I’m still working on the beginner’s bullwhip that I started yesterday. It’s 7 feet long and in 4 plait leather.
I’ve got the overlay finished, it just needs knots and a cracker. Unfortunately I’m leaving town for a couple of days, so it’ll sit almost finished until I get back.
Louie
http://bullwhips.org
The three Beginner’s Bullwhips that I started work on last week are finally finished!
Two of them have the same knots and one has two tone knots. If someone wanted to learn two handed cracking, they could get the two with the same knots and have a pair that look the same:
I just listed these for sale on my IN STOCK whips page.
Louie
I finally finished and shipped out this snake whip!
Sewing the leather cover takes forever! First you have to mark the holes, then you have to punch the holes and finally you have to sew the cover!
My hands are used to braiding, but the stitching really made them sore!
This whip is in the mail on the way to its new owner!
Louie
http://bullwhips.org
I just finished sewing up the cover for this snake whip:
Sewing the cover took a lot longer than I thought it would. It’s a huge pain to do it, with marking the holes, making the holes, then the actual sewing. I’m glad it’s over.
All that’s left for this whip is to build up the heel knot and put it on. Also there will be a decorative knot at the lash end of the cover.
Louie
I cut out the two 12 plait overlays for the two 3 1/2 foot signal whips and did all of the lace prep. Unfortunately I’m travelling a bit the next few days, so no work will happen on them until next week.
While I was working on the lace for these whips, I started to wonder if leather was compostable. Turns out that a lot of the leather I normally throw away can be composted. I’m throwing away small bits of it from paring the edges of the lace, so that breaks down pretty easily:
The other thing to consider is how the leather is tanned. I mostly use Veg Tanned leather, which means the the leather is tanned without chemicals and is environmentally friendly. However things like Whitehide which is tanned with chemicals shouldn’t go in the compost bin.
Louie
Recently I had someone ask me about the weight of the 3 1/2 foot signal whip that’s currently on my IN STOCK whips page.
I threw it on the scale and weighed it:
It came in at 9 ounces, which feels good when cracking it.
So that I had something to compare it to, I weighed a 6 foot bullwhip:
It came in at 15.4 ounces.
Proportionally the signal whip is much heavier than the bullwhip, which is something you want in a signal whip.
Louie
http://bullwhips.org
The 8 plait bullwhip has been finished and is in the mail to its new owner. Here are a few pics of it:
This was a fun whip to test crack!
Louie
http://bullwhips.org
Today I’ve finished the overlay and knots on this bullwhip:
Here’s a close up of the knots:
I still need to shellac it and roll it a couple more times before I ship it out to its new owner.
Louie
http://bullwhips.org
My current project is working on a 4 1/2 foot bullwhip with a 12 inch handle. I’m using a 57 dm veg tanned drum stuffed kangaroo skin that I got from David Morgan:
This bullwhip will have a core, plaited belly, two bolsters and a 12 plait overlay. Here’s the first bolster sitting on the plaited belly:
And here’s the bolster after it has been tied onto the belly:
I then attached the 2nd bolster (not pictured) and cut out the 12 plait overlay:
Tomorrow I’ll get onto plaiting the overlay.
Louie
http://bullwhips.org
I’m cleaning out my shop and I found a roll of nylon that was almost finished. I didn’t make sense to have the whole roll kicking around that only had enough nylon for about 10 crackers, so I made the crackers.
Crackers are something that it always feels like I’m out, so it’s probably a good thing to have some kicking around.
Louie
http://bullwhips.org