Just a quick heads up that I’m on vacation from today (8/218/08) until Monday (9/1/08). I won’t be returning any emails or phone calls until I return on Tuesday (9/2/08) and no work will be done on any bullwhips until I return.
Louie
Month: August 2008
6 foot Indy Bullwhip
Yesterday I finished shellacing a 6 foot 12 plait Indy bullwhip. It’s got a lead loaded handle and a nice crack to it!
Recently I’ve backed off the amount of lead that I put into my 6 foot bullwhips and I think it gives me a better looking handle.
Louie
P.S. I’ve got a lot of whips in my “IN STOCK” page. Click here to see what’s in stock!
8 foot 16 plait picture…
Rounding Falls…
I’ve been thinking about making falls lately (I seem to think about falls a lot!). One thing that I’ve noticed when making them is what rounding to them. When I “round” a fall, I take a strip of leather and wrap it around the fall twice and rub it back and forth. That rounds off the corners of the falls making it more round (after the four corners are pared).
Since I’ve been reading a lot about rawhide recently I noticed that round also loosens up the fall. I think it’s in Bruce Grant’s book there is a picture of someone running a piece of rawhide through two boards to “brake down the fibers” to make the rawhide easier to work with. So when the bullwhip’s fall is rounded by running the looped leather back and forth you are braking down the fibers in the fall making it softer.
Louie
6 foot Bullwhip…
Today I started making a 6 foot Indy bullwhip (morgan style). I’ve cut out the the kangaroo sets for the bullwhip (2 belly’s and overlay) and I have cut out the core. I managed to find time to plait the core as well.
Also here’s me giving an 8 foot 16 plait bullwhip some test cracks:
Louie
16 plait bullwhip
Last night I tied the fall hitch on a 16 plait bullwhip. It’s the first 16 plait bullwhip that I’ve made and it came out pretty well (so far). I still need to roll the whip and tie the knots on it. Making a 16 plait is a bit different than a 12 plait when it comes to the taper of the overlay because you are dropping strands instead of tapering the strands as the bullwhip gets thinner.
This bullwhip is 8 feet long and the point ends in a 6 plait braid. When I was tapering some of the filler strands I accidentally grabbed one of the overlay stands and tapered it, so I had to drop that strand into the core and pull out the one that I should have tapered. It’s been a long time since I’ve accidentally tapered an overlay strand!
I’ll try to take some pictures of the whip later today.
Louie
Bullwhip Making Time…
I timed myself for making a 6 foot KotCS style bullwhip. Here’s the breakdown:
It took me 24 minutes and 41 seconds to:
- Trim the hide
- cut out two belly sets
- Stretch the belly sets
- pare the belly sets
- split the belly sets
Then for my next bit of work it took me 34 minutes and 34 seconds to:
- Cut out and prepare the core
- Attach the core and 1st belly
- Prepare and plait the 1st belly
- Board roll
- cut out and attach lead to handle
- Transition reinforcement
The next chunk of work that I did took 42 minutes and 21 seconds:
- cut out and prepare the 1st bolster
- Attach the bolster and 2nd belly
- Transition reinforcement
- Plait the 2nd belly
It took me 10 minutes 55 seconds to:
- Roll the Whip
- Attach the 2nd bolster
- Transition reinforcement
Then it took me 55 minutes and 6 seconds to:
- Cut the overlay
- Stretch the set
- Pare the 12 strands
- Clean up the paring mess!
Next it took 1 hour 42 minutes and 43 seconds to:
- attach the overlay
- grease the set
- Plait the 6 foot overlay
I should have gone to bed, but I stayed up and worked on the wristloop, it took me 19 minutes 22 seconds to:
- Cut the 4 plait wrist loop
- Stretch, pare and grease the set
- Pour a glass of wine
- Plait the set
I forgot to time myself:
- Attaching the wrist loop
- rolling the whip
- tying the knot
- Shellacing the whip
So I don’t have an exact finish time because I forgot to time a few things, but I’ve got a pretty close guess.
Louie
6 foot Bullwhip…
Here are some pictures of a 6 foot bullwhip that I shipped out on Friday.
This bullwhip has a great crack!
Louie
Bullwhip Performance…
Here’s some pictures of me taken by John Leonetti when he came by a show that I was in:
Below are pictures of me working the Hand Shadow Puppets (also taken by John Leonetti):
Above is the cat and below is Elvis…or is it Jay Leno?
Above are two bunnies and below are two monkeys.
Louie
http://bullwhips.org
Plaiting Technique
Yesterday I finished plaiting the overlay of a 6 foot KotCS bullwhip. I plaited using the method that David Morgan describes in his book Braiding Fine Leather instead of how I was before, which was the way that Ron Edwards teaches (I think I was using Ron’s method).
David Morgan’s method gave me a straighter seam with less work. Also it was easier to pull the strands tighter. Early on I tried David’s method, but stopped using it because I was getting a lot of crossed strands or mis-plaits. David’s method requires a bit more attention and checking my work more often to make sure there are no crossed strands, but I like the results. I’m sure as I use it more it’ll get faster and easier.
I’ve been bad about taking pictures lately, I’ve been soo busy performing lately. For me there are 7 more days of the summer performing season, then I go on Vacation for 5 days. I’ll be away from 8/28/08 until 9/2/08, so no work on whips will be done and no emails will be replied to during that time…just to let you know.
Louie