Vices are popular because you it is easy to get the seams really strait.... at first. If you pull with the same tension one each side the whip will be strait. If you pull harder on one side the whip will twist. If the whip was built on a vice the twist may not be apparent at first and only show up after it has been broken in.
Hooks, on the other hand, seem unforgiving when it comes to twists. If you pull harder on one side while using a hook the twist will show up almost immediately. I like that actually. It allows me to correct or redo if need be. Pretty much, after it is rolled, what you see is what you get. The whip isn't going to change when it gets broken in.
It is really a matter of personal preference.
I'm a member of a whip making group and a gentleman was saying how he has no room for a vice and didn't want to hang a hook in his walls.
Ever since I got my Rhett Kelley whipmaking DVD I have used the door as my hook. I'm so glad he put that bit of info in there! It allows me to stay in the room with my daughter and be available to her needs.
I took these pictures to better explain the idea. I thought it would be a good thing to keep here on the blog just in case I need to share with someone else.
It just that easy! If you have a door you have a hook!