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Extensive Definition
A bullwhip is a single-tailed whip,
usually made of braided leather, which was originally used as a
farmer's tool for working with livestock.
Bullwhips are agricultural tools, traditionally
used to control livestock in open country. A bullwhip's length,
flexibility, and tapered design allows it to be thrown in such a
way that, towards the end of the throw, part of the whip exceeds
the speed of sound - thereby creating a small sonic boom.
Many modern "sport" whip crackers
claim that the bullwhip was rarely, if ever, used to strike cattle,
but this is a matter for debate.
The origins of the bullwhip are also a matter for
debate and, given the perishable nature of leather, are likely to
remain so. Difficulties in tracing its development also arise from
regional and national variations in nomenclature. There are claims
that it was developed in South America where these were also used,
as well as 'Cow-Whips' during the Slave Trade as weapons, generally
in North Carolina, or arrived there from Spain, but Roman
mosaicshttp://www.vroma.org/images/mcmanus_images/nenning7.jpg
and earthenwarehttp://www.vroma.org/images/mcmanus_images/colchester2.jpg
dating to around the second and third century A.D. show what appear
to be tapered drop-lash whips, rather than the two-piece whips
often associated with the Romans and other ancient cultures. Given
that the same basic design appears in several primary sources, it
seems likely that this is not a stylistic coincidence but a
depiction of a design of whip in current use at the time the
articles were made.
During the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, as
rural economies became increasingly mechanised, demand for all
types of whips diminished. By the middle of the 20th Century,
bullwhip making was a dying craft, with only a few craftsmen left
making good quality whips.
In the latter half of the 20th Century, attempts
to preserve traditional crafts, along with a resurgence of interest
in Western performance arts and the release of films such as
Raiders of the Lost Ark (in which the hero, Indiana
Jones, uses a bullwhip as both a tool and a weapon), led to an
increased interest in whip
cracking as a hobby and performance art, as well as a
competitive sport. Whip cracking competitions focus on the
completion of complex multiple cracking routines and precise target
work; although it should be noted that other whips, apart from
bullwhips, are also used in such competitions.
The bullwhip is still used for herding cattle in
countries such as the United States, South America, Australia. But
in countries such as the UK, where other types of whips were
historically used in agriculture and transport, modern public
perception of the bullwhip most commonly whips that are easy to use
for long periods of time, has enabled a new generation of whip
makers to become established, producing whips that move away from
the traditional heavy bullwhip towards lighter, whips that can be
used for long periods with great accuracy and without causing undue
fatigue. Such whips have become popular in the sport whip cracking
world, enabling participants to push the limits of complexity in
their routines and enabling increasing numbers of women and younger
people to take up whip cracking as a hobby.
Whereas, in times past, the bullwhip was designed
for a single specific purpose, modern whip makers design their
whips for different purposes and to suit different throwing styles.
A few whip makers will refuse to sell bullwhips for specific usage,
such as for BDSM, or as weapons. Regardless of their intended end
use, all bullwhips have certain common features.
Anatomy of the bullwhip
A bullwhip consists of a handle section, a thong, a fall, and a cracker. A wrist loop may also be present, although its chief purpose is for hanging one's whip on a hook. Aesthetically, it finishes the handle.The main portion of the bullwhip's length is made
up of a braided body or thong. Made of many strips of leather, the
number of braids or plaits is an important factor in the
construction of the whip. Often the thong is multi-layered, having
one or more "bellies" in the center. Quality whips have at least
two bellies, made of braided leather like the surface of the whip,
though with less plaits. Lower-quality whips may have no bellies at
all, and are sometimes stuffed with materials such as newspaper
which will break down with use. Unlike in the Australian stock
whip, the thong connects in line with the handle (rather than with
a joint), or even engulfs the handle entirely.
The handle is usually short, being between 8 and
12 inches long. While some whips have an exposed wooden grip,
others have an intricately braided leather covered handle.
Leather-covered handles usually contain a butt foundation, which is
held in the palm of the hand when cracking, and can have a wrist
loop, used for hanging the whip at the end of the day, not for
putting around the wrist during use. Some handles swivel, making it
easier to do certain types of unsophisticated cracks but making it
harder to do others, or to use the whip for any type of accurate
targeting. The Australians introduced a longer handled bullwhip to
the US, where the bullwhips traditionally had shorter handles. The
longer handled whip (handle of 10-14 inches) functions like a cross
between a stockwhip and a bullwhip, and is referred to as a "Target
Whip."
Bullwhips are usually measured from the butt of
the handle to the end of the plaiting of the thong. The thong
typically terminates at a fall hitch - a series of half hitches
that neatly tie the replaceable fall (or tail) to the whip. Whips
range in length from 3ft to very long bullwhips of 20ft with some
examples being even longer.
A fall is a single piece of leather between 10
and 30 inches in length. It was traditionally made to be
replaceable and to take the wear and tear of dragging on the ground
when on horse back as it is much easier to replace a solid piece of
leather than to re-plait the whip. In lesser quality whips the fall
can also be a continuation of one of the strands used in plating
the overlay or the fall can be an extension of the core of the
whip, with the strands from the overlay tied off, and the core
continuing on as the fall. But these types of falls do not allow
for replacement and thus are not practical.
Tied to the end of the flexible fall, is an even
more flexible piece of string or nylon cord or wire called the
cracker or the popper or the lash. Some sources state that the
cracker is the portion of the whip that makes the loud noise known
as the sonic boom,
but this is misleading (see "whip
cracking" for details). A whip without a cracker will still
make a sonic boom, but it will be less audible unless you are
standing directly in front of it. The cracker functions to disperse
the sound so it can be heard more easily. Cracking a whip causes
wear to the cracker, and well used whips frequently require new
crackers. Crackers can be made of horsehair, twine, string, thread,
silk, polyester or any number of materials. There are several
methods of tying the cracker to the fall, usually using a larkshead
knot as the basis since it tightens on itself when the whip is
cracked, reducing the chance the cracker will slip off the fall and
be sent flying into the air.
Bullwhips come in many different weights,
materials, and designs. Some light whips use shot loading or lead
weighting to affect their balance. Though usually made of strips of
leather, nylon whips (often using paracord) have become popular
-- they were initially developed for use in the wetlands of Florida
specifically, where leather is difficult to maintain hence the name
"Florida Cow Whip" but have recently gained in popularity because
they are less expensive than leather. In the old days in America,
regular cowhide, rawhide and oxhide leathers were most commonly
used for the construction of bullwhips because they were readily
available. They tend to be quite thick and sturdy and are good for
harsh conditions. Some whip-crackers doing target work prefer a
whip made of kangaroo
skin and Kangaroo hide is preferred by whip makers because it is
many times stronger than cow hide and can be cut into fine, strong
laces allowing for more intricate braiding patterns that in the
past only could only be done with rawhide, which is much harder to
work with.
Use as hunting weapon
A Canadian Inuit named Simon
Tookoome is an expert bullwhip handler and has used it to hunt
ptarmigans, caribou, and to kill a wolf:
- "Tookoome took the advice to heart and began hunting bigger animals [than ptarmigans] with the whip, even after his family acquired a rifle and a snowmobile. He took down several caribou, and once even used it to kill a wolf that he had shot and injured. He kept the whip with him because operating a rifle was too expensive."