Working on a 6 foot bullwhip while watching a documentary that’s projected on the wall by my plaiting hook.
This allows me to watch the movie with my periphery vision while keeping the plaiting as my main focus
-Louie
Handmade Bullwhips by Louie
Working on a 6 foot bullwhip while watching a documentary that’s projected on the wall by my plaiting hook.
This allows me to watch the movie with my periphery vision while keeping the plaiting as my main focus
-Louie
One of the nice things about living in the Seattle area is that I can visit the crew up at David Morgan!
They are my main source for the veg tanned, drum stuffed kangaroo that I use for my whips. The cool thing is that they let me dig through their stock, so I can find exactly what I need for the whip I’m planning on making!
If you ever get a chance to swing by their shop, the “shop bullwhip” is one of the best looking Indiana Jones style bullwhip I’ve ever seen!
It makes sense that their Indy Bullwhip is amazing as David made them for the movies.
-Louie
Here’s a swivel handled bullwhip that recently came in for a repair. The first thing is needed was to have some Pecard Leather Dressing put on it as it was pretty dry. Once the bullwhip had drank that up, I could start to deal with the reason it was sent it, it needed a new point and fall.
I also n0ticed that the heel knot was non-existent and it was just the knot foundation leather, so I got the OK from the owner to replace that as well.
Here’s the whip with the new fall hitch and redhide fall attached:
And finally here’s the bullwhip with the new heel knot:
This whip just needed a little bit of love (aka maintenance) and it’s back out there cracking!
-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
The person who ordered the hunt whip thong from me a bit ago liked it and just ordered another one. This one is five feet long, where the previous one was six feet. Here’s the core before it’s cut out:
And the core after it’s cut out:
This whip will have a little bit of a swell belly, so you can see that in the core’s shape. Here’s the completed interior layers:
Finally work get started on the outside:
This whip will have an 8 plait whiskey colored kangaroo overlay:
I’m glad the customer liked the first one enough to order a second one!
-Louie
It must be the season for fixing whips, here’s a swivel handle bullwhip that needs it’s point replaited and a new fall.
I’m pretty familiar with this whip, well not this exact whip, but this style. It’s the same as the very first whip I ever bought. Originally it would have had the shorter and wider Texas style fall, after talking with it’s owner we decided to go with the more modern Aussie style fall.
It was fun to test crack this whip!
-Louie
This wood handle bullwhip recently came in for a repair. Besides being coiled up way too tightly and very dry, it needed the point to be replaited and a new fall put on.
On a little side note, please do not store your whips coiled up like this. For a well made whip, coiling it tightly like this may put some memory into the whip causing it to be less accurate and puts unnecessary stress onto the lash.
I coated it with some Pecard Leather Dressing and let that soak in for a couple of days. Then I replaited the point and added a new redhide fall and the whip is good to go!
I offered to redo the transition knot, but the owner wanted to keep the original one. This is back in the mail today, and has a lot more whip cracking life in it!
-Louie