A flogger is an implement consisting of a bundle of long, narrow strips of leather called falls, mounted on a handle. The handle is usually made of wood. Floggers are popular tools in BDSM play, but floggers have existed since before the time of the Romans. The Roman flogger, called the flagellum, was intended for serious punishment, not scene play. Sometimes the falls were attached directly to the handle and sometimes they were held on by basket-like hoops. The falls were extremely heavy and had metal tips or barbs at their ends that would lacerate or tear flesh from the body. A flogging from such a fearsome implement almost always resulted in either maiming or death from loss of blood. Different forms of floggers appeared in all corners of the world.
Later, Christianity took up where the Romans left off in the construction and use of floggers. The Flagellist sects used a slightly less aggressive tool during prayer and meditation for self-flagellation as atonement for the sins of mankind. Self-flagellation sessions could go on for many hours and often produced a state of religious rapture. Many Flagellist sects appeared during the great plagues of Europe. In later centuries, courts used floggers for punishment and disciplinary purposes,as did naval ships. Those floggers were designed to be every bit as aggressive as the intended punishment required.
Floggers are often seen in modern BDSM groups and at Renaissance Faire events. They are a staple implement that most scene people are quite familiar with. Modern floggers are similar in appearance to those from bygone times, but the objective of their use is far less menacing. They are intended not as weapons but as sensory play tools for erotic purposes. The metal tips or barbs are absent and the falls, which are often fairly light, are not designed to remove flesh. S&M is often viewed by uneducated people as beating the tar out of someone by force, but in modern BDSM, consent is standard and severe injury is not the intent. After all, almost anything can be used as a weapon. Even a pencil can be used to stab or cut. So one needs to use common sense, educate oneself on the correct employment of scene tools, and not wield those tools in anger. The psychological impact that an implement like a flogger produces is a foundation of modern S&M.
Cats are a particular and distinctive kind of flogger. They have various numbers of tails (falls) which are usually braided, either in a round shape or in a flat shape. The cat'o'nine'tails, as the name suggests, has nine tails. The ends of these tails might have tassel-like attachments, animal hair, or leather flaps cut in various configurations. Some cats have what are called snake's teeth, two thin strands of leather protruding from the ends of the tails, and some have a single thin strand called a scorpion's tail or bee stinger. These cats are extremely stingy.
Some cats have knots, commonly called blood knots, on the tails. Some even have whimsical flowers at the ends of the tails. Some cats used in BDSM play have tails made of smooth metal chain rather than leather strips. They are often placed in a refrigerator and then used for very light strikes, creating a completely different sensation.
There are many examples of the cat throughout history. Religiously oriented cats can have tails whose number is the same as the number of stations of the cross or the number of seasons of the year. The number and its significance depend on the religion or ethnic region that the implement comes from. There is no law set in stone as to how a cat should be made, so the construction depends on the tastes of the wielder and the intended application.
The choice of an implement usually depends on the intended use and the manner in which a person desires to deliver or receive a certain sensation. Beauty to the eye and aesthetic taste are typically also components. But spiritual tools have a completely different application and a far more complex set of rules for choosing them.
A metaphor is how some people find more erotic sensation in a spanking then in having their back massaged or scratched—or vice versa. Wielders (those doing the flogging) and floggees (the ones being flogged) are going to have individual preferences in choosing an implement. For general-purpose implements intended to be used on a range of people, it’s important that the wielder feel the flogger is “at home in their hand” and be able to exploit the implement to its full potential.
Sensation and intensity are key components. You can tap someone with a rolled-up newspaper and it will feel great, or you can beat the tar out of him or her with it and most likely get a negative response. Spend the time with your partner to discuss what objective they seek.
A tool that blisters the hand of the wielder when used for an extended duration will certainly be unsatisfactory. An implement should be paired to the body size and strength of the wielder for maximum comfort. Too heavy a tool will strain the wrists and tire the arms. Fall length, if not well chosen, can be insufficient to manipulate for certain movements or can be too long to manipulate, resulting in the falls getting tangled up or striking the wielder. Complicated wielding techniques require close attention to matching them with your body type, size, hand shape and size, and the style you intend to use.
The floggee should also have a say in the matter. Too harsh a tool will exceed the level of sensation a consensual partner desires. Remember—consent is the paramount rule. Hitting someone non-consensually is assault even if done with a wet noodle. The floggee may want to dabble a bit with various tools, especially if he or she is a novice, to discover what sensations they desire. Safewords are essential for this purpose. (A safeword is a simple word that the floggee can say when the play exceeds their tolerance to signal the wielder that the play must stop.)
When people routinely play as a couple, each partner should have some say in the choice of the implement to be used. For a professional dominatrix or for someone who has multiple play partners, moderation in intensity and use of a medium intensity tool should be the choices. There are two schools of thought here: one is to work a light tool harder and he other is to work a hard tool lighter. My taste run towards the latter, but when doing so you need to remain focused and cognizant of what you are doing so as not to get carried away in the moment and cause serious injury. Lighter tools are far safer. The only downside is that if a partner wants more sensation, you need to exert more effort. Whether working professionally or playing with a routine partner, gratification for both people should be the objective.
Floggees who play with multiple wielders really should consider owning their own implements that they are accustomed to experiencing. When you have your own implements, you can maintain and monitor their hygiene yourself. Wielders who play with multiple partners have a responsibility to maintain the hygienic level of their tools or own multiple tools for various partners and keep them clean.
Aesthetics also play a role in our choices. The eye is usually drawn to where it sees beauty. My opinion is that you should first assess the utilitarian aspects of a flogger and then seek the aesthetics, but some will disagree. Everyone is entitled to buy as they see fit.
Lastly, for those who seek a flogger for spiritual purposes, the spiritual connection to the tool is absolutely essential. This connection is more obscure in scene play, but for me a tool has to appeal to my inner feelings about it and be appropriate for the application, time of day, and season of a spiritual session, for the type of person who is receiving the flogging, and for the goal of the spiritual session. The species of wood, its shape and the length and number of falls as well as the hide all play parts in the spiritual aspects. The residual energy in the living material that implements are constructed of has a significant role in spiritual floggings. The energy held in the hand is an amplification of the residual energy harvested from the plant and animal of which the flogger is made. That residual energy and the energy of the wielder become synergistic. Most potential buyers won’t adopt my personal ideology, and I don’t push that ideology on anyone. But if you concur with my beliefs, I will take as much time and care as I possibly can to provide the implement that is most suited to you.
Take the time to feel the symbiosis with your flogger. If you select your flogger carefully and thoughtfully, your first purchase and every purchase thereafter will make you happy. For those geographically close to me, I’ll be happy to spend some time with you and let you handle several tools to see what feels and looks right to you.
That is the eternal question whenever it comes to buying something for someone else. I suppose the best answer is to spend some time getting to know that person and find out how they like to use a tool. Their body size and their aesthetic tastes are also very important.
I will be happy to assist you in buying one of my floggers as a gift. I also offer a virtual flogger gift certificate, where you pay in advance for a flogger of a general or custom type. The person receiving the flogger contacts me to fill in the blanks with the details. It’s always nice to have something physical in your hand on the day you're giving a gift, but a certificate for something personalized is much better than “I went to the corner store and got you a generic gift certificate”. If you know a person would enjoy one of my personalized toys, paying for it in advance and letting them fill in the blanks has a much more heartwarming touch to it.
Spirituality is a very personal matter and far too extensive to explain in a short description. To abridge my account of it would demean the entire philosophy I hold most important. Some day I may write a book about my own personal beliefs, but if you are considering buying a flogger for spiritual purposes, contact me and we’ll discuss your needs.
In my view, beliefs are personal and unique to every person, and I won't impose mine on anyone. I am willing to answer specific questions about my spiritual beliefs privately, where better interaction is possible. In the future I might hold a seminar on my spiritual beliefs, which you might wish to attend if you're interested in matters of the spirit.
Many of my personal implements are spiritual implements custom-made for me by other flogger makers or ones I've made myself. Other flogger makers usually don’t accept my ideology, but a few of them know me well enough to oblige me. Personally I specialize in spiritual implements, but also provide quality work for any other application. I also collect floggers from all over and occasionally will trade pieces for ones I construct.
Lastly, if you are considering buying a spiritual tool, think carefully about what you want to accomplish with it. Remember that my floggers are my children, and the spiritual tools I make are my very special children. I don’t discriminate on the basis of one's religious background, and I always enjoy hearing about other people's connections to implements and beliefs. Ceremonial and ritual tools have been around since the dawn of humanity and will most likely remain with us as long as our species walks this planet.
Though one might assume that everyone already understands why different falls produce different sensations, I still think it would be useful to provide a Floggers 101 explanation of how the sensation one gets from a flogger depends both on the type of hide used to make the falls and the shape of the falls themselves.
Many factors affect the impact of a fall: its velocity, the inertia behind it, the amount of air resistance, the air deflection, and the texture and mass of the fall's material. Its velocity is the speed which which it travels when wielded, its inertia is the momentum and force behind the fall upon impact, the air resistance is the pressure of the air against the falls (which slows them down), the air deflection is what fans them outwards or takes them off track, and the texture determines the amount of friction of the fall against the skin.
Falls made of lighter hides such as pigskin, goatskin or lambskin tend to have less inertia because they have less mass and are more susceptible to resistance and deflection. Wider falls also act like a sail: the air slows them down, fans them outwards, and deflects them off target. You might see that when doing a simple figure 8 movement. If the speed and mass of the falls are too slow and light, they will tend to tangle or kick back to the handle.
Longer falls of lighter material will do that even more so because there is more surface and the momentum needs to be increased to have them track properly. Wider falls that are tracking off course will fan out, dispersing the impact. . Think of dropping a five-pound object that has a fine point versus dropping one with a foot-wide surface. The impact will have less concentrated energy when it’s dispersed over a larger area. With falls, not only do they spread out but often many of them end up not making contact at all.
There is also the possibility that the deflection will cause the falls to land in the wrong place. Increased weight can compensate for deflection and keep the falls on target, but increased weight will also produce a heavier impact. The texture of the falls will either increase or decrease friction, depending on the roughness of the surface of the fall and how it grabs the skin.
People often own different floggers for different purposes and intensities. Not all falls handle the same, so each type requires a different handling to compensate for mass, speed, resistance, deflection, and texture. The floggee is bound to notice the variation of sensation produced by each material and by how the tool is wielded.
Many people equate the sensation of floggers made from lightweight hides to light finger caresses or to a gentle back massage. Traditionally they are used for light wispy strokes and can be extremely pleasurable and erotic in the hands of a talented wielder . Often they are used on more tender parts of the body where heavier tools would generate pain, or are used to warm up areas in preparation for the application of heavier implements. Floggers with very lightweight, wide falls are almost impossible to inflict any trauma with. Having said that, I know someone will cite some Kung-Fu move that will break a brick with such a flogger to prove me wrong, but for the average mortal these are the gentlest implements one can employ.
Hide textures like suede have medium weight but tend to have more friction. Bull hides have greater weight; latigo is hard and somewhat coarse. There are a plethora of kinds of hides, and each kind has a slightly different feel to someone who is discriminating in their awareness of sensation.
Wide falls are usually perceived by the floggee as thuddy and narrow falls as stingy. Thuddy is usually described as like a light punch and stingy as like a light slap. Longer falls have more inertia and feel more intense than shorter ones. Hides themselves, by the nature of their texture, will also deliver various sensations. Grainy or rough hides cause more friction then smooth hides. The way the tool is applied is also a factor, as are the speed of the strokes and the distance the falls travel.
A floggee can reach a point where sensation gets lost because of the numbing effects of natural endorphins. Repeated play can make the skin denser and thicker, so that greater impact is needed to deliver the sensation that the floggee desires. Some common sense must be employed by the wielder so as not to use a tool in a way that real damage occurs. The same holds true for the floggee, who bears the responsibility of letting the wielder know that the level of sensation has escalated beyond a tolerable point. These are commonsense practices, just like it is common sense not to scratch a mosquito bite so hard that it bleeds.
Lastly I’ll touch on spirituality. The shape, length, and number of the falls, the species of hide, and the colors and textures of the entire tool all have spiritual significance. Floggers are an extension of the arm, merging energy from the tool and from the wielder. All play very significant parts in deciding how, when, and why a tool is used, but the topic is too extensive to be explained fully by a brief discussion. Most people seeking spiritual tools have very clear and specific ideas of how they are to be used, and cannot just order them off the rack. I will be happy to discuss the needs you have and address them as best I can to construct an implement to be used for your spiritual purposes. Each of my floggers has some spiritual connection to me and my ideology. My floggers are my children and I make them with love. If you think this is all mumbo-jumbo hogwash, then just remember one thing: I make pretty floggers that work extremely well.
There are some factors in making custom items that are under my control and some that are not. I keep a good supply on hand of most exotic woods, and usually if I’m out of stock my lumber supplier has plenty. However, sometimes someone else goes to my supplier with a big order that wipes out the supply temporarily. Some species are only available at certain times of the year. Imported woods can get hung up in Customs or by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The same holds true with hides. What’s available one day from my supplier may be out of stock the very next day, when I need more. I usually have at hand what I need, but if I don't, I’ll check with my suppliers once I have the order specifications. If I can't immediately get the materials I need to make your toy, I’ll let you know when my suppliers expect to have it.
When I get an order for single pieces that I already have in stock, I usually can ship them to you within a day or two after I receive your payment. Single custom or out-of-stock items require a 50% deposit. Once I have the deposit in hand, it usually takes me 10 to 12 days to manufacture and ship the item if I have the materials on hand that I need. If I don't have the materials, I'll let you know at the time of your order when I expect to get them and when I expect to be able to send you your toy. I usually also suggest a substitution that will be available sooner. If you make a deposit on an item but I can't get it to you by the quoted time and you don't want to wait for it, I'll refund your deposit if you wish. You then have no obligation to buy the item even if it was custom made; it will simply be listed in the gallery as being for sale.
I can fill almost all orders for individual items without any difficulty, but problems can come up if you want 30+ pieces of various types and I’m short a few. I do large orders expediently, but I need to see the actual order before I can quote a delivery time. I can expedite single or multiple rush orders for an additional fee. If you forgot that birthday present, I’ll endeavor to get it to you—but I might want you to pay for the coffee to keep me awake for the extra hours of sleeplessness while I make it. As you’ll see, that is a fair additional cost.
You can pick up your flogger in person, but please keep a few things in mind. If I don’t ship it, tax is applicable—which is out of my control. You need to coordinate with me in a reasonable and timely manner. I don’t mind taking a break to entertain someone who's interested in my products, but I do have other demands on my time so I can’t spend the entire day socializing, regardless of how social a creature I am. Please—if you make an appointment to pick something up and can’t keep it, call and tell me. That is just common courtesy. Also, I can sometimes hand-deliver pieces. Otherwise I ship my toys using Fedex, UPS, DHL or USPS at my discretion.
The answer to this question depends on who you ask. You can of course buy a book like the one Bean has on BDSM flogging, or read the romanticized novels of Ann Rice. Historical accounts of the Spanish Inquisition, medieval torture, the life of British sailors, or the philosophy of Opus Dei will give you some general information about floggers, but not much of that applies to the use of floggers in BDSM. Books can never teach you what you will learn by seeing a demonstration in person by someone highly skilled at wielding floggers.
There are different styles, classical and otherwise, and combinations of those styles and their movements. I couldn’t begin to guess the origins of most of them. If you're wielding a flogger as a theatrical effect, the mechanics of movement will be very different from how you would wield it on living flesh in a BDSM play scene, since the objectives in the two applications are completely different. Most movies about BDSM distort the way that floggers are actually used in BDSM play. They exaggerate and overemphasize blood and gore, ignoring the realities. I stress the word “play” because the objective in BDSM is not to cripple a partner, even though the movies might imply that it is.
The most important aspect of BDSM flogging is knowing how to hit what you're aiming at accurately and correctly. Use your common sense. To arbitrarily start swinging wildly is not going to yield a safe and sensual effect. Even an extreme masochist would probably be upset if you were flogging his back and allowed the falls to wrap around and onto his face, detach a retina, or causing some other horrid result. Take the time to learn how to use the tool you work with properly before you use it on a partner.
To start learning how to wield a flogger, try using it on an inanimate object. I suggest hanging a pillow at the height that a human back or buttocks would be at. Wrap the pillow with suede if you can. Strikes on suede will raise or fluff the grain and show you exactly where you are hitting. The grain can be brushed back down so you can do it repeatedly. Don't practice on hard objects like tables, chairs, or your '67 Chevy. Doing that will never give you the feel of connecting with something like flesh. It will teach you little or nothing, but it will ruin your flogger.
Strike with the tips of the falls, not their length, unless you have a good mastery of the tool and can predict with confidence just where the ends of the falls will land. Wrap is when the tips of the falls land beyond the target area and strike a tender part of the body. A common example of wrap is when you aim at the buttocks but the tips of the falls land on the hips. If that happens, you're probably standing too close to the floggee unless you're wrapping intentionally, and I don't recommend that for novices. Wrap is usually considered a sign of bad technique. Too much wrap on the buttocks could wrap around the hips and catch genitalia. Most people will have a very negative response to that, and you can do damage that’s unintended. Remember that the play partner is supposed to be consenting to the experience.
To get started, use your pillow and start swinging your flogger in a figure 8 pattern sideways so that the strikes land diagonally and cross like an “X”. First develop a fluid motion for your hands and wrists so that the falls are moving smoothly and gracefully. Later on you can try other movements. If you see any sign of wrap, try just swinging at the air, which is also a good approach with a real partner. Slowly walk towards the target, be it a pillow or a person, as you're swinging so the falls just slightly graze the surface of the target area.
Focus and pay attention to what you are doing, just as if you were aiming at a target with a bow and arrow. The objective is consistency in hitting the exact spot you’re aiming at. Later on you can work up to greater speed or add fancier movements. Straight-down strikes are not good for beginners, who haven’t yet learned to control the tool properly. You don't want to hit the spine, wrap over the shoulder or, if you're using an underhand stroke, strike the genitalia.
Many people will say that you can’t learn from a pillow because the pillow can’t give you verbal feedback. Nonsense!! Unless you first learn to control your tool, the feedback you get from a partner may be a punch in the nose or a lawsuit. Think of using a flogger as being like picking up a straight razor you’ve never handled and shaving someone’s neck with it. Almost any object, including a flogger, can be dangerous if used improperly or carelessly.
Learn about the body and what areas are not safe to strike. Spine and kidneys are fairly obvious areas to avoid unless you really know what you're doing and are playing extremely light and wispy in those areas. When you first play with a partner, treat your play as if you're starting from zero. Maintain your focus and caution, and don't get overconfident. Many people prefer single slow strikes with pauses in between, so talk with your partner ahead of time to find out what method or methods are acceptable.
Once you achieve some accuracy you can move on to fancier movements. Fancy movements may not be hard to learn, but employing them with consistent accuracy is an art. It takes practice and dedication, just as anything in life that you want to be good at requires doing the preparatory legwork and getting lots of practice. It's OK to look as cool as Bruce Lee and put on a great show, but make sure that your playmate will survive it and want to play again. I have done many flogging demos, and each time I go through the same rhetoric you’re reading here. If you can learn to do the fancier movements, aim accurately, and stay in sync with your playmate, you’ll dazzle the crowd and be way ahead of any Bruce Lee wannabe.
Fancier movements usually employ two floggers simultaneously. The most well-known fancy style is commonly referred to as Florentine flogging. There are other styles such as drum rolls, Turk style, syncopated, and freestyle that are used by themselves or in combination. Florentine flogging is one of the most rapid striking methods, but some floggees dislike its fast rhythm .
Don't confuse BDSM scene flogging with medieval scourging. If you’re a serial killer or sociopath, please buy your floggers from someone else and seek professional counseling. My toys are only for scene play, theatrical performances, and spiritual use. They are my children and I want them to go to good homes. If you’re seeking a spiritual tool I will be happy to discuss your preferences over the phone or in person so I can make a flogger that suits you. Spiritual use of the flogger is far too complex a subject to explain in this sort of text, but some day, when time permits, I intend to write a book about it.
People beginning to learn about flogging, or BDSM techniques and practices in general, or wanting to broaden their knowledge of these topics should seek out reputable groups like NLA (the National Leather Association), an organization dedicated to safe play techniques for BDSM. These groups often have demonstrations of various flogging techniques given by a presenter highly skilled in them. Ask around. Usually someone who is proficient has a reputation that precedes them and is well known in the fetish community. Most of these people love showing their skills and are generous in educating people for safe play.
Approach flogging without anger. Approach your partner with empathy, love, understanding, and compassion. Those qualities are essential and are the prerequisite to any scene. If you’re working as a professional dominatrix, remember that this is a service-oriented business, so be sure to provide a good service.
Maintain as high a hygienic standard as you can in storing and using your tools. Never toss your flogger on a dirty floor, let it get wet, or use weird cleaning products on it. Most of my floggers come with hanger straps. The name implies the function, so hang them up in a clean area where they can't fall on a dirty floor. People often drop tools on the floor when they're playing and toss them right back in the toy bag. Don't do that!
Keep your floggers clean. If you want floor dirt worked into someone’s skin, then I suppose you’ve got that bad habit down pat. But otherwise, think careful about what you’re using your flogger for. Would you wantonly caress a lover with the bottom of your dirty shoes? Used but clean women’s stockings are great for slipping over the falls. They keep the falls together and prevent them from looking ratty or coming in contact with other implements that happen to be nearby.
Even if you only use your flogger on one other person, clean it occasionally. If you use it on multiple partners, clean it after each partner. I know this sounds like a lot of work and I suppose it is, but so is picking up your laundry off the floor. It goes with the turf of scene play. Some cleaning products can damage leather to various degrees. On request, I can include a test piece of leather with your flogger so you can see prior to using any cleaning product how it will react with the material.
I clean leather falls in various ways, depending on the hide and what problems I have previously encountered with it. Some I UV (ultra violet flash), using the old sun-lamp tanning bulbs from years ago. I set them in another room with a remote switch on the lamp as not to expose myself to the UV radiation. Usually, only the lower few inches of the falls make contact, so I carefully fan them out so the botton 8 inches of all the ends are exposed, flash them with the UV for a few seconds, flip them over, and flash the other side a few seconds. That will kill quite a gamut of nasties. Large water purification systems work in this manner, using UV light projected onto flowing water to kill bacteria. Remember, though, that too much of a good thing is usually bad. Excessive UV radiation will damage skin, and leather is skin. You don’t need a degree in rocket science to think “moderation”.
There are hospital-grade disinfectants with a non-alcohol base that are pricy but very efficient at killing almost anything nasty. 3% bleach in water can work, but it needs to be applied carefully since water, and bleach more so, will damage leather, especially over the long term. Antibacterial soap and water usually damage the leather because they need more saturation and end up being less effective. Alcohol by itself will dry leather out and often leave stains on it as well.
The same holds true with wood handles, which need less cleaning because they are not in the impact area . For wood handles I use antibacterial soap lightly, dry it right away, and then use a polish-like furniture wax or finish oil of some sort. I don't use alcohol because it tends to cloud lacquer and urethane and to remove oil finishes, but I suppose someone will come up with an argument for it.
Treat leather-wrap handles much the same as wooden ones. They shouldn’t be saturated, just lightly cleaned with antibacterial soap. The falls are more critical because they can hold bacteria and, because they are the striking point, can embed bacteria in the skin. Remember that leather is skin and can keep alive all sorts of nasties. If you want to use leather conditioner, try it on a test sample first since some conditioners will stain colored falls.
I normally use conditioners on black sheen side falls. Too much will oversoften the leather, so again use moderation and common sense. If you’re not sure about a chemical, try a test patch and talk to your local supplier for what is available for the job. I’ll help with whatever data I myself have at hand pertinent to a specific product.
You only need to use conditioners when the leather starts to feel dry . Overconditioning the hide will soften it too much. Use common sense and examine the leather. If it seems that the texture of the leather is drier then when it was new, use conditioner a little bit at a time until the leather feels as supple as it was when you bought it. Never soak leather in conditioner.
Lastly, if your flogger is moldy, my advice is to just throw it out. I have yet to find a way to eradicate mold from impact toys that's effective enough so that the mold won't be a potential hazard. These toys don’t go in the washing machine (just in case we have someone who was absent on laundry day).
Normal usage of one of my floggers shouldn’t damage it in any way. But if it does, just ship it back to me for evaluation. If I see no indication of abuse, I’ll either repair or replace your flogger at no cost. If a flogger just breaks for no apparent reason on account of some manufacturing problem, I’ll take care of it for you. For example, if falls come out as a unit and haven't been mangled, or a wood handle cracks or comes apart, I’ll take care of it. If the leather wrappings come off, I’ll repair them. I’m reasonable about repairs as long as you’re not scamming me or doing some crazy thing with your flogger.
For damage resulting from misuse, you absorb part or all of the cost of the repair, depending on the nature and cause of the damage. If you toss your flogger in the washing machine, soak it with fluid, beat the kitchen counter or car hood with it, or mistreat it in some other way like that, my warranty doesn't apply. Evidence of mistreatment might be ding marks all over the handle, broken off or shredded falls, mold, discoloration caused by a wrong cleaning product, or stains. If that happens I'll cut you a break on the actual repair cost or offer a discount on a replacement flogger, but in all fairness my warranty can't cover acts of stupidity or pure carelessness.
Remember — hangers are not wrist straps. They are for hanging your flogger up to keep the falls uncrumpled, clean, and off the floor. They are not for twirling it like a gun. Some flogger makers make short hangers so people can’t put their hand through them, but I feel this detracts from the asthetics. I leave my hangers long and state specifically that they are not intended to be used as wrist straps.
If you want to use the hanger as a wrist strap, I’ll be happy to make you a flogger with a hanger that you can use that way, but any flogger with a wrist strap should have the strap attached with a pin so it won't come out. The floggers with leather-wrapped handles are pinned anyway, but the hangers on the floggers that have handles of exotic wood are set with a resin and are not ordinarily pinned. So if you want to use your flogger for twirling or have any other reason to prefer a wrist strap, I recommend the leather-wrap style, which would be more aesthetic since the wrapping covers the pin. If you still want a wood flogger I can pin it the same way I do the others, but the pin may be visible.
So far I've never had a hanger pull out, but probably some gunslinging twirler will find a way to make it happen. If you want a wrist strap instead of a hanger, please specify that when ordering your flogger. The price of a flogger is the same whether it has a hanger or a wrist strap. If a hanger gets yanked out I'll reset it at no cost as long as it hasn't been abused, or at minimal cost otherwise. If a flogger is made with a wrist strap and that strap is yanked out, I'll always reset it at no cost.
Repairing a custom-made flogger can sometimes take a bit more time than the usual manufacturing time of 10 to 12 days. If the handle is made of a wood that I don't normally have on hand and I have to special-order it, please allow additional time for me to obtain it. The same is true for the falls if I don't have the right hide on hand.
If for any reason the materials used in your flogger are not available within a time acceptable to you, I will offer a substitution. If the materials are not available at all, I’ll let you know what options I can offer. So far I have never encountered that situation, but I feel it’s best to be upfront about the possibility. Sometimes I make a handle from an exotic piece of wood that is extremely beautiful but that even my lumber vendor can't identify, so there's no way to get any more of it. There are also the occasional magnificent hides of types that one rarely sees.
I do my best at hunting down exotic materials, but just as car parts or electronic components can become obsolete and unavailable, there is a small chance that certain trees will no longer be cut or certain hides no longer harvested. I'm more likely to employ highly specialized materials when making a spiritual tool. I will do my very best to guarantee those implements, particularly because of their significance to the owner .
A last note here. If you send me a flogger that is obviously contaminated with bodily fluids and the falls need to be replaced, please cut off the contaminated falls before shipping the flogger back. Do not ship back a flogger that is wet or contaminated in any way. Unless your flogger is clean and dry when I receive it, I won’t accept it. If you’re unsure about possible contamination, please contact me before you send me your flogger. Would you expect to return dirty underwear to the store where you bought it? I’m a fair and reasonable person, so please be fair and reasonable with me in return. If you have any questions I haven’t answered, please contact me either by email or by phone.
I often make tools for people who want to use them for events like Renaissance Faires and at SCA groups. Most of the things I've been asked to make were based on pictures or drawings provided to me, and were intentionally crude-looking. If you’re seeking a medieval-looking flogger for medieval reenactments, just contact me. Whether you want your tool to be regally ornate or crude, I’ll be happy to review the configuration you’re looking for. I'll quote you a price for it and do my very best to bring it to life for you.
I can make floggers to suit almost any need. Even though props are not my specialty, I can produce whatever traditional or bizarre concoction you dream up for your theater or movie production as long as I'm adequately compensated and given enough time to address the need. Whoever manages your prop or costume department should contact me with a sketch of the desired product and when you need to have it. I’ll let you know if I can manufacture it within your time constraints and what it will cost.
No! I include this question because I sometimes get asked it. I only play with people I have developed a rapport and a connection with, and for private reasons. My business is not like running a car lot that offers test drives. If you're looking for a wielder to flog you, I can refer you to various BDSM groups that you can join.