A bullwhip is a single-tailed whip, usually made of braided leather or nylon, designed as a tool for working with livestock or for competition cracking.
Bullwhips are pastoral 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, toward the end of the throw, part of the whip exceeds the speed of sound—thereby creating a small sonic boom.[1] The bullwhip was rarely, if ever, used to strike cattle, as this could inflict damage to the animal.[citation needed] Instead, the whip was cracked near the animal to startle and guide them, encouraging movement in the desired direction.
The cracking sound is of a sonic boom. This is most likely the first item used by humans to go faster than the speed of sound.
The bullwhip should not be confused with the stockwhip, an Australian whip also used to control livestock but having a somewhat different structure.
History
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, like "cow-whips" during the slave trade, it was used as a weapon, or that it arrived there from Spain, but Roman mosaics[2] and earthenware[3] dating to around the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD 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.[4]
During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as rural economies became increasingly mechanized, 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 later 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 featuring whips, such as Raiders of the Lost Ark,[5] led to an increased interest in whip cracking as a hobby and performance art, as well as a competitive sport.[citation needed] Whip cracking competitions focus on the completion of complex multiple cracking routines and precise target work; although other whips are also used in such competitions.
Whereas, in times past, the bullwhip was designed for one basic, main purpose, modern whip makers design their whips for different specific purposes and to suit different throwing styles. Regardless of their intended end use, all bullwhips have certain common features.
Description
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 or nylon, 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, although with fewer plaits. Lower-quality whips may have no bellies at all, and are sometimes stuffed with materials such as newspaper or electrical tape, 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 sometimes completely covers the handle.
The handle is usually short, being between 20 and 30cm (8 and 12in) long. While some whips have an exposed wooden grip, others have an intricately braided leather- or nylon-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. Nylon handles usually have a Turk's knot at the end and may have a loop; they also might have a pattern thanks to nylon being available in many colors. 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, with a handle of 25–35cm (10–14in), 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. Bullwhips range in length from 1 metre (3ft) to very long bullwhips of 6 metres (20ft), with some examples being even longer.
A fall is a single piece of leather or nylon cord between 25 and 75cm (10 and 30in) in length. It was traditionally made to be replaceable due to the extreme stresses the very end of the whip was subjected to as it was "cracked". In lesser-quality whips, the fall can also be a continuation of one of the strands used in plaiting the overlay, or it 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 aren't replaceable, and thus are seen as impractical.
A cracker, which is part of a bullwhip or stockwhip.
Tied to the end of the flexible fall is an even more flexible piece called the cracker, popper or "cat-tail". Some sources state that the cracker is the portion of the whip that makes the loud noise known as the sonic boom. A whip will create a cracking sound without a cracker, but the sound will be much less loud. It has been suggested that the frayed end of the cracker may cause more fibers to move at supersonic speeds, increasing the likelihood of a sonic boom. It has also been found that when a whip is cracked, the cracker moves in an arc at the end of the whip. Instead of moving smoothly as the end of the whip up to the cracker does, the cracker suddenly flips around the end of the whip, amplifying the acceleration experienced there. This flipping motion is necessary for a sonic boom to be produced by the cracker. Cracking a whip causes wear to the cracker, and well-used whips frequently require new crackers.[6][7] Crackers can be made of horsehair, twine, string, nylon, polypropylene, silk, polyester or any number of materials. There are several methods of tying the cracker to the fall, usually using a lark's head knot as the basis, since it tightens on itself when the whip is cracked, reducing the chance the cracker will slip from the fall and fly off.
Bullwhips come in many different weights, materials, and designs. Some light whips use shot-loading or lead weights for balance. While 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, where leather is difficult to maintain (hence the name "Florida Cow Whip"), but have recently[when?] gained in popularity because they are less expensive than leather. Formerly 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 could previously only be achieved with rawhide, which is much harder to work with.
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.
Software cracking is an act of removing copy protection from a software. Copy protection can be removed by applying a specific crack. A crack can mean any tool that enables breaking software protection, a stolen product key, or guessed password. Cracking software generally involves circumventing licensing and usage restrictions on commercial software by illegal methods. These methods can include modifying code directly through disassembling and bit editing, sharing stolen product keys, or developing software to generate activation keys. Examples of cracks are: applying a patch or by creating reverse-engineered serial number generators known as keygens, thus bypassing software registration and payments or converting a trial/demo version of the software into fully-functioning software without paying for it. Software cracking contributes to the rise of online piracy where pirated software is distributed to end-users through filesharing sites like BitTorrent, One click hosting (OCH), or via Usenet downloads, or by downloading bundles of the original software with cracks or keygens.
Supersonic speed is the speed of an object that exceeds the speed of sound (Mach 1). For objects traveling in dry air of a temperature of 20 °C (68 °F) at sea level, this speed is approximately 343.2 m/s. Speeds greater than five times the speed of sound (Mach 5) are often referred to as hypersonic. Flights during which only some parts of the air surrounding an object, such as the ends of rotor blades, reach supersonic speeds are called transonic. This occurs typically somewhere between Mach 0.8 and Mach 1.2.
A sonic boom is a sound associated with shock waves created when an object travels through the air faster than the speed of sound. Sonic booms generate enormous amounts of sound energy, sounding similar to an explosion or a thunderclap to the human ear.
A braid is a complex structure or pattern formed by interlacing three or more strands of flexible material such as textile yarns, wire, or hair. The simplest and most common version is a flat, solid, three-stranded structure. More complex patterns can be constructed from an arbitrary number of strands to create a wider range of structures. The structure is usually long and narrow with each component strand functionally equivalent in zigzagging forward through the overlapping mass of the others. It can be compared with the process of weaving, which usually involves two separate perpendicular groups of strands.
A whip is a blunt weapon or implement used in a striking motion to create sound or pain. Whips can be used for flagellation against humans or animals to exert control through pain compliance or fear of pain, or be used as an audible cue through the distinct whipcrack effect. The portion used for striking is generally either a firm rod designed for direct contact, or a flexible line requiring a specialized swing. The former is easier and more precise, the latter offers longer reach and greater force. Some varieties, such as a hunting whip or lunge whip, have an extended stock section in addition to the line.
A lanyard is a length of cord, webbing, or strap that may serve any of various functions, which include a means of attachment, restraint, retrieval, activation, and deactivation. A lanyard is also a piece of rigging used to secure or lower objects aboard a ship.
A leash is a rope or similar material used to control an animal by attaching it to a collar, harness, or halter. In British English, a leash is generally for a larger animal, with lead being more commonly used when walking a dog.
The cat o' nine tails, commonly shortened to the cat, is a type of multi-tailed whip or flail. It originated as an implement for physical punishment, particularly in the Royal Navy and British Army, and as a judicial punishment in Britain and some other countries.
A quirt is a short whip associated with the Southwestern United States. It often has a braided leather lash.
A crop, sometimes called a riding crop or hunting crop, is a short type of whip without a lash, used in horse riding, part of the family of tools known as riding aids. This can also be commonly used in abusive ways, but used correctly can have good outcomes for both the rider and horse.
Florida crackers were colonial-era British American pioneer settlers in what is now the U.S. state of Florida; the term is also applied to their descendants, to the present day, and their subculture among white Southerners. The first crackers arrived in 1763 after Spain traded Florida to Great Britain following the latter's victory over France in the Seven Years' War, though much of traditional Florida cracker folk culture dates to the 19th century.
Georgia crackers refer to the original American pioneer settlers of the Province of Georgia, and their descendants.
Rebenque is the shared name in South American Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese for a type of whip used by gauchos in South America.
The eye splice is a method of creating a permanent loop in the end of a rope by means of rope splicing.
A bullocky is an Australian English term for the driver of a bullock team. The American term is bullwhacker. Bullock drivers were also known as teamsters or carriers.
Cracker, sometimes cracka or white cracker, is a racial epithet directed towards white people, used especially with regard to poor rural whites in the Southern United States. Although commonly a pejorative, it is also used in a neutral context, particularly in reference to a native of Florida or Georgia.
Whipcracking is the act of producing a cracking sound through the use of a whip. Used during livestock driving and horse riding, it has also become an art. A rhythmic whipcracking belongs to the traditional culture among various Germanic peoples of Bavaria, various Alpine areas, Austria, and Hungary (Ostorozás). Today it is a performing art, a part of rodeo show in United States, a competitive sport in Australia and increasingly popular in the United Kingdom, where it crosses boundaries of sport, hobby and performance.
A stockwhip is a type of whip made of a long, tapered length of flexible, plaited leather or nylon with a stiff handle and thong able to pivot along the handle easily. Stock whips are used when rounding up cattle.
Cracker, crackers or The Crackers may refer to:
String is a long flexible structure made from fibers twisted together into a single strand, or from multiple such strands which are in turn twisted together. String is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects. It is also used as a material to make things, such as textiles, and in arts and crafts. String is a simple tool, and its use by humans is known to have been developed tens of thousands of years ago. In Mesoamerica, for example, string was invented some 20,000 to 30,000 years ago, and was made by twisting plant fibers together. String may also be a component in other tools, and in devices as diverse as weapons, musical instruments, and toys.
↑ Krehl, P.; Engemann, S.; Schwenkel, D. (1998). "The puzzle of whip cracking - uncovered by a correlation of whip-tip kinematics with shock wave emission". Shock Waves. 8: 1–9. doi:10.1007/s001930050093.
↑ Bernstein, B.; Hall, D. A.; Trent, H. M. (1958). "On the Dynamics of a Bull Whip". The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. 30 (12): 1112–1115. doi:10.1121/1.1909473.
Conway, Andrew (2005). The New Bullwhip Book. Loompanics Unlimited. ISBN1-55950-244-4.
Morgan, David (March 2004). Whips and Whipmaking (2nded.). Cornell Maritime Press. ISBN0-87033-557-X.
Dante, Robert (Oct 2008). Let's Get Cracking! The How-To Book of Bullwhip Skills (1sted.). R Dante. ISBN978-1-4404-0623-2.
Edwards, Ron (1999). How to Make Whips. Cornell Maritime Press. ISBN0-87033-513-8.
Morgan, David (2007). Whips of the West. Cornell Maritime Press. ISBN978-0-87033-589-1.
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