Tag: veg tanned

Kangaroo Skin…

Kangaroo Skin…

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I’m starting work on an 8 foot, 12 plait bullwhip. It’s going to be made with whiskey colored veg tanned, drum stuffed kangaroo. I ran up to David Morgan this morning and picked up this skin.

One great thing about buying my kangaroo skins from them is they always have great skins. Right now with the current COVID restrictions is that while I couldn’t go in to pick out my own skin, the crew there knows what a whip maker wants in a skin.

The largest they had was a 58 dm skin and for an 8 foot whip, ideally I’d have at least a 65dm skin. That means that I’ll have to cut up a leftover kangaroo center for one of the bellies. I really hate wasting prime kangaroo skin on a belly, but sometimes that’s what has to happen.

More Kangaroo!

More Kangaroo!

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I just went up to David Morgan to pick up some veg tanned, drum stuffed kangaroo!

kangaroo for whips
Personally when I get kangaroo, I prefer the drum stuffed kangaroo.  What drum stuffed means is that they have grease/oils worked into the skins in a large drum.  You get even penetration of the grease into the skin and it gets worked in deeper than when you buy a dry skin and have to work it in by hand.

These are for some whips I’ll be making ASAP!

Louie
http://bullwhips.org

5 Foot Bullwhip

5 Foot Bullwhip

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My next project is a 5 foot 12 plait bullwhip. I recently had two people buy the same “in stock”  bullwhip within a span of about 20 minutes.  I didn’t get a chance to delete it between orders, so I’m making a second one for the second buyer.

This is the whip I’m making duplicate of:

bull whip

Here’s the skin I’m making the whip with:

bullwhips_4_100416

This is 50dm kangaroo skin, and here’s what it looks like after the initial trim:

bullwhips_5_100416

Then I cut out the set for the belly:

how to make a bullwhip

Tomorrow I’ll get started on the plaiting the belly.

Louie
http://bullwhips.org

from the mail bag…

from the mail bag…

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Here’s an email I recently got:

have you ever made a whip from chrome tanned kangaroo leather or know anybody that has? I have made a bullwhip from chrome tanned cow hide its ok and it was my first one I made and I got a good deal on a side and figured if I mess up I wouldn’t be out much cash. but to my surprise it cracks pretty nice. I also made a small one from veg tanned cow hide which was much nicer to work with and a lot stronger then chrome tanned. with that being said how strong is the chrome tanned vs the veg tanned roo hide. the reason I ask this is because chrome tanned is cheaper and i’m not made of money but I would like a nice kangaroo whip if a chrome tanned one would be almost as good as a veg tanned one it might be worth it. and where would you suggest to buy good kangaroo hide? do you sell it? Thanks for the advice

My advice would be to save up for veg tanned kangaroo.  It’s a much better material for plaiting.  You could use chrome tanned for a belly where it doesn’t take the stress that the outer layer takes.

However keep in mind with any leather that’s not “drum stuffed” you will have to “hand grease” the skin.  That adds extra cost on top of the cost of leather and extra labor on your end.  Also the end result typically isn’t the same as a tannery doing the greasing for you.

Hope that helps…

Louie
http://bullwhips.org

 

Visiting Midwest Whips!

Visiting Midwest Whips!

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Recently I was performing about 90 minutes away from where Midwest Whips is located.  Where I live is about 15 hours away, so I jumped at the chance to visit my old friend Paul Nolan!

paul nolan

Paul showed me on of his Little Snapper whips and they are really cool!

little snapper whip

The Little Snappers are small whips that will fit in your back pocket and actually crack!  Here’s a quick video of Todd Rex using one:

Here’s a video of Paul teaching someone to crack a whip using one of the Little Snappers:

At $75 these are a great deal on a really cool and portable whip. I wish I had thought of it…but I didn’t, so order one from Paul!

I also picked up a kangaroo skin from him

veg tanned kangaroo

I had a fun trip to LA, now it’s back home and back to plaiting!

Louie
http://bullwhips.org

Bullwhip Making in a Hotel…

Bullwhip Making in a Hotel…

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I’m currently working on big order of whips and I’m also on the road performing, which makes working on the whips a bit more difficult and slower than if I was doing them at home.

Before I left I swung by David Morgan to pick up six kangaroo skins for the whips that I’m working on while I’m away.  Here are the skins I picked up:

veg tanned drum stuffed kangaroo

 

Before I left for California for 10 days I was going to be at a hotel in WA for one night.  So I had 5 of the skins shipped to my hotel in California and kept one with me.

bullwhip_02

 

Here’s the skin I kept and it was my test skin to figure out how to make a whip in a hotel.

veg tanned drum stuffed kangaroo

 

I’ll post more soon about some of the techniques I came up with to make a whip in a hotel without having to put a hole in their wall for a hook.

When I got to my hotel in California I had the five skins waiting for me!

veg tanned drum stuffed kangaroo

 

Now it’s time to get to work!

Louie
http://bullwhips.org

More Kangaroo!

More Kangaroo!

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I’ve been very busy lately, and yesterday ran up to David Morgan bullwhips to pick up another kangaroo skin.

bullwhip leather

 

One of the very cool things living so close to David Morgan is that I don’t need to keep a huge stock of kangaroo.  I can go up and pick through their stock and find the exact skin I need!  It’s pretty awesome!

Louie
http://bullwhips.org