This is a sort of follow up article to my earlier posts entitled The Development of the Kelley Nylon Bullwhip and Mo’ Guts = Mo’ Better. I want to highlight that the Kelley line of nylon bullwhips has undergone some changes in 2009; changes that I hope people will find to be an improvement on my design. I highlighted the internal improvements in Mo’ Guts = Mo’ Better, but in this post I want to highlight one of the external changes I have made.
My earlier bullwhips featured the tapering twist that is common to Florida cow whips. This can be seen on some of the remaining bullwhip pics I have at cowwhips.com. Being a maker of cow whips, when I started making bullwhips I kept this method because it was familiar to me and I didn’t feel the need to change it at the time. (You will notice that Krist King’s bullwhips also have a tapering twist and not a fall hitch.)
When I started making nylon stockwhipsback in February, I wanted to make them as traditional looking as possible so I went with the fall hitch design. After I finished that first stockwhip, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to start doing the fall hitch on the bullwhips and snakewhips as well. Since March, Florida cow whips are the only whips I make that feature the twisted tail. At this time I am slowly replacing the older bullwhip and snakewhip pictures on cowwhips.com to reflect this change.
For those who liked the older design, do not despair, I will gladly make bullwhips, snakewhips, or stockwhips with the twist of the customer prefers it. So far the new change has been received well. And while I haven’t done it so far, if someone wanted a cow whip with a fall hitch, I don’t have any problems with doing that.
As a whipmaker, I find that even though I’ve been plaiting over 18 years, I never stop learning. One thing I hope to accomplish with these and future improvements is to add value to my products. I have always made it my goal to provide top quality nylon whips at prices that are hard to beat. Speaking of hard to beat prices, be sure to check out my July Bullwhip Sale if you haven’t done so already!
-Rhett
www.cowwhips.com
aker by the name of Joe Driver. Joe is one of my best friends and the only person I’ve ever allowed to come over to my house for the purpose of learning how to make whips. He’s done plenty of custom orders and a great deal of wholesale work as well. Joe is also a pastor, school teacher, and a dedicated family man. Before taking a break from whipmaking a few years ago, Joe had made over 700 nylon whips.
