James grew up on an Ozarks farm where tools like axes and picks were still used in the daily routine and the blades of stockman's pocketknives served their original functions. Receiving his first pocketknife at age four he got it open by himself nearly a year later and spent his formative years wandering the woods with a succession of ever larger knives, a book of matches and a rifle.
A veteran of Vietnam, James also served in Alaska during a stint in the Army, receiving his first intensive culinary training by setting a record for extra KP at Ft. Richardson.
Settling in the Pacific Northwest after his discharge, James crewed on sailing yachts in local races, backpacked hundreds of miles of mountain trails in search of good trout fishing, and occasionally attended college.
His first serious job as a civilian resulted from answering a Seattle Post Intelligencer want ad requesting someone who could lift 120 pounds repeatedly and wasn't afraid of fire. James apprenticed to John Frazier -- the most knowledgeable traditional foundryman in North America at that time -- for the next six years.
Returning to the Ozarks James made his living by growing ginseng on a hand-terraced wooded hillside and selling handmade wood turnery, furniture, sculpture and architectural carvings. James harvested trees from his own land, processing logs into posts and beams and turnery billets with saws, axes, froes and planes. Since many tools he needed were no longer available, James built his own forge from a barbeque grill, a vacuum cleaner and a 55 gallon steel drum, found a chunk of railroad track for his first anvil, and taught himself blacksmithing -- creating his own knives and tools from scrap steel and sweat.
Changing economic pressures eventually forced James back to the restaurant industry in Branson, Missouri, and later to even more success as a maintenance engineer for one of Branson's largest condominium resorts. Finally escaping to Indiana, James now makes his living telling true stories as a freelance writer.
Exotic Weapons Yuen Yang Razors | Martial Arts Collectible Weapon | Bagua Rooster Knives
57 sec read
Lots of weapons are called rare and exotic, but this one really is rare. The Yuen Yang Razors, also called Bagua Rooster Knives, must never have been extremely popular in old China where they developed. Today they’re seldom seen even in chop-socky martial arts movies. I’ve usually come across them only as sketches in books about ancient weaponry.
The rarity does make the Yuen Yang Razor set an interesting collectible, because there is no reliable source of unique weapon sets like this one, unless you care to pay a sword smith custom prices to make one to order. This pair is designed for training or display, though anything with this many edges and points would be intimidating if used for real. The mild chrome-plated steel shows accurate shape but not functional edges — points and blades are still dangerous.
Rooster knives developed to augment the baguazhang internal kung fu style, based on mysterious internal energy methods and circular movement around a central point of balance. The rooster knives, gripped by the short horizontal bar and braced against the forearms, make the signature circular arm movements of that old style into extremely sharp and pointy weapons. Elbow strikes, forearm blocks, and jabs turn into lethal attacks — in the old days, the rooster knives were even tipped with poison.
Finding training systems that use these unique weapons could be a challenge, but going back to the roots of the art and the rooster movements of bagua and other internal systems could provide some interesting clues. How long production level weapons in these unusual patterns will be available is anyone’s guess.
James grew up on an Ozarks farm where tools like axes and picks were still used in the daily routine and the blades of stockman's pocketknives served their original functions. Receiving his first pocketknife at age four he got it open by himself nearly a year later and spent his formative years wandering the woods with a succession of ever larger knives, a book of matches and a rifle.
A veteran of Vietnam, James also served in Alaska during a stint in the Army, receiving his first intensive culinary training by setting a record for extra KP at Ft. Richardson.
Settling in the Pacific Northwest after his discharge, James crewed on sailing yachts in local races, backpacked hundreds of miles of mountain trails in search of good trout fishing, and occasionally attended college.
His first serious job as a civilian resulted from answering a Seattle Post Intelligencer want ad requesting someone who could lift 120 pounds repeatedly and wasn't afraid of fire. James apprenticed to John Frazier -- the most knowledgeable traditional foundryman in North America at that time -- for the next six years.
Returning to the Ozarks James made his living by growing ginseng on a hand-terraced wooded hillside and selling handmade wood turnery, furniture, sculpture and architectural carvings. James harvested trees from his own land, processing logs into posts and beams and turnery billets with saws, axes, froes and planes. Since many tools he needed were no longer available, James built his own forge from a barbeque grill, a vacuum cleaner and a 55 gallon steel drum, found a chunk of railroad track for his first anvil, and taught himself blacksmithing -- creating his own knives and tools from scrap steel and sweat.
Changing economic pressures eventually forced James back to the restaurant industry in Branson, Missouri, and later to even more success as a maintenance engineer for one of Branson's largest condominium resorts. Finally escaping to Indiana, James now makes his living telling true stories as a freelance writer.
Lots of weapons are called rare and exotic, but this one really is rare. The Yuen Yang Razors, also called Bagua Rooster Knives, must never have been extremely popular in old China where they developed. Today they’re seldom seen even in chop-socky martial arts movies. I’ve usually come across them only as sketches in books about ancient weaponry.
