Yesterday I started a bit of work on two bullwhips. They both are 7 foot 12 plait kangaroo bulllwhips. I’m making them as a matched pair even though they are going to two different people. The main reason I’m making them as a matched pair is more for fun and to make it a bit [...]
For a long time I’ve wanted to make a bullwhip with a sharkskin handle. The main problem is that it’s very expensive and I’m unaware of anyone locally that sells it. So I can’t see it before I buy it. I didn’t want to spend $150 or $200 on a skin that was totally unusable. [...]
Yesterday UPS delivered a side of Red Latigo: This side of Red Latigo is huge! I was going to try to make some 4 plait bullwhips out of it. If I do that I’ll probably have to thin it down a bit, it’s pretty thick. Yesterday I also finished making an 8 foot budget bullwhip: [...]
Here’s the work that is completed on the bullwhip with the stingray handle in the last couple of days. I finished the outer belly: The outer belly was attached: One of the biggest challenges wasn’t the 20 plait lash, but figuring out a way to attach the stingray to the handle. For the handle the [...]
Last night I started work on the bullwhip that will have the stingray handle. Here’s the work that I got done: If you don’t know what a stingray skin looks like, here’s the one that I got: A stingray skin is very small about 13 inches long by 6 inches wide. The grain side is [...]
Here’s how I make the heel knot foundation on my bullwhips. Now all that’s left is to tie the turkshead. Louie http://bullwhips.org
Right now I have the handles finished for the matched pair of 12 plait two tone bullwhips. I think this is the first matched pair that I’ve done that have patterns on both handles. I want the patterns to be the same, not just the same pattern, but having the patterns line up if you [...]
Recently someone emailed me to ask how I get the handles of my bullwhips to taper. Mine taper over the length of the handle, going from thin at the butt to thicker at the transition knot. Here’s an example: My process for getting the handle to taper is exactly like the getting the thong to [...]
One of the most important things when making a bullwhip is how you prepare the strands. Here’s the process that I use: Stretch: This takes out some stretch from the strands and also straghtens out the strands. Pare: This evens out the width of the strands and the angle that you pare at will give [...]
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 [...]