Wow , the man himself!
I love saps and to a lesser extent jacks also. Agree that an 8oz SAP can be swung about as hard as you want with a almost certainly less than lethal out come. The jack ball however concentrates the force and will cause indented fractures if not used solely on none lethal nerve plexes or joints for a disabling hit. I believe you made my beautiful two tone jack which is pictured here in my museum.
After trying it out on various martial arts media it is one deadly sucker!
The beavertail saps however, especially when made with rolled smooth seams like the ones I pictured,deliver the blow over a wider area and I believe a hit to the head with an 8oz is NOT LIKELY to be permanent damage. I'll relate to you my sap history;
In the late 50s my late Uncle Gil took me to NYC where he was a NYPD Gold Shield Detective . He was an NYPD cop from the late 30s until he retired in the early 60s after 25 years. He also found time to be a part time Vibraphone and drummer in clubs in the City. He was divorced since the late 40s and allways had a girl friend which was scandalous in my family , but he had the connected cop excuse. He took me mostly to Chick Gaylords "cop shop" in the "fur" district to show me the life. Chick was a big old round jamoke 'gun fighter' and holster maker par excellance. He always treated pre pubescent me to donuts and a little sneaky coffee. All the cops with class made the rounds to Chicks place to shoot the trash and buy cop stuff; guns, knives, holsters and saps and jacks. Funny thing I don't think Gaylord made any thing except holsters and he sold Bucheimer impact weapons. Any way I lived to see the detectives horse around with their saps and jacks for my benefit, showing me how and where to hit, spiced with what ethnic groups or drunks, crazy and dopers responded to what hits! There was a LOT of respect (fear) for the LEO on the streets in those politically incorrect days. You did your dirty deeds as far away from the cops as you could and NOBODY sassed them to their face. If you did you met the sap or , shudder, the jack from the 'Dicks'.
Of course I got my hands on a small Denver sap and a couple times jumped by Italian gangs in my native Jersey Shore , got away unschathed from blades or a thrashing by judacious application of my sap. I had street respect and went away to U of Georgia carrying it in the then yankee hostile South of the earlier sixties. I had the " lights out" move down pretty good if given half a chance and knew how to make the opening for it! I found one of those and a hostile groups backs off quick!
After 9 years of Army Active duty I found myself in the early DEA academy and thought about a sap for the first time in ten years (had 5 years of Tae Kwon Do by then but no saps!) . I got a hold of one from Paris Theodore who took over Chick Gaylords outfit while I was having fun overseas. I did whack a few noggins and elbows and knees around Newark where I was assigned
but allready the times were a changing and you were supposed to use a gun, if warranted, on the dealers and dopers and not rough them up! :banghead:
After a shooting I came out to California and became a gentle soul and it was the early 80s before I got a politically connected reservist sheriff position and shortly after the saps and jacks and uber kewl sap gloves were taken from us because of pressure from the Spanish speaking community, had to go gentle on the gangs which emerged right after that!
Any way saps and jacks are an uber no no in Kali now and you are far better off legally with a registered and concealed .45 if you need help.
But I still like a non marking beavertail and an 8-10 oz one is comforting in places you would not be seen using it quickly and briefly .
