....whips in stock. That is to say that, whilst a
stock whip may (or may not) be in stock, the phrase 'stock whip' refers to a particular type of whip, and not the possibility that it is a finished whip ready to send out. If you order a whip from the '
stock whips' page, then that whip is made to order. If you order a whip from the '
in stock' page - and that may or may not be a stock whip, depending upon what is
in stock - then that is a finished whip, ready to send out.
This seems to be pretty clear to me, looking at the relevant pages, but maybe it is less clear to people who are new to whips. Certainly, we had some mild panic recently, when a theatre company rang up on the day they needed the whip they thought they had ordered from stock but which, at that moment, was somewhere between here and Australia. As it turned out, I was able to supply a more suitable whip and get it to them in time for their press night that evening.
The moral of this story is that, if you're in a hurry - and especially if you are not very familiar with the world of whips -it is always better to make personal contact before placing an order, so that you can discuss your intended use and get the best whip for your needs.
Is it really a month since the last weblog entry? Well, the last two weeks have been largely written off from a work point of view, thanks to another virus; but I will be back in the workshop again today: plaiting bellies and dying leather. Inspecting for leaks, as well, because the wind was pretty wild this morning. This was/is the worst storm of the winter, apparently; and the back porch roof has leaked in some style.
I am, once again able to access the server on my website, so there will be no more lists of 'in stock' whips on this blog. Bookmark
www.whipstore.com/whipsforsale.htm and keep checking there - new whips generally arrive every three weeks or so, and any that aren't ear marked for customers will end up on that page.
Is This You?I have 2 customers awaiting white hide whips. I have questions for you, about your orders, and need to get in touch; but can get no reply to emails. If you are waiting for a white hide whip, and haven't received it, please get in touch!
Recent WhipsIt will come as no surprise that nothing has gone out in the last couple of weeks, but there should be whips shipping this week. Here here are one or two interesting pieces, however, from previous weeks.
The first 'whips' I ever sold were floggers and rope tawses - for want of a better word. I don't make many floggers these days. Unless somebody wants one made specifically for them, it seems better to leave flogger making to the various people out there who specialise in them. Every once in a while, however, somebody does want something a little special.
This flogger was made with around 35 heavy falconry leather tails. This is unstuffed vegetable tanned roo hide. I wouldn't usually use such leather for whip making because, in the substances requires for fine braiding, it is significantly weaker than the leather I usually choose. If you can find a very clean skin it is, however, superb for floggers. Really good heavy skins are a hard to come by at the moment, and the best come undyed. This skin was a real beauty; and a pleasure to work with. I dyed this leather several times to get the tone I wanted. It may look black on your screen but it is, in fact, a very dark brown. The handle has a 12 strand braid in dyed whip leather, with pineapple knots at either and a hanging loop for storage. Well balanced; a nice flogger.
What the customer said: I received the flogger on Tuesday and it is everything I expected; so well worth the wait. Both myself and my partner are very pleased.
Here's something completely different. These are often regarded as 'Pakistani' whips mainly, I think, because that's where this pattern seems to come from these days. There are, however, occasional examples that seem to be of European origin, and are of a much higher standard. This was not one of the very poor whips one most commonly sees, but I don't think it was one of the old European ones, either. It certainly had some age to it. This was evident from the condition and weakness of the leather. The original whip maker had adopted a novel approach to tapering the whip: the core was made of strips of leather of progressively narrower diameter, nailed - yes, nailed - together.
By the time I received the whip, the leather was extremely weak and dry. It must have had reasonable strength originally, being fairly thick and having no repairs in the section I unbraided but lack of care, time, and use in the wrong places had left it with myriad cracks. After a lot of conditioning, some
very careful braiding enabled me to tighten the the last couple of feet of the thong but leather was simply too weak for a fall knot at that point. In the end, I shortened the whip still further, gave it a long heavy fall, and tied a slightly different style of fall knot that placed less strain on the lace. This enabled me to pull just hard enough to get a secure knot. The resulting whip was, somewhat to my surprise, extremely accurate and easy to crack.
What the customer said: Very pleased with what you have done with that whip, it cracks nice and loud. 
This is the first of a new line of Australian snake whips. These will be held in stock on a regular basis from April; and represent excellent value for money. It's a 12 plait whip, neatly finished and very easy to crack. I am, at present, taking orders for these at £115 including UK delivery. You won't find a better 12 plait, 4 foot snake whip anywhere near this price in this country.
What the customer said: Whip arrived safely this morning and I am delighted with the quality of workmanship. It's a great product and I can crack it straight out of the box every every time; and I only had a few hours training last Sunday
Latest NewsI have, once again, closed the order book for my own whips in order to concentrate on existing orders. You can, however, continue to order Australian whips of all types. As with the snake whip above, these whips are chosen for the high performance they offer at an excellent price. Delivery times are typically 6-8 weeks.
