This is whip #85. It is a 6-foot kangaroo hide whip that started as a natural, undyed hide, but when I put the shellac on it the edges of the lace turned black for some reason. I think that maybe the shellac was old, but it may have had something to do with the strands, I don’t know. Anyway, I stripped off the shellac and it is now a saddle tan whip.

In spite of that, it is a very nice, flowing, easily cracked whip. the dye gave it a weathered look that I like. It has 2 bellies and two bolsters covered by a 12 plait overlay. The diamond plait handle has an 8-inch steel rod as a core. The fall hitch is 8 strands. The fall is 24-inches and is made of whitehide. It has a polyester twine cracker.

Here’s the whip before the knots and the shellac

Here is the damage the shellac did.

Here’s the whip after the dye. The black is still visible but it doesn’t look nearly as bad as it did. Obviously, this whip won’t be for sale. It was a good lesson, though-always make fresh shellac and test it on some scrap strands.