Why Leatherbeaten?

I guess this question comes down to "what's the difference between Leatherbeaten gear, and the stuff I can buy cheaper from this guy at the Munch?"   It's something we come across a lot, so I'm going to try and answer it . 

The first and most obvious thing that springs to mind is that our gear is a lot better than that of the average, or even the average "above average" crafter.  I know I'm going to get irate emails from the crafting community for that, but honestly, trust me, I know.... Why should that be? 

Well, as professional leatherworkers, we have access to much higher quality material, for one thing.  Most local crafters buy leather where they can get it, and what they get is what they have.  It may be a load of old brown split from buddy's attic, it may be a cut up skirt from the seventies, or a load of moose off-cuts from the hunting supply place.  It's not generally the best quality leather.  Because it's not their full time job, they don't invest the time, effort or expense involved in searching out the right leathers needed to create specific sensations.   We do.  That is our job. We use leather from Canada, for preference, but where that's not possible (don't get me started on the decline of tanneries in this country), we bring leather in from all over the world.

 For another thing, we have access to better tools, which are crucial to making quality gear.  Our flogger tails are cut using heavy custom made dies that ensure uniformity of width and straightness.  Most crafters use scissors, or exacto knives.  Most of our braided whip lashes are cut by hand, because we haven't managed to find a die that can cut light leathers into 30" long strips, 3/16" wide.  We have the equipment to do that, and it allows us to produce those exquisitely tight, thin, nasty braids on the Scourge and Nikita.  I have yet to see the crafter guy who can work to those tolerances.

For yet another, we know how to put it together in a way that will last.  Our floggers are made using the most secure construction method possible.  It's not the cheapest, but it's the best.  We never use sharp metal in any of our gear, either, unlike most crafters, so you won't be seeing upholstery tacks dotted along the handles, or screws or nails holding down the lash and pommel knobs.  Why not?  Because brads, tacks, nails and screws can work out.  Not only that, but they can tear the leather, where the leather is stressed - and that's why they are there in the first place.  We use the older, slower methods; slow curing shoemakers' glues, seizes, whipbindings and tight cover knots, that ensure our gear isn't just called "built to last", it actually is built to last.  And it does.

Then, we are aesethetic fetishists.  It can't just feel good, it has to look good.  With one or two exceptions, every single thing we make looks sleeker, more intricate, more exciting than anything the average crafter makes.  Again, because it's our full time job to think that way, we have the time to do so.  We're not desperately trying to throw something together in the basement on a Friday night with one eye on the ball game, after a hard week at work.  More than that though, it's because we know how we want our gear to look, and we know how we want you to look at it - mouth open, tongue lolling out, beginning to drool... Many crafters don't seem to realise that the turk's head knots on whips and floggers are functional, not just decorative.  If they did, maybe they'd take more care over them.  We have probably the widest repertoire of cover knots in the business - one of our reference works has instructions on almost 5,000 different knots and an entire chapter on the Turk's Head and variants!  We always use the right knot for the piece, be it simple Turk's Head, or the more complex Gauchos and Pineapples, and they are not allowed to be loose, slippery or ugly. 

The next most obvious thing to spring to mind is reliability.  Leatherbeaten has come to be a respected brand name, because over the last decade we have worked hard to earn that respect.  We sell to some of the finest fetish shops on three continents.  You can trust our work, and you can trust our commitment to maintaining our reputation for quality.  Our warranty against defective construction or materials is unconditional.  If there's ever a problem with your Leatherbeaten piece - and in almost ten years, that's happened once - we will repair or replace it immediately.  We've been around for a while, and we're not planning to disappear anytime soon.

Finally, to address the question of cost.  Why is Leatherbeaten gear more expensive than the local crafter guy's?  Oh no, look out - here comes another rant!!  I said before that we are professional whipmakers, and that's true.  This is our full time job - how we pay the rent and utilities, how we buy clothes and food.  Been a while since we took a holiday, but if we did, this would be how we paid for that too.  Because of that, we value our time and labour.  We have to - it's our sole means of support.  We work on average at $15 - $20 per hour: not very much, but it's pretty much what the market (you lot) will bear.  Now, your average crafter guy has a full time job, and only makes toys as a hobby or sideline.  His materials are cheap, or free, and he usually works from home.  Not needing to make a proper wage from the toy crafting activity, he doesn't value or charge for his time.  For people trying to make living at this game, it's like having China in your backyard - the quality's not very high, but the labour costs are next to nothing, and there's no freight charges!  It's hard for the full timers to compete with that, except by highlighting our quality.  The home crafters claim their gear is as good as ours, just cheaper. I do understand the pride of achievement that makes people say things like that, but, in fact, it's not true. 

Whipmaking is like shoemaking.  For best results you should know what you're doing, and use the best materials you can.  Next time you're perusing a home crafters wares, just ask yourself if you would trust this person to make you a pair of shoes, or if you'd rather pay a bit more, and get a pair that fit....

Okay - that's my rant over, for now.  If you are interested in reading on, this next section is about how we make our utterly fabulous whips, floggers and unique flagellators....

The basic distinction, in our dictionary, between whips and floggers is that whips have braided lashes, floggers have flat tails.  Multi tail whips and floggers are, in general, modified clubs.  Whips tend to have more sting than thud, floggers the reverse.

Flagellators extend the thud - sting spectrum into more unusual and / or unexpected directions.  The Penitents are typical examples, modelled on items designed by humans for use either on other humans or on themselves.  They tend to be smaller, more visually interesting and lighter to use than whips or floggers.  They create extremely localised sensations of intense sharpness.

Leathers
Goatskin is strong, thin and light.  Braided, it lands with a sharp intensity that bites right on the skin's surface.  Deerskin is heavier with more softness in it.  It braids thicker, has more bounce in the swing, and lands heavier, creating a gorgeous tingling sensation deep down in the muscle.  If goat is a cane, deer is a paddle.  Both leathers sound beautiful when swung - the deer hums and the goat whistles. They make a fine choir. Cowhides vary immensely in texture and feel.  For example, our oitan flogger is super harsh and astringent, whereas the bullhide is a lot heavier, but also a lot softer.

Our whips are glued and whipbound in the traditional manner. Bindings are secured, and covered by decorative pineapple knots, which are essentially two different Turk’s Head knots interwoven in an overlapping pattern. We generally finish the tail ends with a simple but firm hitch knot, which leaves four mini 'falls' after the knot.. For an extra charge, any of our braided multitail whips can be finished with round terminal wall and crown knots or with leaf tips.

The Balance Thing
When people get together to discuss the finer points of whip/flogger construction, they talk more rubbish about balance than anything else. I have even heard one flogger vendor - I suspect not flogger maker - telling a prospective customer that the best way to judge a flogger is not by how it's balanced, but by how long the tails are.   As long as you get the right length, he figured, the acual construction of the thing was irrelevant.  That, ladies and gentlemen, is palpable bollocks and ought to be stamped out, vigourously.  So here is Stoker Bob's balance rant.  Some parts (ok, most) have been omitted to keep the length manageable...

The balance of a whip (or flogger) is a function of the interplay of the lashes, the handle and the user.  If the tails outweigh the handle, it will behave like an energetic dog running away with its owner, and the user will get a stiff arm, pretty quickly.  If the handle outweighs the lashes, the whip (or flogger) will be difficult to throw and  control.  It'll be like pushing a piece of string uphill, but perhaps less amusing.  Ultimately, there is no perfect balance point - the ideal will depend on where the user likes to hold the handle  If you enjoy pushing soggy spaghetti uphill, or walking amphetamine crazed psychotic Rottweilers past daycare centres at lunchtime, you should probably be talking with the flogger vendor mentioned above, rather than us.  We  weight our whips and floggers so that the balance point lies an inch or so behind the upper knot, which seems to work perfectly well for most people.

Ergonomics
Very important.  We want our whips to be comfortable in use, even over extended time periods.  So we build our handles gradually, layer upon layer, making sure there is 'give' in the grip, before we put on the final overlay.  This gives you a handle which absorbs some of the impact of use. There are many pretty handles out there that are very finely braided onto a chunk of metal pipe, and consequently very hard in, and on, the hand.  There are even more that are not very nicely braided onto a chunk of metal pipe, and these are equally hard on the hand.  I'm happy to say that none of these is made by Leatherbeaten.  Recently we have branched out on the ergonomic front and are now offering versions of most of our heavier whips on flexible cored handles.  This reduces the weight on the hand, and increases the kinetics.  It does affect the balance; the way to deal with that is to hold the piece by or close to the pommel knob, and throw it like a singletail.

One last note
If you have a specific design in mind you would like to have built, drop us a line for a quote.  We'll be happy to oblige.