I am working on another California quirt.
It’s in the design process but I plan to actually start it today. I have found that these quirts are a very good way to try out new designs and techniques. Right now I am working on a new technique that will give me the freedom to do the kind of braided designs that I create on a free standing knot. As far as I know this has never been done before. Well let me rephrase that …. I have never seen it done before. Here is the design photo.
I guess I really am a leather geek. I mean hell I make whips all day long and then when I get home and I can’t sleep, what do I do? I geek out with leather.
This is called a “California Quirt” three different views of the same quirt. The handle design is another late night geek out that I came up with in the wee hours of the morning …. again.
You see I get an idea in my head and I just can;t get it out until I actually do it. Of course that just leads me to another one and the next thing you know I end up with something like this. I really don’t know where the ideas come from they just pop in my head.
While there no doubt where whip designs that looked exactly like the bullwhip through out history, the term “bullwhip” is unique to the cowboys and buckaroos of the old west. As you can see just like whip enthusiasts of today they loved to show off their whips. The bullwhip was introduced to the United States by the Spanish Vaqueros. The vaqueros where the original cowboys. They where also expert raw hide braiders. A talent they also taught to the ranch hands of the old west. Braiding horse tack lariats or raitas and whips was a much needed past time in the old west. As well as a way to pass the time away while watching over the herd. It didn’t take long for the cowboys to match the expertise of the Spanish vaqueros. You can see from the picture that they made some very nice bullwhips. That whip looks as good if not better than some I see being sold now days. I wonder how it cracked? I bet it was a joy. I mean just look at it .The plaiting is smooth and it doesn’t look like it was made of latigo.Most likely it was made out of raw hide. It looks like the junction between the handle and the thong is very stable. From where I sit it looks like a pretty sweet whip. You can also tell that the handle was made out of wood. While this is not true of all bullwhips it was and still is very common. The reason being that it is much faster to make than if you have to braid the handle. The other reason this was a practical design is that small steel rods like those used in fully plaited handles where very difficult to come by in the old west. It was much easier to find a piece of wood you could shape into a handle.
First remember that when using your whip you are in the middle of a sphere that is equal to the length of the whip plus the length of your arm time two. For example, if you are using a six foot bullwhip plus the length of the fall, say two feet and your arm is two feet in length the total space required to safely use your whip without hitting anything is approx. 24 feet. That means you are in the center of a 24 foot sphere. There are ways to use a whip that require much less space but this is the rule of thumb. I have personally seen Whip experts rip lighting off of a ceiling or have the whip wrap around a candle stand on the back swing. In the case of the candle stand the person didn’t even know it until they tried to crack the whip and sent the stand flying across the room lit candles and all. So be aware!
Considering buying your first whip? Well congratulations and welcome to the club, I am not a whip maker and as such I am free to give an opinion that is unbiased. The number one rule is no matter what kind of whip you want, snake whip, bullwhip, stock whip, or cow whip it should be a “quality whip”. You get what you pay for. A cheap whip might be inviting to someone wanting to learn how to throw whips inexpensively. There are alternatives to spending $400 on a whip but in the long run you will always have a good whip with a high resale value. Kangaroo hide is the best material for a whip. It’s the most expensive, and pound for pound one of the strongest materials that can combine strength and beauty. Avoid whips with gaps in the braiding, and lumps in the body of the whip, a good roo hide whip will be consistent.
Well, this is how it breaks down. It’s all a matter of Calculus .I know, I know, your eyes just glassed over and you are about to click on the next whip article. But stick with me for a moment and I’ll try to explain it in a simple way.
Newton’s First Law Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it. This we recognize as essentially Galileo’s concept of inertia, and this is often termed simply the “Law of Inertia”.
In this section I will endeavor to teach you some of the more basic cracks you can do with your whip. You can do all of these cracks with any flexible whip. They are not restricted to a bullwhip. If you haven’t read the whip safety page yet I suggest you do that now. It will come in handy when you are just starting out.
Now I am not the best whip cracker out there. There are others that are so good it boggles the mind . I am still learning I probably will never stop learning. Cus I don’t get much time to practice. I am too busy making the darn things to have much practice time. But I can teach you the basics which will keep you busy for a while.
When a bullwhip cracker snuffs a candle, everyone watching feels a little flip in their chests, a moment of shared triumph, of respect and admiration for the skill of the whip wielder.
This makes it the perfect trick for someone who wants to show off.
Happily, it is easier than it might seem, but it will require practice. Here are a few hints to make the trip to victory a shorter one:
When you are practicing, prepare the floor — candle wax in the carpet is no fun. Put down towels or a tarp. Choose a stable candle stand, not one which will wobble into a fall if you brush it. Remember that this is an indoor trick — a breeze will put a candle out just as quickly as a bullwhip will. Prepare the candle — I’ve found that a slightly longer wick presents a better target and a more dramatic flame without making the stunt more difficult.
The reason I like to mix poly and nylon is because I didn’t like the cracker … or lack there of … that I got from poly. But I loved the non tangle aspect. Poppers made from poly twine will not tangle on the fall when you are doing volleys and other types of trick cracks like nylon poppers will. But they have one big draw back and that is, they tend to wear out really fast. They also don’t give as loud or as sharp of a crack that a nylon popper does. So I decided to experiment with a hybrid of nylon and poly. Turns out it was a good idea. They are nearly tangle free and they have a sharper crack than poly alone.