Steven Segal, Blade master?

[JPH]

Originally Posted by pgsmith

Hmmm ... I think "Jackass Blade" would be an excellent name for a new movie! >>

Sorta along the lines Stephen Chow's "Kung-Fu Hustle"??? For some deep, disturbing reason I enjoyed the hell outta that movie..so many inside jokes.

Seriously..

The Shaq I think is/was a LA County Sheriff Reserve Deputy..(where they found a uniform to fit him I have no idea....)..Segal worked for New Orleans PD ( I can tell ya a few stories about that department when my NG unit went down there after Katrina...) as a reserve officer I do believe.

Nothing "wrong" with the "celebrity types" doing the job and in harness but some are not cut out for that job. I spent pretty much all of my life since I was of age in Law Enforcement and/or military service.. Seen more than my share of blood, guts and misc. body parts thrown hither and yon....

Now I am just a hammer head...making swords and writing about metals...

JPH

[hyaku]

As I said rather sad. I went to Japan not only to learn the arts but the attitudes we should adopt and how they should be promoted. One quickly learns to avoid any TV interviews even in japan as they jut promote sensationalism.

Give someone a Japanese blade and you can have them cutting in twenty minutes. But the same applies to a carving knife.

Using Koshi to generate movement is a lifetimes work.

[JPH]

Hyaku:

OK I will admit that as a maker I am very guilty of what I call "showmanship" and that is, in all honesty doing nothiong more than showing what a properly made sword can do. Yeah, I cut through tatami, goza, bamboo...plus rope thrown up into the air..all that "fancy schmancy stuff" that just about ANY decently made, and properly heat treated blade should be able to do..including cutting through soft steel nails and SLTT...

Abuse?? Sure it is...but Hell's Bells..I made the thing and I know what it can and can NOT do..but even on this basic a level folks are impressed. Sold alot of swords over the years doing this...

Now it has been said in my dojo, many times, that I "Cut like a peasant swinging a sledge hammer" I bow politely, and say Hi! and agree...that is how I got the name Hage Bokatsu that I use for my Mei on the Japanese blades I make... Simple fact I DO cut like someone swinging a hammer...that's due to the fact that I spend most days swinging a 8lb hammer bashing out steel...

Now I can be as graceful and as formal as just about anyone else, but at 3 AM in a back alley?? Does it really matter? What I am saying is there is a time and place for everything and if you are going to purport yourself as a "Blade Master" then you should understand Koshi intimately and be able to execute the moves and form flawlessly and with an even flow of form from one motion to the next and so on......Don't be a "back street brawler"..

This is an ART form, not a street fight....and a "Blade Master" should know the difference...

JPH

(Now I GOT to find that Tachi admists the several dozen swords I have stashed away and post pics..it's a wicked one....)

[Hissho]

How Seagal passed a background check with his spotty, self-divulged history in that lawsuit is incredible. Unless of course he just waved money at them.

Heard nothing but positive things about Shaq's involvement, and he is clearly not using it to promote some image of himself, which appears to be a full time job for Seagal.

[pgsmith]

JPH,
Thanks very much for the laugh, the mind picture made my day! Looking forward to pictures of the blade.

[Kendoguy9]

Hey Kit,

That was sort of where I was going with my thoughts. I think a celeb officer can be very helpful to a department as in the case of Shaq. Or it can go a little south like Segal. The thing is though for those that don't study martial arts or know much about a police department it probably sound really cool that Segal is an officer there so it still might have some positive PR. I'd be more selective personally but that's just me.

[Hissho]

'til he ends up in a bad shoot, or an excessive use of force caught on video (such complaints and DOJ investigations are spiking right now)....just not worth it.

I don't watch such crap, but I recall he made some ridiculous statements about his SWAT activities recently as well.

This guy is a lawsuit waiting to happen.

[jdostie]

'til he ends up in a bad shoot, or an excessive use of force caught on video (such complaints and DOJ investigations are spiking right now)....just not worth it.

I don't watch such crap, but I recall he made some ridiculous statements about his SWAT activities recently as well.

This guy is a lawsuit waiting to happen.

He's a reserve officer/"reserve chief" if I saw this correctly.
It pretty much looks like he is there for a "ride along" from the few episodes I have watched . . . does he actually get involved? And does he carry a gun?
Not sure.

With respect to his sword work: 1) I wonder if they even cleared the title with him, 2) I won't comment on it as I'm no master - just a rank beginner, but 3) I wonder 'how it looks' to senior Aikido types as Aiki-ken work as opposed to someone within a sword school. (It seems that Aiki-ken is concerned about working with sword as an extension for aiki rather than as batto, suburi, etc.). I'm not qualified to remark on that either . . . just wondering.

[Hissho]

Reserves are sworn and do carry firearms.

They typically have to ride with a full time officer and assist them rather than working on their own.

[Duanew]

How Seagal passed a background check with his spotty, self-divulged history in that lawsuit is incredible. Unless of course he just waved money at them.

Heard nothing but positive things about Shaq's involvement, and he is clearly not using it to promote some image of himself, which appears to be a full time job for Seagal.

What? Your department wouldn't hire a former member of a secret government agency?If I tell you who I worked for I'd have to kill you and me-super top secret.

[JPH]

Hello:

Here is the sword that I mentioned earlier in this thread...

Gpoing back some 30 years or so... I was very close friends with the late Mr Robert Engnath..as close if not closer than brothers. He and I back in the day were working on ways to produce "finish it yourself" sword blades with a real hamon for his business "Blades -N- Stuff"..We must of destroyed two tons of steel and hundreds of blades figuring this out..but we did. Bob went on to become one of the most sought after "japanese blade" makers in the world.

Well while we were mucking about with this I forged this blade out of 1076, in the shinogi-zukuri shape, and I not knowing better at the time forged in a bit of sori prior to heat treating.. Well Bob and I were trying a new quenchant mixture, a mix of lye, salt and dish soap.. It worked great but it put even more sori in the blade...almost 1 5/8" of an inch..(This mix worked so well that Bob used it from that day on...)

Anyway I finished it up using wet/dry paper and put it into shira siya where it stayed for oh two years or so...I was mostly burned out from doing all the Japanese stuff so I didn't really think about going all the way with this one for a while. I did however eventually finish it up... but before that I did take it with me to the various shows that the Engnaths and I were doing so Bob could take orders for similiar sword blades... This is where it gets "interesting"

Bob and I were at the Pasadena Knife show...our tables were next to each other as we usually were..I had this blade with me when this geeky fellow comes by my table and without warning grabs and pulls out the sword...Now I am trying to get this guy calmed down and Bob is rapidly coming to my aid, when the fellow says "Don't worry I am a trained Ninja" (what ever that means I do not know...) and then proceeds to raise the sword up, over and down his back from his right shoulder..

He shouldn't of done that. All that sori in this blade means the point isn't "where it should be" and about 3" or so of the kissaki burried itself neatly in the idiot's right but cheek.. Now things get worse (for him..funnier for us..) Instead of thinking and reassessing his situation and pulling the sword straight up and out, the idiot simply pulled down on the tsuka and opened up his behind like a canoe. Copious amounts of blood followed. Needless to say I finally got my sword back and he was off to the ER via ambulance..never to be seen again.

I spent the rest of that afternoon cleaning the numbskull's blood off the blade. Of course what happened spread like wildfire throughout the show..with more than ample help of Bob and his lovely wife Stevie. Several other makers dropped by with suggestions as to what I should "name" this sword...

So here it is..the infamous sword named "Arse Biter"...

It is in Tachi mounts with a 29 1/4" long shinogi-zukuri blade, the tsuka and saya are covered in tiger rayskin and my favorite black and gold chevron pattern Ito. The saya has hammered copper fittings and the rest is done in a mix of silver and gold leaf under black cracked lac. It is sealed with 10 coats of clear hard lacquer. I feel this gives a very nice visual effect.

The mounts are bronze, with gold and silver details done in a dragon motif. Tsuka length is 12 1/2" or so.

Given the fact that is is one of the few pieces that Bob and I worked on that are "still in existance"..it is a very special sword to me. It is only fair that it be used for the cover of book IV as I will be including all he notes and other information that he and I came up with on Hamons back in the day.

Hope the photos turn out..

JPH

[pgsmith]

I've heard that story numerous times from various people (and it's always good for a laugh!), so it's nice to be able to finally see the infamous blade.

Thanks!

[Tripitaka of AA]

Do you Swordy-types have a special word to denote a blade that has seen "action"? Would there be a sub-category for those that saw self-inflicted bloodshed.. perhaps used most often for those who have lost a finger while sheathing the blade.

Meanwhile, I can't help wondering what story the "Ninja" made up for his own version of the tale. "I was attacked in the woods by thirty bloodthirsty bandits...".

[JPH]

Mr Smith:

Yeah that story made the rounds starting from the day it happened. Some people do get what they deserve...Can I ask where you heard it? Just curious to know how far it has spread over the years.

As far as the Ninja's story goes..I would be rather embarassed to tell it if it was me...Since it was NOT me, it is still funnier than most of the "idiots at a knife show" stories go...

JPH

[pgsmith]

Do you Swordy-types have a special word to denote a blade that has seen "action"?

No, but I have heard Keith Larman refer to a couple of different blades as "bloodthirsty" since they had cut him several times during polishing.

Can I ask where you heard it? Just curious to know how far it has spread over the years.

Please don't call me Mr. Smith, it sounds way too formal!
I've heard references to "the guy that stabbed himself in the butt at the knife show" after several different seminars, but the first time I heard the whole story related was in 2000 (I think) at the San Antonio sword show. Heard the whole story related again a couple of years later at the bar after the Orlando Tai Kai.

It's one of those stories that's not just entertaining, it graphically illustrates how easy it is to hurt yourself if you don't know what you're doing.