Club Obi Wan

Greetings from Oklahoma

I recently came across two books that I find quite fascinating, "How to Make Whips" and "Whips and Whipmaking", and of course I now wish to make a whip. I have found tons of great information here as well as the Yahoo whipmakers group. If there are other pertinent resources for learning this craft please let me know.

I am currently practicing plaiting with nylon since I have access to free scraps.

My question is about cowhide. I understand that veg tanned is the way to go (in the U.S.) but I came across these sides and was wondering if anyone is familiar with it. The price is attractive:


I hope I linked the images properly

Here is the description for this leather:

Oil-tanned cowhide 'chamois' sides get their name from the nice texture of the leather's finished surface. It's almost as if the leather has been sanded lightly - not up to nubuck and certainly not as rough as suede, but somewhere just across the line from smooth to roughened. Very rustic looking sides are heavily oiled for weatherproofing. Thickness is 5.5 oz, useful for a variety of projects. Priced at $50 each, which includes shipping in the 48 states via UPS.

Any advice, tips, or general information on purchasing cowhide for making a bullwhip would be appreciated.

Thanks,
John

John,
Brettuns Village Leather is a Great place to buy from. Ive gotten about 5
hides from them and all of it has been great. Churchil is a good guy to deal with. I believe they went on vacation. Actually i think they got back on the 8th or so. If you buy from them be sure to sign up for the newsletter which is always filled with intresting stories, and stock updates.
The free shipping is a plus. You would need to be sure to skive that leather very well, and a splitter would also be handy. Im sure you would be happy with leather from them. The Black boot leather also makes a great whip. To bad you did not catch them sooner. They had some very good 3oz full hides last month for 100 each.
Kindest Regards
Adam

John,
I've been working with cowhide of several types for some time now, and I can tell you this:

The strongest cowhide is that called "red hide" or "latigo" in the US. Its very strong, and also very difficult to work with. Because of the thickness (cowhide leather tends to be on the thick side) is more difficult to cut, pare, etc, than, say, a Roo hide. Latigo bullwhips and red hide stock whips are made with heavy leather (around 3mm).

To make a nice yet strong whip you might want to try a vegetable tanned leather, that looks great, is strong enough, and is available in different thicknesses. Try to get a hide not too thick, about 1.5 to 2.0. Also, you may want to try "kip side", the skin of a young cow/bull. It has a tighter grain. If you buy a thin kip side (2 1/2 oz = 1.00 mm) you may run into problems of broken strands, although it depends on how thin you cut them. Siegel of California sells this (www.siegelofca.com) as well as Tandy leather (www.tandyleather.com).

The leather you are about to buy has been sanded, therefore has lost some strenght. Leather that has the skin intact is called "full grain".

Anyway, good luck, and hope that helps.

Regards,

Bernardo

P.S. It would be nice to see some pics when you finish it!

Speaking of kip, have any other whipmakers here tried working with it? I bought a side of it from Siegel and I wasn't too happy with it. Maybe I got a bad one, but it completely ate up my blades trying to cut strands with it. The hide I tried to use was very similar to roohide in thickness and texture, and looked very nice. No holes or stretchy parts, but it reminded me of trying to cut through carpet. As I said, it ate through my blades very quickly.

Jim

valk_ryder,
Since you're in Oklahoma (I'm not sure which part), there is a local whipcracking group in Oklahoma City. If you're interested, I can pull up some info online for you.

Holly

Thanks Holly,

...there is a local whipcracking group in Oklahoma City. If you're interested, I can pull up some info online for you.

I did find the web site for the Oklahoma City Whip Enthusiasts and I plan to go hang out with them.

http://www.whipenthusiasts.org/OKC.htm

john[/quote]

valk_ryder wrote:Thanks Holly,

...there is a local whipcracking group in Oklahoma City. If you're interested, I can pull up some info online for you.

I did find the web site for the Oklahoma City Whip Enthusiasts and I plan to go hang out with them.

http://www.whipenthusiasts.org/OKC.htm

john

They are good people. Tell 'em Holly from the Dallas group says "howdy". They come down to our Dallas Whip Weekend. In fact we're having the big Dallas whip weekend the first weekend of October (FYI). Contests, food, cracking whips, etc. If you're ever in Dallas, come crack with us.

Dear John,
Remember the old saying, "nothing ventured, nothing gained?" I bought some oily hide from Siegel called rough rider, and am going to give a go at producing a few cheaper bullwhips with it as an experiment. Right after I get out from under my backlog! What I bought looks like what you have pictured. The yard whip I made from it came out nice, and I like how it is tough, too.

Jim,

I recently made a yard whip with some English kip from Siegel for the belly. It was 1.5 ounce weight, which makes a difference in cutting. It did cut nice, and plait well. I did find that I can't pull it as hard, and broke a strand where there was a weakspot that wasn't visibile.

I normally use the 2.5 ounce for the bolsters, and have to make a few passes with the knife when cutting them out against the floor of my garage. However, I'd like to try using this stuff to make a few bullwhips. What weight were you using?

Best Regards,

Paul Stenhouse