Be Extra Careful When Showing Your Collection!

B

Blade Santa Cruz

Joined
May 6, 1999
Messages
321
My wife and I had a neighbor couple over a few weeks ago. I've known that couple several years and know the man has an interest in martial arts, firearms, edged weapons...you know, lots of good stuff. The women had left the room for whatever reason and I pulled out a Civilian and a Matriarch to show my friend the differences and similarities of the two knives.

I've been around martial arts for decades (had my own studio at one time) and I don't treat ANY knife lightly. For some reason, I assumed my guest would act similarly and treat the two knives with cautious respect.

Imagine my surprise, soon followed by horror, as he made a careless, snapping pass with the Matriarch across his own jugular while making what he thought was a clever comment about throat-cutting.

He looked at me smiling, Then curiously as a shocked look came over my face. For an instant I thought he'd fortunately missed himself by blind luck; then a thin, red line appeared on his neck across the jugular! :eek:

It all ended okay in that it was a shallow cut that didn't nick the vein after all. He had to explain to his wife about all the commotion that ensued until I was sure the cut was superficial and about the sterile pad I was applying to his neck. She read him the riot act, appropriately, and I could hear her really chewing on him as they left.

Then I realized that I was as much to blame as anyone in assuming that he had any experience, assuming that he would treat the knives with respect, and assuming...yes, just assuming anything at all. It could easily have been a tragic episode except for pure, dumb luck. I, for one, have promised myself to be MUCH more careful and to closely control the situation before I show any of my collection to others in the future. :o
 
Surprisingly I've noticed that martial artists and especially ex-martial artists are the worst lot to show ANY knives. I have two friends that I no longer show my new knives EVEN kitchen knives as it allways ends to some weird false attacs that end too close to someone - normally me. Martial artists generally belive that they know everythig about knives and how knives should be handled BUT NO martial artist that I know can sharpen their own knives properly - that in Finland one of those old knife cultures!!!:eek: Ex-martial artists are naturally worse than active as they start remembering their days practising that art...:rolleyes:
 
IMO the problem is that so few martial artists train in the USE of knives. Advanced MAs may have some training in defense from knife attack, but "martial bladecraft" using knives and the related discplines of safe knife handling, carry, and maintenance remains largely unknown for now. We'll see what Bram, Keating, and Janich can do to rectify the situation.;)
 
If he would have killed himself off, he would have been a perfect candidate for a Dawin Award (an award for people who prove that natural selection is still at work). Perhaps, not as good as the "genius" who decided to demonstrate the advantages of epoxy by gluing his hand to a rhino's butt, but pretty close.

n2s
 
My favorite Darwin award recipient was the guy who strapped a Jato solid fuel rocket to his old car (Chevy?) somewhere in the desert and set it off...remember that one? Grin. I'll se if I can find the story.
Jeff/1911.
 
Folks, Here is the story to which I was referring.

------------BEGINNING OF STORY----------------------

Jet Assisted Take-Off 1995 Darwin Awards Winner

The Arizona Highway Patrol were mystified when they came upon a pile of smoldering wreckage embedded in the side of a cliff rising above the road at the apex of a curve. The metal debris resembled the site of an airplane crash, but it turned out to be the vaporized remains of an automobile. The make of the vehicle was unidentifiable at the scene.

The folks in the lab finally figured out what it was, and pieced together the events that led up to its demise.

It seems that a former Air Force sergeant had somehow got hold of a JATO (Jet Assisted Take-Off) unit. JATO units are solid fuel rockets used to give heavy military transport airplanes an extra push for take-off from short airfields.

Dried desert lakebeds are the location of choice for breaking the world ground vehicle speed record. The sergeant took the JATO unit into the Arizona desert and found a long, straight stretch of road. He attached the JATO unit to his car, jumped in, accelerated to a high speed, and fired off the rocket.
The facts, as best as could be determined, are as follows:

The operator was driving a 1967 Chevy Impala. He ignited the JATO unit approximately 3.9 miles from the crash site. This was established by the location of a prominently scorched and melted strip of asphalt. The vehicle quickly reached a speed of between 250 and 300 mph and continued at that speed, under full power, for an additional 20-25 seconds. The soon-to-be pilot experienced G-forces usually reserved for dog-fighting F-14 jocks under full afterburners.

The Chevy remained on the straight highway for approximately 2.6 miles (15-20 seconds) before the driver applied the brakes, completely melting them, blowing the tires, and leaving thick rubber marks on the road surface. The vehicle then became airborne for an additional 1.3 miles, impacted the cliff face at a height of 125 feet, and left a blackened crater 3 feet deep in the rock.

Most of the driver's remains were not recovered; however, small fragments of bone, teeth, and hair were extracted from the crater, and fingernail and bone shards were removed from a piece of debris believed to be a portion of the steering wheel.

Ironically a still-legible bumper sticker was found, reading
"How do you like my driving? Dial 1-800-EAT-S**T."

--------------END OF STORY------------------------------------

I found this on the website: www.darwinawards.com by searching for "jato rocket".

- Jeff/1911.
 
Believe it or not, there have already been a couple of Darwin Award nominees who have cut their heads off! One used a chainsaw and it's not clear if the other used a chainsaw or an axe. :eek: Search the website Jeff provided for "chainsaw".

macho.mini.jpg


Seriously though, Milan's story gave me the willies big time. That's some scary stuff. :o
 
Mr. Blade Santa Cruz,

Had a similar experience (I was the host also), but my story involves something called a 30-30 Winchester perforating Grandma's beloved dining room ceiling. Grandma was pissed. Very pissed.
Grandpa's hearing is, well, much worse now than [it already was].
HUH???? WHAT DID YOU SAY??????


Sh!t Happens...just don't Happen to be there when it does!
 
Severe hawkbills, like the Civilian and the Matrirach, operate in two planes at the same time - the main cutting edge (more or less parallel to the handle), and the hook portion of the hawkbill. If you are only thinking in the main edge plane, you will get hooked.
 
Mike,

What you said about the Civilian working in two planes is true. I've managed to work one into a two-handed Kenpo weave technique fairly similar to some things Keating does with that knife, but I was VERY careful in doing it. I didn't get bitten, but I DID develop a lot of healthy respect for the Civilian in the process.:D
 
My Matriarch is one of the few knives I own that I rarely show people, just for that reason. All of the knives are sharp, but there is something mystical about that knife that makes it especially dangerous to those not used to handling sharp objects. It's one of the few knives that I'm scared of "playing" with, just because it has a tendency to bite. It even looks like some toothed creature if you hold it just right..

(chris)
 
Originally posted by Blade Santa Cruz
I've managed to work one into a two-handed Kenpo weave technique fairly similar to some things Keating does with that knife, but I was VERY careful in doing it.
Click to expand...

Hey! Did you know that some of that in Kenpo was from Filipino Martial Arts? In fact, Guro Dan Inosanto cited GM Ed Parker as informing him that there was more to FMAs than meets the eye. This according to Inosanto's own book, now out of print.

Guro D. Inosanto was an early Black Belt in Kenpo under Parker. Parker understood things very well. So what you might be seeing, might be "trickle down Sinawalli." :D
 
It truly amazes me that people continue to post about the JATO car as if it was confirmed fact. It is in fact a confirmed urban legend and it has been "debunked" so many times it will make your head spin. Will we still be telling this story to our grandchildren or what? Are you going to tell me the one about the lady with the beehive hairdo next?

http://www.snopes2.com/autos/dream/jato.htm

Gregg
 
Thank you tulsamal!

Ugh..I've heard that one SO many times and I just got tired of letting people know it is in fact, not true.

Just like the one floating around these boards that "Carbon V" is a legitimate, documented, steel formulation... :D

Firebat
 
Last night, at a Chritmas party I showed a friend of mine my LUM folder. Hes a very talented plastic surgeon/facial reconstruction/trauma surgeon. I know he enjoys seein nice knives and such so I thought nothing of handing him the knife. Well, was I ever wrong. He proceeded to open, test sharpness(thumbnail) and then, stabbed at his dog! I almost fainted. Dog thought it was a game, and was jumping and barking. I held my breath, until he quit wavin the knife around and asked for it back. Scared me to death, that knife could have seriously hurt his cute little border-collie. I think he had too many bourbons intermingling in his blood stream. Oh well, live and learn I guess.
 
Regarding the original post about the scratched throat, the scariest thing to me is the possibility that the guy could have died and left you standing over his body with blood on your hands, your knife the obvious "murder weapon" and no one to back up your story.

Do you think a prosecutor could find a couple of people willing to say about you: "Yeah, he seemed a little obsessed with knives, if you ask me..."? How do you think the jury would react to seeing those dramatic reverse recurve serrated blades being flicked out as exhibits A and B? :eek:

Even if you somehow avoided a murder conviction, the civil suit judgement would have left you impoverished for the rest of your life.

Thanks for the warning, I'll be doubly careful that my knives are not treated like toys.
 
Regarding the original post about the scratched throat, the scariest thing to me is the possibility that the guy could have died and left you standing over his body with blood on your hands, your knife the obvious "murder weapon" and no one to back up your story.

Do you think a prosecutor could find a couple of people willing to say about you: "Yeah, he seemed a little obsessed with knives, if you ask me..."? How do you think the jury would react to seeing those dramatic reverse recurve serrated blades being flicked out as exhibits A and B? :eek:

Even if you somehow avoided a murder conviction, the civil suit judgement would have left you impoverished for the rest of your life.

Thanks for the warning, I'll be doubly careful that my knives are not treated like toys.
 
a few months ago, i read a really LONG article about a guy who claims to be the basis of the JATO story, and acknowledges the urban legend part of it. he says that while the legend is false, it has a basis in truth.

in summary: his father obtained a set of JATOs from a mis-labeled crate from a military dump (or something.). the guy, at the time in his late teens/early 20s, got a few friends together, one of whom was a mech engineer. the mecheng told them it was a bad bad idea, but it'd be less bad if they did this, this, this, and this. (basically, nothing here was told in the urban legand.)

steps they did:
- mounted the jatos on the frame of an old '67 impala (this part, he notes, is consistantly accurate).
- found an old abandoned railroad/mine car track that lead out from an abandoned mine. they stored the car in the mine while they were assembling it.
- built and tested several braking systems (parachutes they considered, but couldn't obtain. they settled on one that slowed the car via friction, and was water-cooled.)
- *TESTED THE ENTIRE SETUP FIRST*. what his account says, is that first they tried pushing the setup at speeds up to 60MPH with a pickup. the brakes worked well. they then tried an unmanned setup. he explains that they didn't think ahead, and had the car (though a mile or so away from the mine shaft) pointed towards the mine shaft. when they lit off the test, the car started accelerating, and within seconds, covered the distance and slammed into the mine shaft, taking down wooden supports, and collapsing the mine with the car sticking halfway out.


i found the original link that read this in. unfortunately, the geocities site isn't there anymore. but here is the google.com cache of it: http://www.google.com/search?q=cach...CKIT.HTML+geocities+jato+impala+teacher&hl=en[/url]

yes, i know you can't believe everything you read on the internet. but i thought it was an interesting (and certainly more believable) than the real impala/jato story.

edit: i found this http://warpedcow.darktech.org/NewSite/rocketcar/RocketStory.html

a full archive of the story, including some sketches. i chose that one, because a few of the other mirrors seem to plaguerize it and change the "contact me" email address. that one i've found consistant on 2 or 3 different sites, so i'm assuming its the "original" and the one with the "most" credibility.

it could all be bunk, but its certainly better than the darwin story. plus, its an interesting read:)
 
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