Massage Flogger

Bare Leatherworks Massage Flogger

Vendor: Bare Leatherworks

Construction

The basic design of this flogger is fairly standard: One side with tails, other side handle. But that’s all that is standard about this toy. Instead of having a bunch of tails, this one only has 6 which are made out of soft and medium heavy bull-hide. They are 50mm wide and about 530mm long in full (or rather standard flogger tail length) size and 350mm in the medium size (for playing in more confined areas or using this flogger primarily on subs on spanking benches). I intentionally write “about” because on my flogger there was a difference of 9mm between the longest and the shortest tail! For a “normal” flogger, this would serious impact the play experience. But being a “massage” flogger you do not really just target with the tail tips but with the full length. The tails fixed to the handle by just putting a screw through them in the middle which is a “quick & dirty” way to make a flogger which in the end enables the rather low price.

Detail of the Rubber-Wrapped Handle

The handle is made out of wood with a “bulges” (the cover material not being plaited you cannot really call them knots) on both ends for a secure and comfortable grip. Despite the heavy tails, this flogger is extraordinarily well balanced! The center of mass lies right between the end of the grip section and the beginning up the upper bugle. Looking at my collection of 10 floggers this is the most balanced flogger I own!

The handle cover is quite unique: Instead of being covered in an elaborate plaited multi-color leather pattern, a long strap of industrial rubber is wrapped around and fixed buy multiple black screws in stainless steel grommets. The rubber provides a good and secure grip even with sweaty hands. So from a functional point of view, nothing speaks against this method and it safes a lot of time, material and money (thus the very competitive price). But as someone who sees a flogger also as a piece of craftsmanship and handcraft tradition, this flogger looks a big “basic” (or as another testee put it “Bad-ass Mad Max”-like…). At the bottom of the handle, an eyebolt is screwed into the wood. Through it two intertwined leather straps are threaded for a wrist or storage loop. This loop looks so “artistic” and lavish that it is a steep contrast to the rest of the rather “basic” flogger design. Not that I would mind…

Detail of the Eyebolt and the intertwined leather loop

For an extra $10 you can get the “Pro Grip” handle. When choosing this add-on, a thick wire that runs in a spiral beneath the rubber cover. This adds texture to the gripping surface. I tried the Pro Grip at Spexter in Munich years ago and found it too uncomfortable for my size 7½ hands. So I ordered this flogger with a standard grip. In the review process, I never felt that even in heavy scenes that I needed extra grip when throwing this flogger. Naturally my testees could not compare both handle types. But even the tops with the sweatiest hands never had gripping problems. In addition, none of the Bare Leatherworks impact toys I have come across in scenes over the last 5 years had the Pro Grip. Another possible add-on for $14 is adding two more tails for an extra powerful thud!

Free of charge is customizing the colors of the tails. You can choose between black, red, blue, purple, grey, green, white, yellow and pink and have different colors for the inner and outer tails.

Playing with the Massage Flogger

Usually, I am very skeptical when tails are just screwed to the top of the handle instead of carefully arranging them in a woven knot for optimal flying capabilities. But the Massage Flogger flies really well. I was actually surprised how good targeting and swinging was with it.

Detail of how the Tails are Attached to the Handle and the upper „bulge“

Of course, throwing this flogger takes some getting used to. Instead of straightening out a few dozens of tails more or less loosely flying into the same direction, there are only six (resp. 8). So it takes a bit less force and control to direct them towards a target.

After talking about the technical aspects, let’s look at the sensation side of this flogger. The impact sensation of this toy is unlike any sensation I have felt before from a long-range impact toys before. It does its name really justice. The width, weight and rounded tips of the tails only produce a deep, satisfying thud. If you hit the sub lightly, it will be like caressing, if you hit him full power, the sheer force will throw him forward in a shattering way. The level of thud you create is highly disproportional to the weight and mass of the tails. Most testees compared it to a at least 40 tail cow flogger. So even more than usual I highly recommend trying out this flogger with a trusted play partner starting with low intensity and a thorough debriefing.

Detail of the Round-Cut Tail Ends which are Sadly Unevenly Long

If you want to get a bit of sting out of the Massage Flogger you could try hitting with the tails’ sides. But on the one hand, the tails usually orientate themselves towards the wide side, on the other hands the tails being made out of soft leather, after hitting with the side, the surface “falls” on sub’s body adding thud.

Like all thuddy toys, extra care is advised when throwing this flogger. The amount of kinetic energy hitting the bottom’s body can severely damage organs if you hit anywhere except the left and right side of the rip cage (and not the spine!), chest, ass and thighs with much force!