Soft saps.

[arnisador]

Seen on MT:
http://www.jacksandsaps.com/


SoftSaps'- fine lead shot (#6-9) in a leather pouch of varying pattern.

This construction was more common in the nineteenth and early twentieth century than now. The SoftSap very forgiving percussion defense with little more than bruises as the affect. It requires a certain ‘boxing’ ability and a reasonable willingness to ‘mix it up’ with an opponent.



A soft-shot sap doesn’t shatter bones or produce abrasions. It conforms to the bone and delivers a deep shocking hit without breaking the skin.


He also has a "palm sap" which is something I hadn't seen before (about mid-page here (http://www.jacksandsaps.com/Catalog.htm)). That's an interesting thought!

[lhommedieu]

Nice tools. I would caution that these would probably still break noses and cause some nasty concussions. They would also probably not be looked upon kindly by law enforcement.

I recall reading something years ago that there is an "art" to soft-sapping someone and knocking them unconscious without leaving a bruise on the scalp or causing a severe concussion.

Best,

Steve

[arnisador]

They would also probably not be looked upon kindly by law enforcement.

I wonder if saps are legally restricted by name? Certainly, they look like something a criminal might have, though I remember old images of cops on the beat with them.

[PG Michael B]

Nice tools. I would caution that these would probably still break noses and cause some nasty concussions. They would also probably not be looked upon kindly by law enforcement.
Does the fuzz look at anything kindly?...LOL..Not in Texas, that's for damn sure. The biggest gang in the state is the cops. If these saps cause busted sniffers and a dizzy dome then I say hell yes..now were talking.


I recall reading something years ago that there is an "art" to soft-sapping someone and knocking them unconscious without leaving a bruise on the scalp or causing a severe concussion.
Well wheres the fun in that? ;)....I look at it this way..I am a peaceful sumbuck..I don't look for trouble and I don't even think of it. If it finds me and I am pushed into using something on some ding dongs dome then by God he is gonna catch a beat down, in spades...he came calling so I answered the phone. Soft sap, hard sap, no matter..if I gotta work his ass over then no matter the implement, sap or fist he is gonna know he got mud stomped...or at least he will when he pops out of his coma.

[lhommedieu]

More in the line of blind-siding and shanghaing someone and leaving them (relatively) undamaged than what you'd do when your back was against the wall.

Now that I recall it was in a novel so it could've been just in the author's mind...

In one of Stephen Hunter's novels there is a character who is a county sherrif who always dresses the same: black suit, black hat, holstered revolver, sap in his inside jacket pocket, small back-up derringer up his sleeve, etc. He used the sap as an everyday tool..

Best,

Steve

[Darrin Cook]

Funny, but I was just talking with my dad about saps the other day. My dad is a retired policeman, and in the 40's and 50's policemen carried saps in a special pocket at the back of the right thigh.

Policemen were free to use any time of sap. Some were soft saps, filled with lead shot. Others were spring loaded. Still others were steel "shaped like an exclamation mark" in my dad's words. But typically they were covered with leather so that they didn't cut.

My dad and his partners often used the sap in hand-to-hand encounters. With the advent of more "humane" policing and a legalistic, sue-happy society, the sap was phased out.

After seeing a Filipino martial artist with an extremely short stick (15 inches, maybe), I have wondered if the sap or similar short club might be a more effective weapon at close range.

[lhommedieu]

After seeing a Filipino martial artist with an extremely short stick (15 inches, maybe), I have wondered if the sap or similar short club might be a more effective weapon at close range.

A buddy of mine used to carry a short length of hickory dowel hollowed out and filled with lead. He used it as an everyday tool when he was bouncing. He told a story once about hitting someone across the shin with it when the guy wouldn't cool down. End of discussion.

Best,

Steve

[Darrin Cook]

"A buddy of mine used to carry a short length of hickory dowel hollowed out and filled with lead. He used it as an everyday tool when he was bouncing. He told a story once about hitting someone across the shin with it when the guy wouldn't cool down. End of discussion."

Steve,

My dad had a policeman friend who made him a similar weapon from a baseball bat cut down very short, hollowed out and filed with lead.

One night he and a partner had a guy in a bar who was fighting them. The boisterous drunk hit my dad's partner, who decided to break out the spring-loaded sap. The cop hit the guy in the side of the face, knocking out a tooth, which went flying, and his eye swelled up almost instantly.

The fight was taken out of him, and he sat down quietly.