Peter T

That's excellent! Well done! Pete

G'day Handstitched, I sure admire the effort you are going to in your position as judge. It's great to see and I reckon you'll do a fine job. Yes I have met Brian Nemeth once. He was selling whips at a show in Queensland. Nice bloke. On his website he claims to have made more whips than anyone else in the world, somewhere between 80000 and 100000! I reckon if he hasn't made the most then he's got to be in the grand final! That's a lot of whips! Hope you enjoy your new whip. Pete

Nice work, Buck. I like the pattern in the braid too. Pete

That is quality! Beautiful work, Leatherpownder. Pete

G'day Handstitched, There are two main things you will need to judge the whips on. One is how it looks and the other is how it performs. All the things said so far are good things to look for with the plaiting side of things. Also look for even width of strands. Uneven strands will lead to either gaps in the plaiting or twisting of the seams. Sounds like you've got an eye for quality so you shouldn't have too much dramas there. Not sure of your experience with whipcracking, but give them a crack. Having entered quite a number of whipmaking comps, how the whip performs is critical to the result. It doesn't matter how good or fancy it looks, if it doesn't crack well then it's not much good. I've seen some very finely and beautifully plaited whips not place highly or at all in some comps due to the fact they didn't perform as well as other whips. Hope this helps. Enjoy your judging experience! Pete

That's an intriguing tool. I wondered whether it has the capacity to bevel as well. Does the top bit spin around so that the other end, which looks like about a 45 degree angle, is next to the blade? pulling a string along that looks like it would give a 45 degree bevel. The plate under the top bit looks like it might be able to move up and over towards the blade if the side wing nuts are loosened. That would change the angle of the bevel. I really like seeing what sort of things people come up with to do a job. Thanks for posting the pictures, Buck. Have fun, Mike. Pete

Thanks Johanne. I've never held classes as such, however I occasionally have had people come around to my place to have a look at how I go about it. If you were able to stop by, I'd be more than happy to help you out if I can. How close to Brisbane are you? As for cutting lace, I definitely don't cut by eye which is good news for both of us! I do sometimes use my thumbnail as a guide when I'm cutting strands for bellies and some overlays otherwise I have some tools I use. Either way I purposely cut wider, stretch the strands, split them then trim to size. Here are the tools. I made the lace cutter myself. Other products around will do the same job. I'm pretty comfortable with this one, though. It suits the methods I use. The metal tool in the middle is a hand splitter. A real beauty. The knife is a cut throar razor that I put a handle on. Also great. The pegs are what I use to trim to size. I have a whole set of these I've made up from 10mm down to 1mm in 0.5mm increments. Doesn't have to be pegs. I've used all sorts of bits of timber for the job. I made a whip while I was camping once and just used a stick off the ground that I cut the notches in with my pocket knife. The photo will give you a bit of an idea how I use it, although I would usually hold the peg with my left hand and use my left thumb to keep the strand where it needs to be rather than taking a photo! Hope that helps... Pete

Leatherpownder, the core is all kangaroo hide. I make it by cutting long, teardrop shaped piece of roo that starts around 10mm at the keeper end. About 9 or 10 inches down it will be its widest point. How wide is determined by how thick I want the final product to be (I usually cut it at around 30-35mm). It then tapers down to a point. How long it is depends on the length of whip you want but as a guide, for a six foot thong it will be about 4 foot. I then bevel the edges to a feather edge and grease it up ready to roll. I want it fairly slippery at this stage. At a point about halfway down I use my fingers to start folding one edge in until I can roughly roll it across to the other edge. When it is rolled over, I wrap a thin piece of roo lace around it a couple of times and run this up and down the entire length which rolls it all up into a tight, solid core. If all goes well, the rolling is pretty easy but sometimes it doesn't want to play fair so there's a bit of mucking around to get it right. I hope that makes sense. What you end up with is a tight, solid core of roohide that will determine the overall shape of the whip as all the other layers just build on that shape. Pete

Wow that's awesome. What a great prize. Pete

When my work is slipping when I roll it, I sometimes use brown paper. I find it gives some extra grip for rolling, making it easier especially down the finer end of a whip. I have a whole roll of it and just tear off a length and put it over my board (a 2 1/2' by 1 1/2' piece of laminex kitchen benchtop) and tuck the ends of the paper under the sides of the board. I have also tried using Rosin (the powder that sportspeople put on their hands for extra grip). A bit off a light dusting on the board a roll away. I prefer the brown paper, but I know others that prefer the Rosin. Pete

Nice bit of gear, Knothead. Happy birthday! Pete

Nice work, Mike. Incorporating the horse hair is a great touch. I'll bet your daughter loves it. Pete

Welcome to the forum. Thanks for showing your work. It looks great. I have never used rawhide myself but I really like seeing what yourself and others can do with it. Pete

Thanks again for the kinds comments, everyone. Buck, the patterns are all in the braid. The only time I have ever used interweaves have been in some turks heads on handles. Not on those whips though. Pete

Thanks Ifoo. The strings at the keeper end of the thongs start at 1.25mm. They taper out to 2mm at the swell (9 inches from keeper) and stay that width all the way down. The handles start at just over 1mm and taper to around 3mm or so for 24 strand handle and just over 2mm for the 32 strand handle. I split all strands to around 0.5-0.6mm for these finer whips. I love how kangaroo hide has the strength to allow the strings to be cut so fine. Pete

Thanks for your kind comments, everyone. Much appreciated. Joe, I had not heard of Linville so I looked it up and it's only a couple of hours from here. I was 13 in 1988, living in Brisbane and also went to the World's Fair (Expo '88). From a whipmaking point of view, it's a shame you're not still there as there are so many talented whipmakers in this region that are willing to share their knowledge. You would be familiar with some of them through the Australian Plaiters and Whipmakers Association. I also started with Ron Edward's books, but have certainly benefitted from the wonderful craftsmen around here and in turn am more than happy to share my experience as well, for what it's worth. I know it's not always easy over the net, but if there's any way I can help you, fire away and I'll do my best. Pete

G'day All. Here are some stockwhips I made recently. The lighter coloured whip (natural and whisky) is a 24 strand thong and handle and is 6 foot long. The darker one (saddle tan and brandy) is a 24 strand thong with a 32 strand handle and is 7 foot long. All kangaroo hide, of course. Pete

Awesome work, Leatherpownder.

Those reins you do really do look great, Leatherpownder. Nice! Pete

Getting the base knot straight as Brian suggested is also the way I do it and would recommend giving that a go. Drawing a line to use to keep your work straight also sounds like a good idea and could be useful to help get the base knot straight. Pete

That's a pretty cool bracelet. Nice. Pete

G'day Brian, You've done some really tidy braiding there. Even if it was just a little crooked it would spoil an item like that but you've got it spot on. I also like how the edges of your strands are laying nice and flat. So much tidier than if strands aren't bevelled. I really like your attention to detail. Nice work, Brian. Pete

I know the lost in time thing. I can never really accurately answer that question when I'm asked how long it takes to makes some of the whips I make. I have started a few times to keep track of the hours but get so lost in time I forget to write it down! But that's one of the beauties of whipmaking for me. I appreciate and respect your work and craftsmanship, Bernie. Pete

Beautiful work, Bernie! Thanks for showing. Pete

Nice!! Hope it goes well for you. Pete