Club Obi Wan

Whew! It took me awhile, but I've just completed my first whip. Since this first one was only a test to see if I could actually do it, I used cowhide. My next one will be made from 100% Aussie 'roo.

My hat's off to the blokes who make plaited goods on a regular basis, because they take a LOT of time and effort. I did hit a few stumbling blocks along the way, but our friendly whip community here was quick to offer advice. THANK YOU to all who encouraged me and gave me friendly tidbits along the way.

I've just been out back crackin the snot outta it. BANG! BANG! BANG! Depending on the crack, it goes off like a pistol (hope I don't freak the neighbors out). I'm just learning to crack, but I learned sidearm first, overhead second and I'm still working on a good forward crack.

Specs and pics:
9 feet long, 12 plait, 2 plaited bellys and 2 bolsters


2-pass, 5 part 4 bight Turk's Head at transition


3-pass, 5 part 4 bight Turk's Head at butt

That is an awesome job! Sure that's your first whip you've ever made? So are we to have yet another option on bullwhip vendors? Did you have a professional there by your side the whole time, it looks perfect to me. Guess what I mean is did you do any apprentice work? Wish I could make one....hmm, would that save money, to make your own.....na, I'll leave it to the pros.

Regards,
'81

Amazing! If this is your first attempt, it will surely give other first time whipmakers some hope. The skin even looks like a natural roo color hide. Can't wait to see your future attempts. Keep us all posted...you oughta make a website with one pic of each of your whips in the order you make them...kinda like an online scrapbook.

That really looks great Max, especially for a first attempt. The whip looks nice and tight, no noticable gaps, and smooth throughout. I tip my hat to you sir, very well done.

Great looking whip! If that's truly your first attempt at making a whip then I think the other whipmakers on the board (myself included) are all in trouble!

Nice job!
Jim

Wow! that looks professional to me Max,
absolutely beautiful.

So you taking whiporders? ,
a superb job indeed.

Well done.



Jim J.

Good on ya! Very clean looking whip. Nice straight seams.

Jerry R

Define Hard...

YOU LIAR
well how the heck long did that take? if i took a month on each
whip i could bust that out No Problems. I cant believe thats your
first. Jim i aggree with you. We are in for a bit of trouble....
hehe. Very Good Job. Looks great in all aspects.
Adam

yes. Define it for us. 72 hours slaving over strips of leather and
a bucket of fat(maybe not a bucket). Pulling hard on little strands, with slippery hands,
cutting your finger tip off with a utility knife...list goes on and on.
Adam

Hehe, wow, thanks for the positive comments. I'll do my best to answer some of your questions.

This was my first whip ever, I cut and tapered all strands from a side of cow leather, no fancy math degree required . I just took my time and took notes along the way to help figure things out.

I had no existing whip to reference, although it sure woulda made things easier if I did. I haven't done any apprentice work either, I simply used 2 books ... "How to Make Whips" by Ron Edwards and "Braiding Fine Leather: Techniques of the Australian Whipmakers" by David Morgan. Bernie W's web site and Dittmer's site helped tremendously, thanks mates! Also helpful were bits of advice given to me by Molorom, winrichwhips, MajorMike, jerryrwm, Paul_Stenhouse, Robert Duke ... I hope I didn't forget anyone.

The whip, being my first, isn't without its quirks. Little things are goofy here and there, but those goofs were necessary because they taught me what not to do on my next whip. I look forward to errors, you can learn a lot from them.

As much as I appreciate the compliments, I have no plans for becoming a whip vendor. Although if I produce a good whip or two along the way I might offer one for sale every now and then.

How long did this take? I'll have to peek at my notes and try to figure that out. I just worked on it when I could, sometimes I'd go for 8 hours, sometimes 2, other times only 30 minutes. After the longer sessions, my finger joints would just ache beyond belief ... but it was good pain, and made me feel like I had accomplished something.

Was it hard? Well, that's a subjective term. Was it hard work? Yep, I'd say so, but in a good way. It was mostly fun mixed with frustration.

Oh, the bellies ... first belly was a 4 plait, second was an 8 plait I believe. Both were covered with leather bolsters held with bonded nylon thread and waxed thread.

Whew, sorry for rambling on and on. And thanks again for the comments, that means a lot to me.

MaxPlague wrote:This was my first whip ever, I cut and tapered all strands from a side of cow leather, no fancy math degree required . I just took my time and took notes along the way to help figure things out.

Just a question, where did you get your side of cow leather from? It looks nice, and most of the cow I've been coming across has been kind of crappy.

Thanks,
Jim

Dude! Well done! I keep forgetting you're here in Mpls, just like me! I have to see that baby crack in person! PM me man! We HAVE to get together!!!

ecwhips wrote:Just a question, where did you get your side of cow leather from? It looks nice, and most of the cow I've been coming across has been kind of crappy.

Thanks,
Jim

Hi Jim,

I went down to Tandy Leather and picked out the cowhide myself. Nice natural veg-tan. I went with 2-3 oz since I don't have a splitter (yet, hehe). It did have some weak spots, and I broke a few strands along the way but was fortunately able to repair them. From what I've read, you're bound to break strands during production from time to time, but it doesn't seem to affect the whip one bit.

Best regards,
Jace

Minnesota Jones wrote:Dude! Well done! I keep forgetting you're here in Mpls, just like me! I have to see that baby crack in person! PM me man! We HAVE to get together!!!

Sounds great! I'll shoot you a PM and we can get together for some crackin'!

Best regards,
Jace

I cannot BELIEVE that's cowhide! Are you sure Tandy didn't foul up and give you Roo instead?

Looks beautiful, Max.

Yup, that's a good-looking whip. It certainly looks a lot better than my first whip (but I was only a twelve-year-old at the time!).

The veg-tanned cowhide does look a lot like veg-tanned/bark-tanned kangaroo hide. The only thing that I would wonder is how that tannage will hold up compared to a 'roo whip.

You mentioned that you broke a couple of strands while making it. I would say you should make yourself a 'roo whip, then you shouldn't have much of a problem with breaking strands, provided you avoid scars, avoid cutting thin strands in really stretchy parts of the hide and make the overlay strands the same width as the strands in your cowhide whip.

Have your figured out how long it took you to make the whip? I remember when I started on the Indy-style of whip, I would spend about a weekend making one whip. Now it takes about an hour for each plaited foot, plus a little extra if there are any complications, such as broken stands or twisting seams.

I see that you're from Minneapolis. Did you know that Robert Dante lives in the Twin Cities these days? He's offering a bullwhip academy for whip performing. I'm about an hour and a half from the Cities and I've been thinking of checking it out.

-Adam, www.winrichwhips.com

And if I may say it, SSSSWWWWEEEEEEEETTTT!

Man, that is an absolutely awesome job for the first whip. I stand in awe and wonder. Looking back, I wish my first whip had turned out like that (the really sad thing is that my first whip was in nylon, so I didn't even have to worry about cutting strands from a hide).

One question for you, though: How much did the cow hide cost? I think I know the hide you're talking about, and in my experiences, the stuff is costly (amongst other reasons, that's why I make nylon whips).

Again, I'm very impressed. My hat is off to you, sir....Crack in good health.

High Regards, Indiana_Hall

winrichwhips wrote:... The veg-tanned cowhide does look a lot like veg-tanned/bark-tanned kangaroo hide. The only thing that I would wonder is how that tannage will hold up compared to a 'roo whip.

Same here. I haven't cut my roo strands yet, but I'm sure they'll be less prone to breaking during stretching than the cow. I've heard roo hide is about 5x stronger than cow (where I heard/read that, I can't recall though). However, when it's all plaited up, the cow gains a tremendous amount of strength. Plaiting multiplies the strength of the materials used, which is explained in Morgan's book I think.

winrichwhips wrote:Have your figured out how long it took you to make the whip? I remember when I started on the Indy-style of whip, I would spend about a weekend making one whip. Now it takes about an hour for each plaited foot, plus a little extra if there are any complications, such as broken stands or twisting seams.

I've just gone through my whip notes, but I didn't track time, only days. I put 10 or 12 days into it, doing a little here and there over a span of 4 weeks or so. Near as I can figure, I probably put anywhere from 20-30 hours into it. I went rather slowly since I was learning what I needed to as I needed.

winrichwhips wrote:I see that you're from Minneapolis. Did you know that Robert Dante lives in the Twin Cities these days? He's offering a bullwhip academy for whip performing. I'm about an hour and a half from the Cities and I've been thinking of checking it out.

-Adam, www.winrichwhips.com

Yeah, I saw that too. I'm more of a "do it yer-selfer" but maybe I'll look into his sessions someday.

Best regards,
J

Indiana_Hall wrote:
... One question for you, though: How much did the cow hide cost? I think I know the hide you're talking about, and in my experiences, the stuff is costly (amongst other reasons, that's why I make nylon whips).
... High Regards, Indiana_Hall

The cow hide I bought was $3.99 a square foot and there was 23.75 sq ft of it (so I still have quite a bit left over), that set me back $94.76. Add in supplies/tools and books though, and I've spent about $250.

dang man, is there anything you DON'T do ! From SW to Indy ! Props to you man ! Very nice !

Wow, Jace, that's an amazing first whip! I'm glad to hear you were able to get something out of my site. I know I'll be going back to review it in detail when I start my next whips in a couple weeks or so.
-Mark

Got Maul wrote:dang man, is there anything you DON'T do ! From SW to Indy ! Props to you man ! Very nice !

Heh, thanks. All my SW stuff is still very much in progress. I think this whip is my first "prop" project I've really followed though on and finished.

Dittmer wrote:Wow, Jace, that's an amazing first whip! I'm glad to hear you were able to get something out of my site. I know I'll be going back to review it in detail when I start my next whips in a couple weeks or so.
-Mark

Thanks Mark! Your site was EXTREMELY helpful and I referred to it often during this project. Your site and Bernie's site gave me the confidence to follow through and finish my whip. Thank you.

Jace

What is Dittmer's site address?

Indiana Texas-girl wrote:What is Dittmer's site address?

Hey there ITG, his addy is http://www.dittmer.ca/whips/bullwhip1.html

Oh, and regarding your earlier post, yer right, I should do a little online "scrapbook" of the whips I make. That would be kinda fun to track the progression, or regression, of my whips.

Well, I got to crack this whip last night. It cracks wonderfully. For a first time whip, I was truly amazed. MaxPlague's skill is outstanding. If this is his first attempt, just wait to see what he'll be doing 10 whips from now.

The whip is a little light, but that's from it's construction and the fact it's cowhide. But putting that aside, it's an amazing first whip!

Can't wait to get back together with you for some more whipcracking pal! Well done!

Hey Minnesota Jones, that was a ton of fun crackin with ya down by the lake last night. The part that sticks in my head were the people who stopped to watch. I remember at one point hearing a kid asking her mom what we were doing, to which her mother replied, "...I don't know, maybe they're lion tamers."

I'm thrilled that you like my whip, you got some great sounding cracks out of it. Given the fact that this was my first whipmaking attempt, your praise of my work meant a lot to me.

I was also amazed by your whip collection. The Strains, Morgan, EC and Edge's Pocket Bull – they're all superb examples of fine craftsmanship...and FUN too! Thanks for letting me try them out!

I look forward to more crackin good times.

Lion tamers. That's great!

I just wanted to say great job. That is great for your first time.

MJ, I didn't know you had an EC whip! Awesome!

I love that lion tamer story. I'll have to tell our local whip club about that one.

Yeah just call ol' Max and me Siegfried and Roy....

You sure about that, Minnesota?

Sincere Regards,

Henry Jones, Sr.

Max, that is incredible!

I have to say, I was stunned when I saw those photos! And your first time as well.

My friend, if it was me, it would take me about a hundred attempts to get a bullwhip to look that good.

Heck, I can barely crack mine, let alone make a whip.