Bolster material

[salem]

Does anyone know what was used as bolster material in the whips, particularly in the Raiders whip?  The research I've done has led to me conclude everything that was leather was kangaroo hide, except for the fall occasionally, although it looks like Kip might have been used ocassionally. 

I'm looking to buy a whip eventually, but I want it to be as close to the originals as possible. 

Thank you!

[midwestwhips]

The David Morgan whips in the films as well as the ones they still make today use Kangaroo for all of the braided layers (1st belly, 2nd belly, overlay, etc...), and the wear leather, core, and bolsters are either thin Cowhide or Kip, and the fall is whitehide (although some years the morgan shop used redhide instead). This is a pretty standard construction method that the professional american whipmakers have used ever since David came back from a trip to Australia in the 60's and married the American bullwhip design with the Australian methods and materials.

Hope that helps, and if you have any other questions, I'm happy to answer them.

- Paul Nolan
MidWestWhips.com

[salem]

Thank you Paul! That is helpful. In the meantime I have been doing some more research which also helped answer some of my questions. What confused me is some research I have done has said that some whips are made entirely out of roo hide, and I took this to mean the bolsters as well. But after corresponding with some whip makers, it seems that this is generally not favored (at least in the US) because roo is not as convenient to use.

I'm asking not just as an Indy fan but also as someone interested in learning the craft of whip making.

[midwestwhips]

No worries, glad I could help.

Basically making bolsters out of kangaroo is impractical and unnecessary. The whole point of using roo hide is for it's tensile strength for braiding and due to that also it's ability to be cut extremely finely and still be incredibly strong. That is why you can make a 48 plait whip from kangaroo, but you couldn't do that with cowhide as the strands wouldn't be strong enough that thin to be able to braid without strands breaking every plait.

Since I've been in the whipmaking world (about 20 years) it's always been an unspoken standard and generally understood that the braided portions of a kangaroo whip are roo, and the bolsters could be cow, kip, roo, etc... based on the type of whip and the whipmakers personal preference.

The reason you don't see roo used for bolsters very often is that you can't get a straight cut for it to fit the bellies since kangaroo isn't very long. So you'd either have to have inconsistent buckles from cutting the bolster around a sharp curve on roo, or you'd have to spiral the bolster around the belly (which uses more leather and can effect the flow of the whip), or you will have to cut the bolster and splice together the several pieces of it for it to fit around the belly and go the full length it needs to, and those splices can create other inconsistencies that can effect the flow of the whip. With kip and cowhide, the hide is much longer in length than kangaroo, and you can actually cut a straight piece 10 feet long. The kip/cowhide is also very similar in thickness and density as the roo, but because of the structure of the leather fibers it is not as suitable for braiding as roo, but it works great for bolsters.

I have found that usually with stockwhips they are thin enough in diameter and the way they are generally constructed there is no need for kip bolsters really, and sometimes no need for bolsters at all, but usually the filler piece from the other side of the keeper becomes a sort of roo bolster.

So generally for me I use kip or cow bolsters for full size bullwhips. Stockwhips will either have no bolster or a roohide bolster from the filler side of the keeper. Snake whips and signal whips will vary depending on the details of the particular whip.

Hope that helps!

- Paul