Am 28.08.2017 um 03:29 schrieb Daniel Trout <mach1whips@gmail.com>:
Robby,
Thank you for your time in responding to this.
First of all, I only requested that you remove the links and references to my site. I have no idea what you are referring to in terms of "...As I demanded" in changing the title of any thread. I have "demanded" nothing.
ALSO, I never claimed the whip was sent to Germany for examination. I never mentioned Rachel McCullough nor Wolf Tree Whips, though I read very clearly who did it. I said nothing about that who did the examining, nor the situation which prompted the action taken My statement was simply this:
"While I have no doubt that they wholeheartedly believe the information they present, I can assure you that what they think they know and the truth of the matter are two, VERY different things.
I have personally worked with Bobbi one-on-one, observing her whip-making techniques, and have begun my own exploration of whip making under her guidance, and I can say as a person who has trained with some of the finest whip artists around and has handled whips from some of the finest whipmakers in the world, that the accusations of poor craftsmanship are completely unfounded. I will address that further at a later date, but for the time being, I have a recommendation.
Don't accept the one-sided argument. Give the matter due diligence."
I urge you to contact Bobbi directly to discuss any type of doubts this may instill in you about their longevity, efficacy and construction and let HER address this misconception before sending your whip off to Germany for an exchange in some seemingly gracious "Ring of Trust" endeavor.
If at that point you decide to cancel an order, return a whip, or whatever you deem is best, DO SO THEN...
The statement of "Sending it to Germany" might as well have said "Send it to Abu Dhabi." I don't know the process you use, nor as a non-member of Whip Basics do I really care to. I was simply saying "Before you, a concerned owner of a HolyOak Whips bullwhip, do anything, talk to Bobbi..."
If you would like for me to publicly clarify these statements about "Sending a Whip to Germany," I will gladly do so as I can see how that statement could be misconstrued, especially by folks for whom English, (and especially the American Vernacular,) is a second language.
That stated, I myself attempt to follow considerable due diligence to report fact, and I appreciate your efforts to bring me up to speed on matters I may have not had all the information on. With that honesty and dedication to fact as our common ground, let me tell you what I know.
The whip sent to Mz. McCullough for examination was a $50 children's whip. It was made SPECIFICALLY for a child, not an adult. I have recently handled a similar childs whip that was made by Mrs. HolyOak. I found the craftsmanship to be superb and the handling second to none for what it was. BUT it was a $50 children's whip. It's was a GREAT little whip for a kid, but to expect it to have an identical performance and construction to one of her $300USD Valkyries is as ludicrous as expecting a $150USD Dell laptop to outperform a $2000USD high-end Alienware computer built for a serious gamer.
If this whip was represented to you as anything beyond being a children's whip, similar to the hatband whips, little snappers, or pocket whips that many whipmakers sell as novelties, then you have been mislead, and I genuinely hope that an artisan member of the Ring didn't sell their skill short making a replacement for it that would go for $300 USD retail because that is not fair to them or to the Ring itself.
The artificial sinew binding was not wrapped as tightly for that reason. It was meant to be have good flexibility and flow for a child, not an adult. Based upon the appearance of the core of the whip that Mz. McCollough received, it appears to me that an adult was over-muscling said whip.
That however is pure conjecture on my part, admittedly.
What is NOT conjecture, and what seems to be the whole knot of contention in the your post in Autopsy of a Whip is the "unknown purple material" that you have identified as shrink tubing.
This is an understandable misconception, and as the "Autopsy" was done several thousand miles from you, there was no way for you to closely examine the material, and there is no reason for Mz. McCullough to examine it beyond what you understandably assumed.
The purple material, (an untreated section of which sits here on my desk as I type this,) is indeed a proprietary heat-activated material that has a nylon webbing component as it's base. It will not get brittle, it will not break down as the shrink-tubing for wiring harnesses will.
Beyond that, I know very little else about it, save that the particular diameters and lengths that Mrs. HolyOak uses in her whips were manufactured specifically for her needs. It is not regularly commercially available. As someone who has, as stated, worked directly with Bobbi in beginning my own exploration of whip making, I had the same questions and concerns that you had as I applied it to the core of the whip I was making. The above was explained to me.
The disconnection and apparent "cracking" in the material in the "Autopsy" photos look to me like an abuse issue by an adult, (as previously stated,) moreso that a construction issue. However, that is certainly open to interpretation. I do know that the material is used in all of the Valkyrie, DeLongis Alignment, Sonic Alignment, and Tibetan Wave bullwhips, and having just spent a weekend handling bullwhips owned by Ron Lew, Anthony Delongis, (for whom it is not unusual to be working with a whip for hours at a time every day of the week,) and other previous customers, (my own four HolyOak Whips included.) Not a single one of those whips showed any signs at all of any physical breakdown or loss of flexibility.
And that is where we leave this. The information is there. The facts have been presented on both sides, and I feel we both were lacking some critical details here, so thank you for this productive exchange.
What we choose to accept and/or contest as facts are up to us individually and to Bobbi's customers. I stand by my statements, and if you feel the need to bring lawyers into it, I can and will do nothing to stop you. Nor will I let that deter me in my pursuit of facts, I believe we ultimately want the same thing here, and if you feel the need to pursue the matter legally, so be it.
I also stand by my statements that if anyone in the Whip Basics Community, (you included,) feels that they want divest themselves of their HolyOak bullwhips, I will pay a fair price for them on the condition that they have not been misused or abused. I don't offer it as a slight against you or your colleagues in the Ring of Trust. I greatly respect the idea and the artisans that carry it forward. I merely offer it as an alternative for them to chose from, as I personally feel in this instance you are mistaken. But that is, again, not my decision nor place to make
Thank you for your time, dedication, and civility in this matter.
Respectfully,
Dan
Due to rising costs, dirty deeds are no longer done dirt cheap.
~Management