Jody Samson

No offense but I'm trying to reassemble my mind, literally. I'm curious if anyone knows who was sharpening for BM when they first moved to Oregon.

I have a very sharp memory of Eric Bedoy doing the bulk of the finishing work on the custom Bali-songs, and he would sharpen them when they were finished. One Friday afternoon he brought out a tray of about 15 perfect customs and I assumed that he wanted to sharpen them, but he left them on my cart and said, "Don't f--k them up," and then left the room. It remains one of the one my clearest memories, and Vance C. was standing right next to me, and he and I just looked at one another, absolutely astonished. I'm not trying to drop names here, or impress anyone, but it is important to me, if no one else.

My question was does anyone know who was sharpening for BM when they first moved to Oregon? If it wasn't Jody, that's completely understandable, but who was it? It may have been Les, but I really don't know, and I kind of doubt it based on what I saw.
 
Jody's work and style was - and continues to be - an enormous influence on me. His knives are some of my greatest inspirations. A few I've made I've even named for him, as the grind is his 'weehawk tanto' grind:

"Samson Bowies"

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@Dawkind was gracious enough to allow me to complete an unfinished kris dagger that Jody had given him:


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It was a tremendous honor to be able to share a project with such a legend, and a knifemaking hero of mine.
 
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I had a weehawk Bali song a ways back. It was very sharp and if you didn’t use it properly that point would always let you know.
 
Matt your work is fantastic.

I have nothing of value to contribute to this thread. I only want to express my gratitude. It is so refreshing to read a discussion on one of the old masters.

The young’uns are always waiting for the latest & greatest steel..or deepest pocket clip. Very little discussion anymore on general design and grind geometry and execution on a blade. Maybe I’m just an old fart who misses “the old days” but I miss the master grinders and makers like Jody, Kit Carson and Walter Brend, to name just a few. I never owned a Samson knife. Never had an interest in a bali song or a sword. That being said, Jody’s name is instantly recognizable to me. He was known as a master, even to a casual observer of his work such as myself. You couldn’t read an old thread on “knife grinds” without his name surfacing.

Dawkind…thank you for so many great posts over the years. Would pay steep admission just to have a look at your collection and talk knives…..
 
In the mid/late '80's I distributed Pacific Cutlery and I made several trips to LA (North Hollywood) to the factory.

In '86 one of the guys at PCC took me to meet Jody at his workshop. I remember him being a quiet intense man.

I purchased and sold many custom Balisongs made by PCC. Only a handful of which had been ground by Samson. Most that I sold were produced in house. I also had a few come through my hands that were ground by Bill DeVries, they were beautiful. I wish I had kept one.

These days I often see PCC Bali's for sale on various dealer site's, all seemed to have been magically ground by Jody Samson including the factory production ones!......As is so common with the passage of time the truth disappears and the myth remains.
 
Really interesting and important information here,thanks.
I've machined a lot of custom tubes and pipes with old school lathe bits.Sharpening those bits was an art.
I would spend a lot of time getting them just right very laborious.
That being said there was one guy who could just grind them just perfectly and quickly like he could see something
that I could not.He just had the talent like someone who can sketch a person or object with incredible
likeness.
I love those kris blades but would not want to grind one.
 
Thank you, Ron!☺️

Ron Sabbagh said:
Matt your work is fantastic.
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It was a unique challenge- this was the first kris blade I’d ever ground, as well as the first dagger. Lots of fun, let me tell you. Had to be on the work of one of my knifemaking heroes. No pressure or anything…

ice-pic said:
I love those kris blades but would not want to grind one.
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If I remember right , he actually started out in the shop of John Nelson Cooper before he went on his own.
 
Triton said:
So Jody Samson as I'm sure most people know was responsible for the swords in the Conan movies. As swords go the Atlantean and the Fathers Sword were pretty unwieldy things, you actually had to BE Arnold to heft the "hero swords" properly or so I've heard. Of course that wasn't the point. Those swords were supposed to be larger than life and demonstrate Mr. Samson's amazing skills in sculpting. They do that incredibly well and are quite possibly THE most iconic movie swords of all time.

I have had the opportunity to handle probably around a dozen Samson pieces over the years and I assure you that most of his swords would function quite well as fighting weapons. That is if they were not so amazingly beautiful. The blade grinds are unbelievably complex and executed perfectly. I was told that he never used a jig which makes them that much more amazing. The fittings are also unbelievable. They are often incredibly creative and again flawlessly executed. No one captured the Hypoborean motif like Jody Samson. I can only speculate as to how Howard Waddell got him to come to Albion in Wisconsin. I suspect that the prospect of stable employment with a steady income doing what he loved without having to deal with all the business details was a powerful incentive.

As you say he died in his shop alone but he did not live and work that way in his last years. I hoped that his apprentice Shann Ann would be able to carry on his legacy but for whatever reason that did not happen. It's one of my greatest regrets that I did not purchase one of his last works when Albion was selling the off.

Oddly I actually have one of his swords in the shop now. I'll get some pictures and post the when I'm done fitting it out.
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I have several of Jody Samson's knives, but I don't know anything about them. One looks like an axe could be one of a kind, could use some help in figuring out what it was made for.
uttergto
 
uttergto said:
I have several of Jody Samson's knives, but I don't know anything about them. One looks like an axe could be one of a kind, could use some help in figuring out what it was made for.
uttergto
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uttergto said:
I have several of Jody Samson's knives, but I don't know anything about them. One looks like an axe could be one of a kind, could use some help in figuring out what it was made for.
uttergto
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Email me if you like at ramellis2005@gmail.com and ill see if I can help you post the pictures if you have them.
 
I'll never forget when I was out in the LA area years ago, early 80's and wanted to go and visit Pacific Cutlery while out there on business. So I looked them up in the phone book, remember those things? ;) and they were on Rose Ave I think? memory of that fades, but when I called them a guy answered the phone and I asked if I had reached the right place and he asked in a hushed voice 'are you the cops?' which took me aback a little and I said uh...no, just wanted to visit the shop. He then said, 'well, we're packing up and leaving, so you can't come by'

I guess that was the day they were moving from California and heading up north and as I recall a lot of knife shops had knives confiscated as illegal items. Never made it to the Oregon location, but one day would certainly like to visit.

It was an interesting phone call ;)

Jody Samson's work is historical in style and grace and Matthew Gregory Matthew Gregory that is an excellent completion of his knife, well done sir!
G2
 
Less Than Sharpest said:
I was going through a box of wood and saw some handwriting and thought about Jody Sampson, and wondered what some of you knew about him, and if anyone would be willing to share.

At some point Jody worked for Pacific Cutlery and was the custom bali-song blade grinder, along with being the sharpener and when Pacific became Benchmade and moved to Oregon Jody moved with them. During the summer months it was perfect, not too hot, sunny, but then when it began to rain in the fall he couldn't stand it and moved back to LA. I never met him and regret that, but my friend Rob told me a few things about him.

I know that he was an amazing sword maker and was really into all the little details that we take for granted these days. I own a sword that Rob made for me, and I can see Jodys' influence quite clearly.

I take it he hated the cold and I didn't understand why he would ever move to Wisconsin, where he died alone in his shop two days after Christmas, 2008. The world lost a very good one that day.
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Three years ago I knew NOTHING about knives. Or Jody Samson. I sold a Balasong Benchmade Samson two years ago😭
Today I find..." the more I know about knives the more I know I'll never know" I just came across two Jody Samson knives. The guy was GRINDING on one. I now own the other one. 😁 And from what I just read I would say it was made in Wisconsin. 😂
I met this guy a week ago. He came to my house, with a long time friend and saw all my knives. He said ....."you have to come to my house and look at some of mine"...
If you're interested I'll tell you more of the story of Jody, knives and a sword that I was just told. I am just itching and hoping and praying. To be continued.
He knew Jody well.
 
Dawkind said:
Jody was a good friend and much of what has been written here is here say and embellished....;)

SO....He never sharpened any knives, Les paid him by the piece and if he needed $50, that’s how many blades he’d grind that day. He did not ‘make’ balisong’s, he ground the blades for them.

He was a quiet man but extremely knowledgeable and a World Class Artist in any medium, I miss him greatly and the visits to his shop.

The story is quite long...all of my pictures with him in his shop are gone with that #%€€ing Fototime but I still have ‘a few’ balisong’s, daggers, swords and such....those f’n thieves didn’t get those.
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I am glad for you theives didn't get them . Amen. They got my double six. Thats all I know about the knife. I think it was nicknamed double six. (I heard) The very first was five holes side by side. Balisongs first. (I don't know if this is true). It was "found" a bit small so they added two holes and lengthened it.
 
Triton said:
So I certainly did not know the man personally, my interactions came exclusively from working on his pieces. If anything I posted was inaccurate please set the record straight so that I don't continue to post bad data.
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Okay, now to why I replied to your post. I am certainly interested in whether or not he sharpened or ever sharpened because this Jody Samson knife I have is incomplete. It's complete but for the sharpened edge. So I can't call it a "blank" like the others (can I?). Also, now looking at it, the Samson mark is...well, certainty not comparable ( and that is BOTH true and false because it is MOST DEFINITELY his mark) . I didn't say that right. Maybe because it is unfinished/not polished (?) It is comparable in part. It was just back with the others. I can't see how or why he would 'give-up' on the knife. (unless, of course he did not sharpen. If I decide to have a cutting edge put on anfinished Jody Samson knife I would, of course, perfer someone who has done his knives (to make it legit) (?). I don't yet know what to do. I have only owned the knife for a few hours and I only began any concept of knowledge about knives three years ago. Could this be one of the last knives he 'made'? To be con.
 
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