Care and Feeding of Your Leather Whip

Having purchased your new pride and joy, you will want to look after it properly.
If looked after properly, your whip should last you a lifetime.

Cracking whips on gravel or any hard, rough surface will chop up the strands and wear your whip out.
Therefore it is advisable to crack on a grassed or smooth surface.

Whips, like any leather object, require periodic greasing to keep the leather from drying out.
This should be done with a high quality leather dressing.
The Thong and the Fall are the parts of the whip that require dressing.
You will only need to grease the Thong every few months, however the Fall may require more frequent applications as it tends to break more easily if it becomes dry and cracked.

Whips should be kept dry and only used in dry weather.
Moisture tends to weaken the leather and when the whip dries out again, they can become cracked.
If your whips should happen to get wet, then let them dry naturally.
Don't try to dry them out more quickly by putting them in front of a heater or directly in the sun as this will also weaken and crack the leather.

All leather will stretch, no matter how well the strands were pre-stretched prior to plaiting them.
The tip of the Thong where the Fall attaches to the whip is the place where you will notice the strands becoming loose.
It is advisable to get the end of the whip re-plaited onceit becomes loose.
If you let them stay loosely plaited, they are more prone to break strands.
If the end of a whip has to be re-plaited because of broken strands, you will lose some inches off the length of your whip which may affect the balance of the whip.
Another part of the whip that may stretch is the Keeper.
The Keeper on the handle can be taken off and replaced, but the keeper on the Thong section cannot be adjusted, so it is necessary when buying a whip to make sure that this Keeper is nice and tight to start with.