Braiding Fine Leather: Techniques of the Australian Whipmakers

Designed to help the beginning leather braider acquire basic skills in a straightforward manner, this book shows readers how to braid simple projects fairly quickly. With close attention to detail and a little practice using the methods described here, novices can produce attractive and enduring items from either precut lace or from a skin or side of leather.

Leather braiding was developed in Australia in whipmaking shops. The craft had been carried to Australia by thongmakers from England, who were familiar with the thongs used on finely braided carriage whips. Kangaroo leather, one of the finest leathers available for braiding, provided the material for high-quality work, and a large and discriminating market in Australia led to improvements in techniques. Using these highly refined techniques and providing complete instructions and clear closeup photographs showing each step in the process, David Morgan has created an excellent book for those who want to learn to braid leather.

A metallurgical engineer by training and occupation, in the 1960s Morgan became interested in Australian braided work made from kangaroo hide. With his wife he set up a part-time mail-order business selling a variety of Australian imports. In the 1980s he made the whips for the Indiana Jones movies, and he has been making them ever since. By 1990 he had abandoned metallurgy to run the mail-order business full time. He is now following an interest in the historical aspects of cattle-working whips.