Handmade Bullwhips by Louie
Here’s a whip that came in for a repair. I needed a new keeper and some knots taken out of the fall:
I started by removing the old keeper and string:
and a new keeper was put on the end of the stockwhip handle
then it was a simple task to untie the knots from the end of the fall:
Now this whip is back in cracking shape!
I finished the six whips, and my hands are sore! They came out great, here are the stock whips:
And here’s all six of the whips:
It always amazes me how much time is saves to make things production line style. Cutting out three of every thing at the same time and doing the same physical action three times in a row really make a project like this go quickly.
-Louie
I’ve got six whips to make, three stock whips and three bullwhips. All of them are going to be made from veg tanned drum stuffed kangaroo in natural tan color.
The three bullwhips are going to be more labor than the stockwhips, so I’m getting started on those first.
Hoping to bust my butt and get all six whips done in a couple of days.
-Louie
This was a fun whip repair that came in! This stock whip’s leather keeper had broken and it’s owner did a quick self repair by tying a knot to make it semi functional.
When I was contacted, I asked if they had a picture of it before it was broken so that I could try to match what it previously had, and unfortunately they didn’t. I did a little bit of research and found some samples of what I thought it might have looked like before and this is one the owner thought looked the closest.
The picture above is from Whips and Whipmaking by David Morgan. It’s an amazing resource, and if you don’t have it, you should get it!
I replaced the leather for the keeper and retied everything.
Also while I was working on it, I removed the knot that was in the fall and gave it a hit of Pecard Leather Dressing. This whip should have many more years of cracking in it!
-Louie
Changing a fall on a whip is pretty easy all you need in addition to the new fall is a knife, a blunt fid and some Pecard Leather Dressing.
The first step is to slip the new fall onto the lash of the whip.
If the final strand of the fall hitch is tucked under the end of the fall, pull it out.
Next, take the fid and loosen the fall hitch a little bit. Normally you won’t need to loosen it too much, and untie DO NOT the fall hitch.
Loosen all of the hitches.
Then stick the fid into the eye of the old fall.
You will cut out end off the old fall hitch with the knife. I use the fid to protect the lash of the whip from the knife.
Then pull the old fall away from lash, through the fall hitch to remove it.
Take the new fall and feed it through the fall hitch.
Keep pulling till it’s almost all the way through.
Retuck the final strand on the hitch through the eye of the fall (If that’s how it was originally) and then pull the fall against the fall hitch.
Retighten all of the strands in the fall hitch
Now all you need to do is put a new cracker on it and you’re good to go!
*You are following these instructions at your own risk. *
If you would like me to replace a fall for you, contact me for current pricing!
I just updated the IN STOCK WHIPS PAGE! These are whips that are already made and ready to ship out once payment is made!
This page is updated whenever one is sold, so it’s what’s listed is always accurate!
Click on over to the IN STOCK WHIPS PAGE and see what I can ship out right away!
-Louie
I’m based in the Seattle area and every now and then I get someone asking about learning to crack whips. One of the nice things is that I can meet up with them at a park and teach them the basics.
The bonus is that I have a lot of different whips, you can try cracking a lot of different style and you can see the difference between a bullwhip and a stock whip, or bullwhip with an 8 inch handle and a 12 inch handle.
If you’re in the Seattle area and would like info about some whip cracking lessons, hit me up!
-Louie