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Crack That Whip /
hen Cameron Cato was a child, the crack of a whip piercing the morning air was as common as the lowing of cattle on his family’s 15-acre ranch in Summerfield. By the age of 4, he had learned the art of whip cracking and soon learned that for him it was “a God-given talent.” By 9 years of age, he had begun to plait his own whips, and as he practiced over the years, he became so good that four out of the last five years he has been named the Florida Whip Popping Champion at the Florida Ranch Rodeo State Finals and Cowboy Heritage Festival in Kissimmee. He was even flown to California in 2012 to appear on the Nickelodeon television show Figure It Out. Cameron, who is a 17-year-old student at Lake Weir High School, has been selling his handmade cow whips for many years, mostly advertising through word-of-mouth, although he now hands out business cards for “Cato’s Custom Cow Whips” at rodeos and cowboy get-togethers.
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JUL’15 ocalastyle.com
CAMERON CATO
“I make two kinds of whips,” he says. “I make them out of nylon, and I make them out of deerskin. Nylon became popular back in the 1970s because it makes a good whip and it doesn’t require as much care as a leather whip. If a leather whip gets wet, it has to be carefully dried and then re-oiled with neatsfoot oil. You also have to make sure it’s kept away from mice, rats and dogs, because they will chew on it. The nylon whips can get wet, and it doesn’t affect them, so they are much easier to own.” Cameron says that even though both whips produce the same result, they are very different when it comes to making one. “I can make an 8- or 10-foot nylon whip using 650 parachute cord in a day or two. Basically, all you have to do is cut the nylon to length and plait it. But it takes a much longer time to make a
leather whip,” he says. “To make a buckskin whip, I use old Florida primitive cow-whip-making techniques that were taught to me by master whip maker George Altman of Wauchula. I use doeskin because it’s more uniform in thickness, and it takes about 35 days to tan the doe hide. Once the leather is tanned, stretched and dried, it takes another couple of days to plait it into a whip. Right now, I sell my nylon whips for $20 a foot and the buckskin whips go for $30 a foot. I can customize any length whip and am very particular about turning out the very best product possible.” Cameron plans to attend Warner University in Lake Wales where he will major in Agricultural Business Management. He plans to continue making whips for as long as possible. “My dream is to manage a large farm, but I will always continue to make whips,” he says. “I hope to continue to carry on the Florida Cracker traditional style of whip-making throughout my life. There are only three or four traditional whip makers out there, and I don’t know of any others my age. It’s important to carry on tradition.”