I’ve been thinking a lot about the look of the handle of bullwhips. Specificially the way the handle transitions to the thong. There are bascially three looks to this transition:
- Slow Taper: the handle gradually increases in thickness. It’s a bit hard to see the taper in this bullwhip’s handle, but here’s an example of the Slow Taper:
- Bump: I can’t think of a better name for this, but it’s where the handle is basicially the same thickness the whole length of the handle, then at the transition it gets thicker all at once. That’s also where the transition knot it (covering this bump).
David Morgan’s Indiana Jones whips have the bump look, I think it gives them a very rugged look.
- Straight: The bullwhip’s handle and thong appear to be the same thickness from the handle to the thong.
- Normally you see this on bullwhips with longer handles, like this bullwhip by Mike Murphy:
Aside from style, I don’t think it really makes a difference in how the bullwhips handles or will last. I’ve experimented with making all three types of handles in the past and personally I like the Slow Taper look to whips. I’m sure at some point in the future my opinion will change.
Also the length of the handle willl affect how the good the transition looks. For example I think the Bump that David Morgan uses looks great on an 8 inch handle, but it would look pretty strange on a 12 inch handle.
Louie
http://bullwhips.org