Club Obi Wan

I have a very nice...well used 8ft Australian made whip. Well, it came from there but it looks just like a David Morgan. It seems that every time I go to use it lately I end up having to replace the popper b/c it goes flying off somewhere. Has anyone had any good experience with keeping them on or is this just a common problem?

First post here in COW..been a reader for a while. I have been using a whip for over 10 years..and I havent had the kinds of probelms with other whips.
Thanks for the help!!

Josh

Thank Pyro for hosting this graphic. I used to have crackers flying off all the time, until I started using this way of putting them on. This way, the more you crack, the tighter the cracker knot becomes.

very importent is that the end of the fall have no taper. The end of fall (last 1/8 inch) should be cut a little bit wider. If you have a real sharp knife (razor blade sharpness) you can cut the fall very easy.
After this preparation you can pull the popperknot very close to the end of the fall - gives a good aerodynamic and fits very tight.

good luck...

Richie wrote:very importent is that the end of the fall have no taper. The end of fall (last 1/8") should be cut a little bit wider. If you have a real sharp knife (razor blade sharpness) you can cut the fall very easy.
After this preparation you can pull the popperknot very close to the end of the fall - gives a good aerodynamic and fits very tight.

good luck...

I concur, if you try to attach the popper with a tapered fall, it won't hold as well. But the bad side to cutting hte fall is you'll evetually have to get another one, but that's no problem with folks like Joe Strain around, or you could always do it yourself.

Do you know who made your whip? Got any pics?

zohar wrote:Thank Pyro for hosting this graphic.

Anytime. I actually keep a printout of this graphic in my whip bag.

Josh,

Click HERE for a Real video of Sergei showing how to do that knot.

Cheers,
Pyr.

I have a plastic rubbermaid food storage container that I keep my Pecards, falls, and crackers in. On the bottom I have this graphic so that it's faced downward in the container. When I flip the container upside down, I see the graphic and can tie on my popper. (I'm a visual person and easily forget if I'm not in constant practice or if I don't have a picture to show me. Knots are not my strong suit.)

On a semi-related note, doesn anyone know of a specific reason for wearing through poppers very quickly. It seems like I go through them at an alarming rate. I've had my whip about a month and have replaced the popper 3 times so far, and the last time the popper only survived 1 20 min. session! The popper basically just explodes and frays at the part where it is connected to the fall. maybe it's the knot I'm using to tie it to the fall? I use the halfhitch method because it's the knot that the whip had on it when I got it. Thoughts?

Guybrush, what material are you poppers made of? If cotton, then yeah, they aren't gonna last long. I use nylon poppers. I bought several from ecwhips I think a while back (too long ago to remember) and I still have quite a few left. I think he sent me 10 or 20 poppers (can't remember for sure).

Bonded nylon, size FF I believe. they're Paul Stenhouses popper of choice and he sends them out with all his whips. Anyway it's possible that I've just had bad luck with em. Or maybe I have such gargantuan strength that the puny paltry poppers cannot take my wrathful whipcracking! (holy illiteration batman!)

You might be cracking your whip too hard? One of the quickest ways to wear out a cracker is by that continuous power cracking.

Dan

Pyroxene wrote:

zohar wrote:Thank Pyro for hosting this graphic.

... I actually keep a printout of this graphic in my whip bag...

So do I.
I make my own poppers. I've got a very large spool of black nylon.

I just got back from Montgomery Alabama, and I was doing a demonstration for my relatives, cousins, etc. I demonstrated trick roping, and whipping. I was in a little neighborhood, and that whip would echo off of every one of those houses. I had a few of the children in the vicinity watching, and I got my uncle popping the Circus crack.

Anyway, my print-out of that graphic, came from WSP, in a bag of crackers.

Sorry, I don't understand that diagram, is there something I'm not getting? Yes. How do you tie that? I saw a video of Sergei, but his hands are kind of... in the way.

IndyMcFly wrote:Sorry, I don't understand that diagram

McFly,
Let me explain it to you this way from that diagram. Just to clarify where the individual pieces are. In the diagram the fall is on top pointing down, and popper on bottom..
If you turned the picture around you would notice the fall has a shape of the number 9. The popper is placed thru the top of the hole of the 9 then brought over to the ear/tip of the fall. It's then pulled together.

I tie my poppers the same way except in reverse and it's how I teach others. I have a fun way of remembering also. Make a 9 with the fall, but put the tip of the fall under instead of over in this picture. I then call this the "9 Under" as in what any golfer would brag to shoot. Then the popper goes "Under" thru the 9 and onto the ear/tip of the fall and pulled together.

So, in this diagram we see it would be called "9 Over" because the end of the tip of the fall goes over the top.

Whipcracking and golfing.... two great sports

Well, where does the end of the popper go? In that picture, it just seems to be sitting there behind the fall, and not tied to anything or connected to anything. Is this right? I don't suppose practicing with string and string would help me any before I go and work with my whip, would it?

In Christ,
Shane

Okay, lets see if this little tutorial helps tying on a cracker.

http://members16.clubphoto.com/jerry756 ... fa-1.phtml

Then go to cracker tutorial. 'course you can look at the other albums of some of the Rasmussen made whips while you are there.

And before anyone says anything, that is a piece of sash cord and a piece of latigo. <chuckle> It was used to make this tutorial for one of my customers.

Hope this helps,.

Jerry R

Jerry,

That was a great tutorial. I think even a dummy like me could follow that one.

Don't bet on it!!!

(Come on man, what do you expect when you leave me a door that wide open?!)

Hey EVIL DUDE,

I just wanted to see if you were awake.

Awesome tutorial...! Thanks! After that last step, I cut off the extra part of the fall, correct?

In Christ,
Shane

Shane,

The photo was a bit exaggerated for clarity. I normally only have about 1/4" - 3/8" of fall sticking out, depending on how fast I tie ithe cracker on.

I usually pull the knot tight, and then crack the whip - easy cracks - a couple of times to set the cracker tight, then trim to a a 1'4" or less. You need a bit of the fall left sticking out so that the cracker has something to hold onto as it flexes.

Jerry

Jerry,

Thank you again, and one more question - sorry for this many, but I'm kind of a newb... if I bought new crackers, they would have a loop like that in the end, right?

In Christ,
Shane

Shane,

Yes, the new crackers would have a small loop at the end. Some are pretty small depending on the tightness of the twist, so you may have to untwist it enough to get the end of the fall through it.

That will be your next lesson in the world of whip cracking - learning how to make your own crackers. Although they are not very expensive, you may want to experiment with different lengths, thicknesses, and different materials to see which ones you like. I think Paul's DVD has a tutorial on making crackers, and Mike Murphy's video has a couple cracker tutorials.

I guess, I better get Paul's DVD pretty soon myself. I hear many good things about it, so will add it to the resource library soon. Paul, if you read this, how much is the DVD, and what is the ordering address?

Jerry R

Jerry,

Thank you once again... you're a great help! I appreciate your patience...

In Christ,
Shane