goodeknight said:
Anyone here have *both* a Todd's whip and a high end whip?
Yes. Among others, I have a second-generation 10' Todd's as well as a 9' Del Carpio 'roohide - his David Morgan style. I bought the Todd's purely for review purposes.
If you are signed up for IndyGear's Club Obi-Wan, the thread is here:
http://indygear.com/cow/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=47898
Todd's whips have gone through three phases. At first they were purely decorative, and you might get one or two cracks out of them before they exploded, revealing the paper inside.
The second generation was apparently made like a "real" whip with leather bellies and bolsters. The whip was shipped bone dry, with super-thin leather that felt like paper to the touch:
Todd's 10' Whip by
inexorabletash, on Flickr
The weighting is terrible - ideally you want the balance point of a whip to be several inches forward of the handle. On this whip the handle weighs nothing so the balance point is a couple of feet down the thong. This means that throwing the whip takes a terrific amount of energy.
The fall is also extremely heavy, so that the base of the fall is heavier than the end of the thong, and not particularly aerodynamic.
Shortly after acquiring it I was spending time in sunny Oregon and over the course of two days melted about 4 oz of leather conditioner into the whip which it drank up thirstily, also giving it a nice suntan:
Todd's 10' - 2 weeks later by
inexorabletash, on Flickr
This made the leather feel much better, but the weighting is still terrible. I've also swapped on a leftover lighter fall. The end result is a whip that I can crack but don't take very seriously. You have to crack the whip, rather than the whip cracking itself. It's a nice length, and fun for wraps, but it is NEVER the whip I reach for at first.
In contrast, here's my Del Carpio, fresh out of the box:
9' "Heritage" Roo-hide Bullwhip by Bernardo Del Carpio by
inexorabletash, on Flickr
It's aged quite nicely since then.
Anyway, in terms of recommendations, I've said this before: if you just want a belt hanger, Todd's are fine. Assuming 8', if you only have $100 to spend and want something to crack, you don't have many other options and they will work but you're getting what you pay for. If you can spring $200 you can find a great nylon whip or maybe score a cow-hide. Once you hit $300 you can find some makers who'll do a nice 'roo-hide overlay, and at $400 you're entering "real whip" territory, although the prices still go up and you may be paying for the name rather than the quality.