Several times in this blog I’ve mentioned a whip made by Bernie Wojcicki. It was made a year or two before he died and is, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful whips he ever made. I came across the whip when the owner, whose name I do not know, posted a picture of it on a Redditt whip forum. I’ve offered to buy it from him a couple of times with out any luck.

My friend and fellow whipmaker, Matt Galizia, saw one of the posts I had made and made this whip using the photo as a template. Being the kind and generous fellow that he is, he then sent the whip to me. He’s also a little sneaky. We correspond frequently but he never said a word about it. It showed up in my mailbox one afternoon and I was absolutely stunned. This is the third time he has made and sent me whips he has made. One of the others was a copy of a Wojcicki whip I bought used off of eBay a few years ago and the third was an experimental whip done entirely in diamond plait, a very tedious plait that is very difficult to drop strands in.

I don’t remember how long the original was but the one Matt sent me is 7′ 9″. The original is of course made of kangaroo and mine is paracord. Both are green and black and both are almost entirely plaited in a gaucho braid. I’ve only been able to keep that braid going for a foot and a half before my brain fries. Bernie’s whip ended in an 8 plait, You can’t trim paracord down, of course, and so in order to keep the tip of the whip small, Matt had to drop down to a 4 plait. It is also pretty tricky to drop strands fromthe gaucho plait.

Matt engraved a heel cap with my name and the date he made the whip. He also engrave my initials on the ferrule.

It’s a beautiful whip and I am humbled by Matts craftanship and friendship.

Here’s the photo from Reddit of Bernie’s original whip.

Here is the whip Matt made.