Australian Stock Whips and Australian Bull Whips are most commonly made of Redhide or Kangaroo Leather. Each of our whips are individually handmade, strand by strand, one at a time, each with their very own personally.

In Australia, the whip is a cattle working tool. The cattle are not actually touched by the whip, it is the loud cracking noise that gets the cattle moving.

Materials:

Redhide Leather...Redhide leather is actually cowhide, specially tanned for whip leather, it is very serviceable and less expensive alternative to kangaroo leather.

Kangaroo Leather...Kangaroo leather is the ideal choice for whips, it is the strongest animal hide in the world, noted to be four times stronger than cowhide. However it is expensive, due to the small size of the hides and Australian regulations for harvesting Kangaroos. Kangaroo leather is less than 1/16" thick, so a lot of time is spent in building bellies underneath the whip to obtain the required shape and thickness for the whip.

Construction:

A whip consists of the handle, the long (the main body of the whip), the fall (the leather strip at the end of the thong), and the cracker (a nylon piece at the very end that aids in making the cracking sound). In a stock whip, the handle is a separate piece, with the thong attached by a strip of leather. In a bull whip, the handle is integral with the thong.

An Australian whip is made by braiding strands of leather (plaits) around a central thong. The more plaits in a whip, the stronger and more flexible it will be.

The central thong is a strip of leather, except in the case of lead loaded whips, where the central piece is made of connected lead beads. The lead beads add weight, which allows the whip to move faster and create t louder crack.

Measurement:

Bull whips are measured from the base of the handle to the end of the thong. The whip fall and cracker add about another 3 feet to the length.

Australian stock whips are measured differently to bull whips. The measurement stated is the length of the whip thong only (center plaited piece). A 7 foot stock whip will measure approx. 11 foot total length including the handle and the whip fall. Generally the shorter the whip the better control you have; the 7 and 8 foot whips are the most popular, but our whips can be custom made by our Australian craftsman up to 25 foot long.

Australian Bull Whips

Australian Bull Whips are available in either Redhide or Kangaroo leather. The length quoted on bull whips includes the handle in the length, the whip fall will add another 2 1/2 foot to the length quoted. Example a 7 foot bull whip will measure approx. 9 1/2 foot total length. Bull whips can be custom made up to 25 foot and in 8, 12 or 16 plait.

Special sales prices apply to in stock items only!