Is it better a Kangaroo leather whip or cow hide one? Undoubtedly Kangaroo leather is better.
Kangaroo leather braided whips have better performances vs cow hide whips.
This is due to kangaroo leather characteristics: it is strong, tensile, flexible and abrasion resistant. Due to these features kangaroo leather is strongly recommended to plait tightly and realize a good, durable and reliable whip.
Source: https://www.held.de/79-3-Pelle-di-canguro.html
For all these reasons top of the range sporting goods like professional football boots and motorbike suits and clothes are made up of kangaroo leather: in these contexts the quality of the leather is a must!
Like I always say ‘The proper context enhance the product”.
Consequently an honest and professional whipmaker will strongly recommend kangaroo leather whips. They are ideal to be used in every circumstance and contexts – including ‘interpersonal’ context where safety is never too much !
This is not a personal point of view but it’s objective.
Be wary of those whipmakers who sponsor cow hide leather and declare that cow hide leather is equivalent to kankaroo leather or, even worse, who state that cow hide is better than kangaroo leather.. just to sell you their cow hide whips!
Before going into details, I’d like to highlight I love cow hide leather. I’m fond of its smell, texture, consistence and shades. it’s ideal for luggage, fashionable clothes and accessories (bags, belts, pursuits..) but not for whipmaking where strength and flexibility are mandatory to have a great and performing product.
Kangaroo leather is a necessary but not sufficient condition to have a good whip… the choice of whipmaker will make the difference!
Kangaroo leather has four main features that make it the best leather to braid whips: strength, softness, tightness and lightness.
STRENGTH: kangaroo leather is 10 times stronger and resistant to be stretched than cow hide. Tensile strength is crucial in whipmaking.
The more the strands are plaited tightly the more the whip will perform well.
As a matter of fact a strong and compact overlay will keep together all the layers of the whip (core,bolters and plaited bellies).
The whipmaker thanks to kangaroo leather will be able to stretch and plait tightly and strongly. If the whipmaker uses cow hide he won’t be able to stretch forcefully the strands.. otherwise the strands will break especially when the strands get thinner.
If a whipmaker plaits a 12 strands cow hide whip he will have to use much less force to braid and, as a consequence, the whip will be loose, with an overlay not firmly tight and its performance will be low.
For these reasons you won’t find cow hide whips with more than 12 strands and also in this case these whips won’t be as good as kagaroo ones!
Due to cow hide weakness, the whips that are made of this material have less strands than kangaroo whips – ie no more than 12 strands – otherwise they will break during the making process. On the contrary kangaroo leather whips can have a huge number of strands – till 72! – providing intricate and beautiful fantasy pattern to the whip!
SOFTENS: kangaroo leather consistency and texture will help the whipmaker both during the preparation of the set and during the braiding process.
(Thong Comparison: 32 Kangaroo Plait & 6 Cow Plait )
TIGHTNESS: kangaroo leather fibre is very compact, strong and tight.
All these characteristics are fundamental to make a good whip: from the cutting of the strands to the braiding of the whip.
After the cutting of the kangaroo laces, each strad will be stretched, resized, splitted and bevelled.
During this process kangaroo strands maintain their strength without unravelling unlike cowhide leather
LIGHTNESS: this feature together with kangaroo leather strength will allow the whipmaker to make various plaited belly without creating an heavy and thick whip contrary to what will happen if using cow leather.
Here below two interesting links:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kangaroo_leather
https://www.held.de/79-3-Pelle-di-canguro.html
Giovanni Celeste