Club Obi Wan

I made some homemade whip conditoner and plaiting soap but it went rancid . And i dont really feel like making some more cause i dont use it that often but i need to use some when i make leather whips. So my question is-
can you use saddle soap as plaiting soap?
and pecards as whip conditoner?
molorom

Hi Molorom

People get very precious about what to use on a whip. Understandable, I guess, when you consider the price of some of them.

A friend of ours makes his own leather dressing. The mixture involves animal fat, beeswax and some scented oil to get rid of some of the pong. He's been using the same tub of it for about five years I think. He keeps his spare falls in the tub with it, so they're nice and greasy when he comes to change them. Trick is to keep it in the fridge when you're not out and about.

Saddle soap as plaiting soap. I think it works fine. Morgan gives a recipe involving pure soap, lard and water, but saddle soap from a shop works for me! Bruce Grant was using it back in 1950 when he published 'Leather Braiding' and, being a lazy wotsit, I'm more inclined to follow his advice than make work for myself.

Pecard. Comes highly recommended. Never used it myself, but there are plenty of people who never use anything else. We clean our whips with saddle soap as and when they need it. Other than that, when I grease the fall of a whip, I sometimes wipe the excess off on the thong. Very rarely do anything else - and some of our whips take a lot of abuse!

I'm sure there's loads of other people with their own views on this - these are just my thoughts.

Dave

I use "Aussie leather conditioner" both for treating my whips and for plaiting. I like the idea that once I am done making a whip it has conditioner all through it. You can find Aussies at Western stage props as well as Tandy leather web sites.

Yeah, we've got some.

It gets used most on our falls, but I have used it for braiding. I can't say I think saddle soap is any better; but I get a sense that it's lubricating the inside of the whip whereas Aussie Leather Conditioner sometimes seems kind of sticky. That said, I think the lace is a bit easier to grip when you use the leather conditioner.

I also tried vaseline, and vegetable oil when I was teaching myself to braid. Really don't recommend veggy oil!

Vaguely related thought - we once had a batch of whips delivered, that were unusually heavily coated with the whip maker's own leather dressing. Beeswax definitely, not sure what else was in it. With a bit of handling, the handles lost their stickiness, but not before Jo's hands came out in itchy spots. It only happened when they were fresh out of the box, and has never happened since, even though we've had loads of whips from that maker. Maybe the mixture had gone off a bit whilst travelling.

But it would be a bugger if you ordered a whip and then discovered that you were allergic to whatever the maker had used as braiding soap or dressing! I wonder if anyone else has had a similar experience?

Dave