Two Bullwhips

December 1, 2010 by Bullwhip maker - Louie ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Right now I’m working on two bullwhips: A six foot beginner’s bullwhip and a four foot 12 plait kangaroo bullwhip.

The six foot bullwhip’s lash is finished, I just need to do the knots.

The four foot bullwhip is almost finished. In need to cut some more falls before I can call the overlay done. t feels like it’s been a while since I’ve made a four foot bullwhip and this one is turning out well (so far), I’ll post pictures later today.

One question I’ve seen a lot in a forums about braiding is how to determine how thick you need the strands to be to cover a core. I use a pretty simple formula that I think for me has its roots in a Ron Edwards book. With a whip I take a piece of scrap lace and wrap it around the thickest part of the whip. Usually that is near the tip of the handle, and where I”m going to put the transition knot. I wrap the lace around the thickest part and mark it and then measure it to get the circumference. Then I multiply that by 1.5. Then I divide that by the number number of strands to get the width of the strand.

There are some other formulas that people use to get the strand width, like taking the diameter and multiplying it by 4.5 then dividing it by the number of strands. Which for the most part gives you the same number as the formula I use. The main reason I prefer the circumference multiply’d by 1.5 is that is easy math to do in my head (it makes me feel smarter) and it’s one less thing I’d need to plug into a calculator.

When it the time comes to cut them out, I start a bit wider in case there is any stretch and taper by eye as I cut. Of course I’m aware of the stretchy spots and make the strands wider as needed when I get to them. Then after they are cut out I resize them to the correct size while I pare them.

Louie
http://bullwhips.org

Bullwhip Card Trick

March 14, 2010 by admin ♥ 2 Comments

Here’s a little card trick with a bullwhip that’s been in my notebook forever and I’ve never tried.

Honestly I’d be shocked if I was the first person to try doing this card trick with a whip.

The bullwhip that I’m using is a 4 foot 4 plait bullwhip. I don’t do a lot of shorter whips in 4 plait, however I’ve made several because I use them for tricks where the thong of the whip hits something I’ve found the thicker four plait holds up much better than a thinner strand.

Louie
http://bullwhips.org

4 plait bullwhip

April 23, 2009 by Bullwhip maker - Louie ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Here’s a picture of the 4 foot 4 plait bullwhip that I made a few weeks ago.

4 foot 4 plait bullwhip

It’s made out of the same construction as the 4 foot 8 plait bullwhips that I’ve been making, just it’s 4 plait.

Louie

http://bullwhips.org

Almost Finished Bullwhips…

April 4, 2009 by Bullwhip maker - Louie

Here is a picture of the pair of bullwhips that I’ve been working on:

I don’t have pictures of this yet bu these whips are finished (except for shellac).

Last night I started work on a signal whip in 8 plait kangaroo. Personally I like the way signal whips look with the braided cracker…but for sport whip cracking I prefer a bullwhip with it’s rigid handle.

louie

http://bullwhips.org

Three Whips Shellac’d!

December 27, 2008 by Bullwhip maker - Louie

My bruised rib is feeling a bit better, but rolling the pair of four foot whips was very painful. I didn’t want them to sit almost finished while I started a new project. I also shellac’d a signal whip that I had forgotten to shellac a while ago.

Here’s the signal whip:

This signal whip has a shot loaded belly and has a nice weight to it. It measures approx. 42 inches from the butt to the end of the braiding and has a 16 plait “whiskey” colored kangaroo overlay.

4 Foot Matched Pair of Bullwhips

This pair of 4 foot 12 plait bullwhips are made from Saddle Tan and Whiskey colored kangaroo. They are made with 9 strands of one color and 3 of the other color.

I also split down every strand so they are the same thickness. Here are pictures of the two whips individually.

4 foot whip #1
(Whiskey with Saddle Tan)

4 foot whip # 2
(Saddle Tan with Whiskey)

Both Bullwhips

I’ve given all of these bullwhips a few throws in my living room and the crack well. I can’t take them outside because there’s stilll about 4 inches of snow and it’s raining!

Louie
http://bullwhips.org
P.S. All three of these bullwhips are available for sale on my IN STOCK whip page.

4 foot bullwhip plaiting…

December 24, 2008December 24, 2008 by Bullwhip maker - Louie

One of the bullwhips in this pair of bullwhip’s has the plaiting of the overlay finished. I still need to roll it, tie the knots, and shellac it, so it’s nowhere near finished yet.

I’m still struggling while plaiting after hurting my chest, my plaiting speed is a bit slower than normal, but I’m okay.

Right now this bullwhip has a redhide fall on it, but I might switch it for a whitehide one. I only have one redhide fall, so I won’t be able to have both bullwhips in the pair with the same fall. I haven’t used the redhide falls very much, but I did chat with David Morgan about them. He told me that whitehide ones are generally more durable than the redhide…but then Joe Strain has mentioned to me that he likes the Latigo Falls, so that looks like I’m going to have to do some testing for myself to see what I prefer!

This weekend I’ll probably start the overlay on the 2nd bullwhip of this pair.

Louie

http://bullwhips.org

Pair of 4 foot Bullwhips

December 21, 2008 by Bullwhip maker - Louie

My current bullwhip project is working on a pair of 4 foot bullwhips. I’m making these in 12 plait kangaroo with a two tone overlay. They will be Whiskey and Saddle Tan colored kangaroo hide.

I haven’t decided on the pattern that I’m going to use for the overlay yet. I’m thinking I may do one bullwhip with 9 strands in Saddle Tan and 3 strands in Whiskey and the other bullwhip in the opposite colors.

I’ve also been thinking of doing the whips with 6 strands of each color and doing some fancy plaiting patterns on the handles. Every thing is cut out for these whips, and I’ll be working on the overlay’s pretty soon, so I have some decisions to make.

After the pair of 4 foot bullwhips are finished I have another signal whip that I’m going to be starting. I have one another design for the shotbag that I want to try out. I liked how the last one turned out (for weight and diamter), but I think I can improve on it a little bit.

Louie

http://bullwhips.org

12 foot bullwhip…

September 2, 2008 by admin

Today I got some work in on a 12 foot Indy Bullwhip that I’ve been planning on making for myself for a long time. I had cut out the set for this months ago and was just waiting for time to put the bullwhip together. I don’t know if I will keep this whip for myself, but I am very curious how a 12 foot bullwhip cracks (which is why I’m making it).

This bullwhip also has a shot loaded core, which is something I’ve never done in a bullwhip. I’ve shotloaded signal whips and snake whips, but not a bullwhip. So that was a fun little experiment.

Right now I have about 5 feet of the 12 feet of the overlay finished. With a bit of luck I’ll find time tomorrow to crank out the rest of the overlay.

Before I went on vacation I spent some time at David Morgan‘s shop having my braiding technique fixed by David, Alex and Megan. I’ve applied a lot of the tips that they’ve given me and my braid is much more consistant in tightness and my seam is much straighter!

Also Megan gave me a great tip on paring my falls, that will make paring the top left and bottom right side much easier and have a more consistant angle.

Louie

P.S. I still have an 8 foot 16 plait bullwhip and a sweet 4 foot 12 plait bullwhip for sale in the IN STOCK page of my blog: http://bullwhips.org/?page_id=798

Pics of Today’s Show…

May 17, 2008 by admin ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

My show today at the University District Street fair went well. It was 85ish degrees and it was a lot work to keep up my energy performing in the sun.