Flogger Balance - What Does It Mean?

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Flogger Balance - What Does It Mean? - 7/2/2008 7:25:40 AM

Elegant

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What does "balanced" mean and why is a balanced flogger important?

Balance is the point at which the weight of the handle equals the weight of the tails. Balance is important so that when swinging the flogger with the hand on the middle of the handle it does not work the wrist too hard. A properly balanced flogger also enables to Top to lay the lashes more precisely on a desired location on the body. The handle and the turkshead knot or other finishing embellishment on the end of the handle counterbalances the falls.

What material is used to balance a flogger. (I've heard people use lead shot or lead tape) Lead shot or lead tape is often used to counterbalance a flogger. Heavier handle material, washers, large to medium nails driven into the other end, anything you can do to add enough weight to properly counterbalance the lashes can also be used.

How do you tell that a flogger is well balanced?
The most common point of balance is in the neck of the flogger. The neck is where the lashes attach to the handle. However it is less important that the point of balance always be at the neck than it is that the point of balance be consistently in the same part of the handle on all your floggers. It is that consistent placement of the point of balance that makes a consistent throw easier. This creates muscle memory and makes it possible to throw the flogger the most accurately with the least amount of stress on the wrist, arm and shoulder. If the point of balance is one forth the distance from the neck to the end of the handle in all of your floggers then you are still going to have the same benefits as if they were all in the neck.

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RE: Flogger Balance - What Does It Mean? - 7/2/2008 7:48:54 AM

Leatherist

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Correct. And the farther back in the handle the counterwieght is-the better the balance-and the less wieght to have to move.

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RE: Flogger Balance - What Does It Mean? - 7/2/2008 7:51:52 AM

sub4hire

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The real key is to find a perfectly balanced flogger that doesn't cost you 600. Most floggers are incredibly cheaply made by people who are making them for looks.

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RE: Flogger Balance - What Does It Mean? - 7/2/2008 8:06:49 AM

MsStarlett

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AMEN! Wish I knew how to move my posts from "Care & Feeding of Floggers" over here. (I didn't really mean to thread jack)

If you don't think balance is important - try USING one that is not properly balanced. I've got a chain mail flogger that is great for the intimidation factor, but useless in a practice. The heavy metal 'tails' hurt my wrist just picking it up. It looks great hanging on the wall. But that's about all it's good for - decoration!

< Message edited by MsStarlett -- 7/2/2008 8:11:15 AM >

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RE: Flogger Balance - What Does It Mean? - 7/2/2008 8:13:21 AM

Leatherist

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quote:

ORIGINAL: sub4hire

The real key is to find a perfectly balanced flogger that doesn't cost you 600. Most floggers are incredibly cheaply made by people who are making them for looks.

Mine are usually under 250, that's for a round braid cat. They only get pricey if someone goes insane over the amount of falls-or the detail work. But I am working on methodologies of production that will keep quality high while reducing man hours. My tooling will allow me to produce these in about half the time it used to take-with better results.

You simply cannot do the details of these in "hobbyist mode" and not expect them to consume vast amounts of time.

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RE: Flogger Balance - What Does It Mean? - 7/2/2008 5:29:28 PM

MasterErrant

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I agree substantially..save about all your floggers having equal balance. I shift the balance based on what it's for. i like handle heavy for light fast high repitition toys...like cats and thin latigo.
andfall heavy on really big heavy toys especially those which are capable of real damage.
(like a flat braided four plait cat of 9 oz. bullhide done wet and "Tight" I won't even sell em to someone I havn't seen in action.)

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RE: Flogger Balance - What Does It Mean? - 7/7/2008 7:03:02 AM

Taboo4Two

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Balance in two forms needs to be taken into account when making a good flogger.

Static balance is easily checked by holding the flogger in your hand as you would normally use it (as Elegant said). In this position the handle and the tails should feel equal if your goal is 50/50 static balance.

Dynamic balance is a bit trickier to test for since a flogger is such a dynamic device. My simple, hands on, test is to flog the air in a cris cross pattern. If you feel a tremendous pull away from you (like the flogger is trying to rip itself out of your hand) you have a dynamic balance problem. If the flogger feels like the tails are "too light" you have dynamic balance problem.

I'm on the same page as Leatherist about shifting the weight back in the handle to improve balance. Lengthening the handle works as well, for a whole bunch of geeky engineering reasons, but is difficult to do to a flogger that you already own.

A quick comment on MsStarlett's chain flogger. It sounds like you have a dynamic balance problem. The heavier tails (chain = very very heavy when compared to most leather tails) need a lot of weight on the end of the handle to make them feel right. The problem is that you sometimes wind up with a flogger that weighs 5 pounds. The balance is great but it will still wear you out because of the extra weight.

Good floggers have excellent static balance, GREAT floggers have excellent dynamic balance.

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