it generally legally recognized a property just like your whip), so you both have one vote, which cancel each other out. A good solution would be to tell the guy that you'll come back later and resume that way you both can share the park. By offering to differ your use you are coming up with a solution that's more "neighborly" than telling him to come back later.

Louie

I find that you get fairly quiet cracks if you cut the "Fluff" off the end of your popper at the knot.

I agree with Hollywood though, good excuse to practice quiet cracks, but on the safe side, if you "buzz cut" your poppers, that should cut down on the decibel level considerably.

And while Louie is ABSOLUTELY RIGHT, I find it's always best to take the high road in these situations. Whips are farm tools and not weapons, etc. etc. etc. BUT there is A LOT of interpretation to the law in terms of "public nuisance" laws and if the man and his dog felt threatened by what you were doing...

Better to just be polite, accept it and go elsewhere than to deal with a cop who has been interrupted from LEGITIMATE duties to come and have to play "Peacemaker" with an irate old man by asking you, "Will you just practice somewhere else, so the old coot won't call the station anymore?"

The old dude didn't feel threatened or anything. He said he was sorry for bothering me and explained that his dog and other animals are sensitive to the noise. I really don't want to leave this park since it's practically in my backyard, so will cracking my whip without the popper cause any damage to the whip in any way?

Thefish,

In my head my offering to come back later and resume cracking at a later time is the high road, that way we'd be sharing the park. the low road would telling the guy I'll be done in half an hour and he can either deal with it or come back when I'm finished.

In most cities there are tons of noise, planes, sirens, trucks, fourth of july fireworks, my neighbor that's been nailing their roof on from 8 am to 8pm every day for the last 3 years (or it feels that way). while these things can be annoying, and affect my life, I would never dream of writing letters to my city council to stop the 4th of july fireworks because it freaks out my dog. Or telling my neighbor to stop putting his roof on because I'm hung over. We all have to live together and I don't think it should be a "me or him" thing, but more of a compromise. If you are here first, I'll come back later....but if I'm here first you come back later.

Now I've never been in a situation where some has told me to stop cracking a whip in a public park...but if someone did for a reason like the dog, I would still crack at that park, but if I showed up and he was there I'd probably come back in half an hour or so. Basically what I'm saying is that in my opinion you shouldn't necessarily cross that park off your list of places to crack at. Just put an asterisk after it on your list.

Also keep in mind that a dog can be considered a weapon...

Louie

DOH!

Sorry Louie.

I did read your post, but I've been having allergy issues the last couple days, and my sinuses are so full of junk that there's little room in there right now for anything else. I read the words, and I completely missed your meaning. With you 100%

Bdgsi11, I have cracked a whip for extended periods of time without a popper, (my first bullwhip, a 6', 8 plait cowhide bullwhip,) and it did tear up the fall pretty badly. The whip DID crack because the fibers in the tip of the whitehide fall began to fray out just like the threads in the poppers do. That fall didn't last long.

Use a popper.

Adam suggested making them thicker, and that works. That would be my THIRD suggestion to you.

I'm lazy. I don't really want to make "SPECIAL SILENT POPPERS." I'll just take one of the dozens I've already turned out of white nylon spot cord, and cut the strands above the knot, (that fray out,) off. It will still crack, just not as amplified. That's my SECOND suggest to you.

My MAIN suggestion would be to use this as an opportunity to work on backing off on your power and speed. ANYONE can crack a whip loudly. It takes SKILL to crack softly. It takes even more skill to crack softly and accurately.

Thanks everyone for the help and advice. I'll cut the, "fluffy," end off one of my poppers to see if there is any difference in the noise level and hopefully I can come to some sort of compromise with the old guy and his dog. I'll let everyone know how this new, trimmed, cracker method works out for me on Friday.

I totally endorse learning to crack a whip softly. If you can get a whip to crack softly with consistency, then you've learned some good control. It also saves wear and tear on the whip as well as your shoulders, arms, and hearing. After a hard weekend of performing I usually practice softly as I feel it helps redevelop technique lost from heavy cracking.

With crackers, however, I pretty much make my crackers as I need them, and make them thicker/thinner or shorter/longer depending on what whip they're going on and what sound I want out of the whip.

So, it didn't dawn on my that someone wouldn't want to experiment with making new poppers. I personally think everyone should experiment making different poppers for their whip(s). It can help make a whip crack more consistently or cut targets more cleanly. Make a bunch of different poppers and try them out, it'll be fun to notice the results.

-Adam

What a coincidence... I was making some crackers yesterday while watching TV. I got so engrossed on watching that I accidentally made one that was too thick. I tried it out and it just doesn't crack with the same level as a thinner one. It gave off a more "Thwump!" sound than a "Crack!"

I agree with Adam and Dan, learn to crack softly. It takes a great deal of practice, but once you have it, neighbors, public places, etc, will appreciate it. When I first got back into whip cracking, the first whip I bought was a Terry Jacka 10ft aussie standard. That whip nearly drove me crazy, it was loud no matter what popper I put on it. But then it occured to me that it was my technique that was causing the loud cracking. It took time, but I learned how to not crack it so hard, but to learn to flow better when cracking. Once I got this down, I was able to apply the same to the rest as I bought others. Less is more in this case and your whips will thank you for it.

Crack On!
Allen