Club Obi Wan

hello everybody im somewhat new to cow and this is my first topic i recently ordered an 8 foot 16 plait nylon bullwhip from dirk adkins they look great on his website i was wondering does anybody own a whip by him and if so how do they handle what is the weight and feel

Me too. I'm very interested in these whips since (my opinion) that nylon whips are better than leather. Plus the price seems to be quite good.

Aragorn658 wrote:Me too. I'm very interested in these whips since (my opinion) that nylon whips are better than leather. Plus the price seems to be quite good.

Leather whips definitely crack better than nylon because the strands are thinner, thus the whip flows more fluidly. Nylon is tougher,

yes, but as far as performance goes, leather does out perform nylon, there is no arguing that. What is more important, however,

is the whip being well made. A good nylon whip vs. a crappy leather whip, the nylon wins, every time. That's not to say that

you can't do complex cracks with a nylon whip, it can do everything a leather whip can. Leather whips just flow better.

His whips look weird to me. The Raiders definitely, it doesn't look like Indy whip should look like. Plus he gives false information about ringknot color. Show me one nylon whipmaker, who puts black ringknot on Indy whip.
I'd suggest Steve of neawhips or alpinewhips, or even myself. There are many whipmakers to choose from.

On the pictures he has on his site, the seams on the whips twist pretty badly. I wouldn't buy from him, buy from Tomek, or ag04,

or one of the sites tomek listed.

riku1914 wrote: Leather whips definitely crack better than nylon because the strands are thinner, thus the whip flows more fluidly. Nylon is tougher,

yes, but as far as performance goes, leather does out perform nylon, there is no arguing that. What is more important, however,

is the whip being well made. A good nylon whip vs. a crappy leather whip, the nylon wins, every time. That's not to say that

you can't do complex cracks with a nylon whip, it can do everything a leather whip can. Leather whips just flow better.

Not to go off topic, but I am going to have to argue that. My nylon whip from Midwest whips cracks just as well as my Joe Strain ever has. The ONLY place you can get into a debate about it is in the weight. To get a nylon whip cracking that well it tends to be heavier. Yes, thickness of the strands comes into play, but how a whip cracks comes down to the tightness of the plait and the friction from the strands as they move against each other(as well as the other obvious factors like taper). So I truly believe that a really well made nylon can compete ANY day with a really well made leather.

Don't get me wrong I'll end up getting a nylon whip instead of a leather because the price difference is soooo huge. I'm not going with dirk adkins whip but a member here i'm in talks with which is great but honestly a leather whip would be great and SC but the price...just crazy but I get why. But has anyone here made one with a steel cable for swinging? haha, i heard thats what they did for the films because a actual leather whip couldn't hold someone's weight.

A leather whip WILL hold the weight of a full grown adult. You could pull a truck with a nylon. The problem is that the plaiting tightens, stretches, and shifts in strange and unusual ways. Your nice round taper will deform and become ugly. I weigh nearly 270 pounds and have swung many times on a leather whip. I DO NOT endorse or recommend it in any way, but yes with a certain technique it can be done. Just don't expect your whip to look the same afterwards. This is one reason I keep really cheap whips laying around. As a small tip, a four plait will deform and stretch far less than a 12 plait. Cheers.

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Aragorn658 wrote:Don't get me wrong I'll end up getting a nylon whip instead of a leather because the price difference is soooo huge. I'm not going with dirk adkins whip but a member here i'm in talks with which is great but honestly a leather whip would be great and SC but the price...just crazy but I get why. But has anyone here made one with a steel cable for swinging? haha, i heard thats what they did for the films because a actual leather whip couldn't hold someone's weight.

You'll start with a nylon, but almost everyone has to have more That's just how whips work. I have made one and I know Adam Winrich has made one for swinging as well. I haven't seen a huge change in my nylon whip from swinging on it. Next time It'll be made with swinging in mind. Just about any nylon whip, however, will be able to take whatever abuse you can give it.

darksideman13 wrote:I haven't seen a huge change in my nylon whip from swinging on it. Next time It'll be made with swinging in mind. Just about any nylon whip, however, will be able to take whatever abuse you can give it.

That is true. As stated previously, you COULD actually use a nylon as a tow rope. Each strand (with the center removed) will hold about 300 pounds, which means the fall alone will hold the weight of MOST people. That being said, be VERY careful about abrading the nylon fibers in the strands. The act of swinging itself will not damage them, but pulling the whip free from a tree limb or other rough surface WILL damage the nylon fibers. The more fibers damaged the less weight it will hold. Eventually, if unchecked, even a nylon whip will break. Of course, its rather hard to get a good hold on a smooth surface, even using what I call a "pressure / friction wrap," so it will almost always be a rougher surface such as a tree limb or wooden beam (or the trunk of a giant Hindi elephant statue. ) Cheers.

MS Jones wrote:

darksideman13 wrote:I haven't seen a huge change in my nylon whip from swinging on it. Next time It'll be made with swinging in mind. Just about any nylon whip, however, will be able to take whatever abuse you can give it.

That is true. As stated previously, you COULD actually use a nylon as a tow rope. Each strand (with the center removed) will hold about 300 pounds, which means the fall alone will hold the weight of MOST people. That being said, be VERY careful about abrading the nylon fibers in the strands. The act of swinging itself will not damage them, but pulling the whip free from a tree limb or other rough surface WILL damage the nylon fibers. The more fibers damaged the less weight it will hold. Eventually, if unchecked, even a nylon whip will break. Of course, its rather hard to get a good hold on a smooth surface, even using what I call a "pressure / friction wrap," so it will almost always be a rougher surface such as a tree limb or wooden beam (or the trunk of a giant Hindi elephant statue. ) Cheers.

I've personally seen a nylon whip swung on, by a 60 pound kid at that, and it ruined it's cracking ability. I had to replait the

whole overlay for it to crack well again.

riku1914 wrote:I've personally seen a nylon whip swung on, by a 60 pound kid at that, and it ruined it's cracking ability. I had to replait the

whole overlay for it to crack well again.

Does anyone actually read the entire thread before posting anymore? If you look just two posts above the one that you quoted, you will see that I warned against this very thing, AND included a disclaimer about swinging from whips. 24 years of experience, boss. It's hard to top that. Cheers.

EDIT: BTW, if a 60 pound kid ruined a nylon whip by swinging on it one time then the overlay wasn't plaited tight enough to start with. I weigh 270 lbs and have swung on whips, both leather and nylon, without destroying them. As previously stated the plait DOES shift, but as far as making the whip unusable I have never seen that. Again, 24 years of experience with whips talking here. I'm NOT a newbie.

MS Jones wrote:

riku1914 wrote:I've personally seen a nylon whip swung on, by a 60 pound kid at that, and it ruined it's cracking ability. I had to replait the

whole overlay for it to crack well again.

Does anyone actually read the entire thread before posting anymore? If you look just two posts above the one that you quoted, you will see that I warned against this very thing, AND included a disclaimer about swinging from whips. 24 years of experience, boss. It's hard to top that. Cheers.

EDIT: BTW, if a 60 pound kid ruined a nylon whip by swinging on it one time then the overlay wasn't plaited tight enough to start with. I weigh 270 lbs and have swung on whips, both leather and nylon, without destroying them. As previously stated the plait DOES shift, but as far as making the whip unusable I have never seen that. Again, 24 years of experience with whips talking here. I'm NOT a newbie.

Two things, one, I've read every post, I was commenting on that because you said you didn't see a big difference after swinging on it, while a kid ruined it just by swinging on it.

TWO, nylon whips are not supposed to be plaited tight, BUT, this one was. Since nylon doesn't have a lot of stretch, Plaiting it

as tight as leather makes them stiff as a rod. I didn't know that when I made this whip up for the kid, so it was already far

too stiff. After he swung on it, it separated the plaiting for the last 1/3 of the overlay, or where the only plaiting was where the

overlay was ( as the second belly goes 2/3 the whip's length ). I replaited the whole thing, not just the last 1/3 , to make it

looser and crack correctly.

It didn't make the whip unusable, it still cracked, but it didn't crack easily, or predictably.

riku1914 wrote:I've read every post

I suggest you read them again. I was NOT the one who said that I didn't see a change. Quite the opposite. If you are going to quote someone and then comment on the quote, I would suggest quoting the post that you are referencing in your reply.

MS Jones wrote:

riku1914 wrote:I've read every post

I suggest you read them again. I was NOT the one who said that I didn't see a change. Quite the opposite. If you are going to quote someone and then comment on the quote, I would suggest quoting the post that you are referencing in your reply.

I originally clicked the "quote" button on the wrong post apparently, but what I said still goes...

riku1914 wrote:I originally clicked the "quote" button on the wrong post apparently, but what I said still goes...

And it should, as you were quite right. Sorry if I came off condescending. I have been misquoted before and it turned out, well, badly. No worries here. Cheers.

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riku1914 wrote: TWO, nylon whips are not supposed to be plaited tight, BUT, this one was. Since nylon doesn't have a lot of stretch, Plaiting it

as tight as leather makes them stiff as a rod. I didn't know that when I made this whip up for the kid, so it was already far

too stiff. After he swung on it, it separated the plaiting for the last 1/3 of the overlay, or where the only plaiting was where the

overlay was ( as the second belly goes 2/3 the whip's length ). I replaited the whole thing, not just the last 1/3 , to make it

looser and crack correctly.

It didn't make the whip unusable, it still cracked, but it didn't crack easily, or predictably.

I'm sorry, but i have to disagree again. Nylon MUST be braided very tighly because it DOES stretch. I've made more than a few nylon whips. They need to start off rock solid. Way more stiff than leather. That's what gets people new to nylon whips. And let's say that the plaiting did stretch to the degree you said. It would still crack just as well. It might take a bit more force due to the loss in the transfer of the kinetic energy, but it would still shoot straight. It sounds more like a whip construction problem than an actual swinging on the whip problem. MS Jones, It's actually good to hear from someone who has done this with both styles of whips. Let the record show that I NEVER endorse swinging on whip; admittedly, I have done it as well. We have gotten way off point here. So I suggest if we wish further discussion, we start a new thread. As to Dirk Adkins whips, I cannot personally speak for or against them. They seem to be nicely plaited but appear to be missing some support mostly in the transition region. I'm only going off what I can see. I am sure that it will be a fantastic whip. Be sure to post photos and maybe a video when you get it!

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One more vendor who has done good work on nylon bullwhips is James at ClassicBullwhips.com. I have one of his kip Indy-style whips, which is great--and I know he's made several nylon whips, too. Sorry that I don't have any info to add about Dirk Adkins.

Best wishes,
Nebraska Schulte

Hey everyone I just joined and found this post about me and my whips. It looks kind of old but thought I would add something http://www.adkinsbullwhips.com/Testimonials.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; If you take a look at this link I think you'll see my whips have been tryed and tested by some folks who know something about how a whip work.