This morning I’m shipping out a fun little project that I made a long time ago. It’s a plait letter opener with stingray barb as the “blade”.
The original post from when I made this is here: http://bullwhips.org/?p=5312
This was a fun build to make 6 years ago, and apparently it’s been kicking around on the internet all those years and I’m glad it’s going to a new home!
Louie
http://bullwhips.org
I’m shipping off one of the bullwhips that I’ve made that I feel is unique to me and making it made me feel like an artist. I’m shipping out the bullwhip with the shark spine handle.
When I decided to make this whip I had never attempted anything like it before and never really seen anything like it either. I think I’d seen pictures of leg bone or horn handles, but not spine. I had to figure out how to make it work and was very happy with the results!
The other two bullwhips that are unique to me are the bullwhip with the sting ray handle:
The big challenge when working with string ray is how to cut or punch holes in it! I figured it out and have since made 2 or 3 of these whips.
The last whip that I made that I think was unique to me was the snake head signal whip:
In the past people have put snake heads onto the fall hitch of the whip (see Ron Edwards book How To Make Whips). The problem with putting a snake head on the fall hitch is that as a snake it doesn’t make sense. A snake gets skinnier from the head to the tail, not the other way around. So I put a snake head where at the base of the whip. Shortly after making this whip some of the crappier whip makers on eBay started knocking off this design. This is the only one of these that I’ve made. I was going to make more, but when I saw they were being copied I lost the desire to do that. Maybe I should make a some more of the snake head whips…
Louie
http://bullwhips.0rg
I was cleaning up the other day and found a small piece of stingray that I had bought a long time ago. It was only about 6 inches long, so I’m not sure what my original plan was for it because it’s not long enough for an 8 inch bullwhip handle. After finding it I decided to make a Mini Bullwhip.
This Mini Bullwhip is 4 feet long has a plaited belly, a shot loaded core and a 5.5 inch handle. Originally I was going to do a two tone knot on this Mini Bullwhip like the transition knot in the picture below.
My original thinking was a white highlights would compliment the stingrays white pearl. After I tied that knot I realized it overpowered the white in the stingray. So I decided to go with all black knots.
I still need to roll this whip and shellac it. It should be listed for sale on my IN STOCK whips page later today.
Louie
http://bullwhips.org
Recently in the mail I got a flyer from Tandy Leather Factory in the mail with their February sale items. One thing that caught my eye was that they had Ostrich Leg Skins on sale.
If you’ve read this blog for a while you’ve probably noticed that I love making whips with handles from unique leathers. In the past I’ve made bullwhips with handles made from:
Shark Skin
Alligator Skin
and Sting Ray Skin
That got me thinking that making one from ostrich leg skin would be a fun project. The description on Tandy’s website says the average size is about 5 x 22 inches. That would give me enough leather for at least two handles, but more more likes in the ballpark of 4 handles!
Unfortunately I’ve got a few more things I want to do before I get around to making an ostrich handle bullwhip.
Louie
http://bullwhips.org