heard of Sjambok? anyone

[dustIn credible]

anyone heard of this african semi flexible weapon? if so is it as effective as some of the websites make it out to be?

[acrawford]

yes it is

For one of your very own check out

coldsteels website

[dustIn credible]

do you know if they make a retractable one?

[Mordred]

I live in South Africa, this is an excellent weapon.

It can be made from leather (then its just like a normal whip), or plastic. The plastic ones are very easy to work with and it hurts like hell if you get hit by one.

As for retractable, what do you mean?

[acrawford]

The one they make is rounded, don't know if they have a rectangular model avaiable.

[Romantic]

I've never heard of such thing.

[Reiki]

These are very similar to my dressage whips! :D

I have a large collection of various lengths and construction. My favourites have a solid fibreglass core which is fairly rigid but very bendy with a nice sharp stinger on the end.... they are very painful if you get struck hard with one and can cut open the skin quite easily.

I ride with one in each hand and am getting quite expert with using them independantly while working my horses! :D They are good for practicing some of the watik strikes too!

For a cheap easily available one [that you can buy anytime over the counter] just go to your local saddlery store and ask for either a long dressage whip or a whip used for trotters or pacers in harness racing [this one has a small flapper on the end which you can cut off]. It is much longer than the normal bat type whip used for jumping and hunting etc.

The other type of whip you can get from the saddlers [and which is a lot of fun to play with] is a lungeing whip. These are normally about 6ft long and made of fibreglass with a 6ft whip tail on the end. You can get them in one piece or as one that comes apart in the middle so you can take it n the car. My preference is the one piece ones naturally.

With the stingers cut off any of these could be used as cattle prods [and I in fact have used them for this purpose] but the electric cattle prod is far more effective in getting the cattle to move where you want them too in the yards! ;-)

[dustIn credible]

great idea about the dressage whip........never thought of that

[Reiki]

yes, they're not as thick and substantial as the sjambok appears to be, however being able to get your hand on something similar to the sjambok without a problem with importing it or having problems with customs impounding it may overcome that minor detail!

If you want a thicker whip then buy a lungeing whip and cut off the tail and shorten the staff as and where necessary. The lungeing whips are generally a bit thicker in the shaft and a lot longer than a standard dressage whip.

The other option you have is to find someone who makes whips out of leather and get a custom made one. There are still people making things like carriage whips [similar size/weight/thickness to sjambok] and you may well be able to find one in the UK. There are others in Aust & NZ making bullwhips etc, you can still buy leather stockwhips in NZ and Aust over the counter and in other places like Mexico and Argentina.

I have a nice leather 15ft stockwhip that I bought in Mexico that I used to keep in my office to keep my sales reps in line....... :D

[Jordan]

What is a Sjambok, is it like a boomarang?

[Mordred]

What is a Sjambok, is it like a boomarang?

Go and have a look at the coldsteel website and you'll see a nice description. Its like a whip, but usually made of plastic. Also try giving it a google.

[Nevada_MO_Guy]

What is a Sjambok, is it like a boomarang?

http://www.coldsteel.com/sjambok.html