Speak No Evil

[paranday]

See Evil, Hear Evil, Punch Evil.

My Evil swivel arrived today. I don't have a video camera, so I'll just
have to give you my impressions. Mainly I want to say that this is one
sweet hunk of steel. It was very cold when it arrived, so I set it on
the hot air register to warm it up. It thanked me. Oh, the black oxide
finish is beautiful.

I've been hitting a shoelace swivel for the past 6 months. That swivel I
would call very fast. The Evil swivel is just as fast. The feel seems
spot on to me, I did not have to adapt whatsoever. Good from the first
punch.

Quality? My friend Clint says the quality of this one will blow your
socks clean off.

I went to a music shop this morning (speed bag being a musical
instrument) and came home with a bottle of crystal clear lightweight
trombone slide oil. Might work well for swivels, we'll see.

Did I mention this Evil thing hits great?

I think the ad campaign should read this way:

The Evil Swivel has arrived. Lesser swivels, to your graves !!!!

There is no longer any excuse for a crappy swivel.

Now if you'll excuse me...

[jumpcannon]

Thaks for the great feedback! I hope it satisfies!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Avadia]

Just checked my mailbox and found mine waiting for me. Haven't had a chance to mount it yet, so I will have to update you later on it's performance. But it is a beautiful piece of equipment. And heavy duty, that's for sure.

[Speedbag]

See Evil, Hear Evil, Punch Evil.

My Evil swivel arrived today. I don't have a video camera, so I'll just
have to give you my impressions. Mainly I want to say that this is one
sweet hunk of steel. It was very cold when it arrived, so I set it on
the hot air register to warm it up. It thanked me. Oh, the black oxide
finish is beautiful.

I've been hitting a shoelace swivel for the past 6 months. That swivel I
would call very fast. The Evil swivel is just as fast. The feel seems
spot on to me, I did not have to adapt whatsoever. Good from the first
punch.

Quality? My friend Clint says the quality of this one will blow your
socks clean off.

I went to a music shop this morning (speed bag being a musical
instrument) and came home with a bottle of crystal clear lightweight
trombone slide oil. Might work well for swivels, we'll see.

Did I mention this Evil thing hits great?

I think the ad campaign should read this way:

The Evil Swivel has arrived. Lesser swivels, to your graves !!!!

There is no longer any excuse for a crappy swivel.

Now if you'll excuse me...

Great Review!!

I have a new HD video camera, and when I get mine it will receive a full review, with various bags, freestyle and punch drumming.

and you can bag on that.

[juxt]

good work jumpcannon. i cant wait to see a video of it in action. i shouldn't have wasted my money a couple weeks ago on a plastic ballhook. i got to get one on the next batch.

[jumpcannon]

no prob juxt! I'll let ya know when its about that time!

[Avadia]

I got my evil swivel mounted and played with it today. Here are my impressions. First of all, this is one quality piece of hardware. Solid as . . . well . . . solid as a big hunk of hardened steel. And it just looks beautiful. It mounted perfectly to my Everlast platform. And performed flawlessly (the swivel, that is, not me).

Compared to the U-bolt I have been using, this swivel somehow gives the bags a "heavier" feel when I am hitting them. It doesn't really seem any slower in rebounding, but it somehow makes the bags feel a little heavier on my hands, like maybe I have to hit them a little harder to achieve the same speed that the U-bolt is capable of with a softer hit (when hitting straight-on). Not sure how that is possible, but that is my first impression.

This swivel, as with all ball/hook swivels, makes it harder to keep the bag under control when hitting hard straight on. I am quickly punished for off-center or mis-timed hits, which the U-bolt is much more forgiving of. Ultimately, I expect that it will make me a better bagger because of that. But in the beginning (and believe me, I am a beginner) it is a little more difficult, at least for keeping the bag under control hitting straight on with any kind of pace. But pretty quickly I started to get a feel for it and began to have some longer rallies and put together a few combos.

Having said all that, for any other kind of hitting (side hits, elbow strikes, hits from the rear of the bag, etc), this swivel provides much more control than the U-bolt. Strikes and combos that I simply wasn't able to execute with the U-bolt come pretty easily with this swivel (especially elbow strikes). So again, in that respect, I believe it will make me a better overall bagger once I gain skill and learn a little more control.

Ultimately, I think these impressions are simply a realization of the differences between just about any U-bolt and any ball/hook swivel, and aren't necessarily indicative of anything particular about the design of this swivel. I have only hit on one ball/hook before and that was the plastic everlast version on a cheap platform. So my experience with them is limited at best. I think JC's swivel performs exactly as you would expect a ball/hook to perform. It is fast and requires finesse and control, but is very capable from all angles. It requires a little more power than a u-bolt and is not as forgiving of mishits, but is much more capable when hitting from different angles.

The swivel makes a little more noise than my U-bolt. I tried to quieten it by mounting a thin sheet of foam between the swivel and the board, but that only helped a little. Ultimately, it is steel banging on steel and that is just going to produce some noise. Not too bad, though. Just a little louder than my U-bolt.

This swivel weighs quite a bit more than my U-bolt, and the craftsmanship is superb. I fully expect it to outlast most any other swivel. It is just built like a tank. Congrats to JC for such fine craftsmanship.

And it makes changing bags a joy. Quicker and easier than the U-bolt, which itself is no slouch in this department. The hook tolerance can be a little tight with thicker or wider loops, but I haven't had too much of a problem with any of my bags so far.

My favorite bags to hit on this swivel thus far are my Everlast Elite TE:M and and my Lonsdale Authentic Peanut. The Everlast in particular just seems made for this swivel and performs wonderfully. I can get some amazing speed going with this bag on this swivel. As much as I am bummed about the cracking on this bag, I have to admit that it hits really nicely. The Authentic Peanut is also a great bag on this swivel, and makes all kinds of hits and combos come easily.

So the U-bolt is going to stay on the shelf and the evil one will stay on my board. I am going to try to put some extra hours under the board over the next few weeks to gain some better control. I highly recommend this swivel to anyone who likes a ball/hook swivel and wants a quality piece of equipment that will last. For the price JC charged, I consider it a gift. It is definitely worth more than he is asking, and I wouldn't hesitate to buy another from him at a higher price. I think that pretty much says it all.

[jumpcannon]

Glad you enjoy! Thanks for the feedback!

[paranday]

Avadia, it has a heavier feel, but it will rip. I don't detect any speed difference. I think the heavier feel is natural to ball hook designs in general, but I don't know why that should be. If you slowly push the bag up through the arc you will find there is no hesitation or wasted effort overcoming the swivel. It glides wonderfully. The hook adds a bit of weight to the whole set-up, but it's added at the top of the bag.

I tried to measure the weight required to push the bag up the arc and I come up with the same figures for both of my swivels. I used a postal scale. I'm not an engineer or anything, so maybe my test is bogus. My other swivel is a shoelace type.

The shoelace swivel is about as close to frictionless as possible, cotton on shiny steel is slippery without lubrication. But with light oil, the ball hook seems identical. The trombone oil I'm using seems ideal, it's as thin as water.

Ball hooks make noise. I think that's part of why some people like them. As for hitting them straight, it's been so long since I hit a chain-link I don't even remember what that's like. Anyway, now that you've taken the "training wheels" off the bag, get training. It's like riding a bike, once you learn to hit with an omnidirectional swivel, you never forget.

[Avadia]

Avadia, it has a heavier feel, but it will rip. I don't detect any speed difference. I think the heavier feel is natural to ball hook designs in general, but I don't know why that should be.

Yes, that's what surprised me, Paranday. It seems just as fast, but definitely feels a lot heavier than the u-bolt. Which doesn't seem to make logical sense. Perhaps it carries more momentum from the weight of the ball and hook. I don't know. But it definitely feels heavy, yet is still lightning fast.

Anyway, now that you've taken the "training wheels" off the bag, get training. It's like riding a bike, once you learn to hit with an omnidirectional swivel, you never forget.

Yep, I figure I'll master it soon enough with a little extra time under the board. And like you say, once I'm used to it, I won't remember any different.

[paranday]

Yes, that's what surprised me, Paranday. It seems just as fast, but definitely feels a lot heavier than the u-bolt. Which doesn't seem to make logical sense. Perhaps it carries more momentum from the weight of the ball and hook. I don't know. But it definitely feels heavy, yet is still lightning fast.

The heavier feeling may be just a perception, because it goes away. You get used to the different feel rather quickly. Also, maybe we just learn to punch the ball hook more efficiently.

The shoestring swivel pivots lower down from the drum, might this give the bag a slightly different sweet spot? Some of the "pro" u-bolt swivels look like they pivot lower down from the board, but I don't have one to measure. The ball of the Evil swivel pivots in the housing at about 3/4" down from the board, eyeballing it with a tape measure. The shoestring swivel I built pivots at a point 2" below the drum. Quite a bit different starting point, but the arc is actually very short on the shoestring, depending how much string you use.

At any rate, the initial feel of the ball hook is not in any way a negative. For examples of speed potential, just look at what Skunk does with a ball hook. For the u-bolt, see what Scissorhands does.

The variables of the speed bag are many. As Alan pointed out, how the weight is distributed in the bag influences the feel and action. The type of swivel adds it's own variables. The arc adds an influence. The shape of the bag, the materials, the bladder, etc. This could keep a physicist busy for a long while trying to describe what is taking place and why.

[TJ_MaTee]

Yeah Avadia, I learned on a ball/hook swivel, and yes, they are definitely not very forgiving and will be your truest reflection on "where" you hit the bag and how it's going to rebound. It will make you a better bagger and enable you to do a wide variety of techniques without any type of resistance (that you might encounter with a u-bolt or chain link swivel) when going from straight punches to side or angled punches. It allows you to mix things up, to use any combo (linking) of punches consecutively.
And Yes, the metal ball/hooks are noisier. That's the appeal of them to me. One of the coolest aspects of hitting the speedbag is the rhythm of it. The metal ball/hook swivs
by far sound the best in terms of being able to hear the combinations/techniques your doing. It's a good learning tool and also they're the best for punching to music.
It's awesome the JC took it upon himself to create these gems. You cannot find a quality "all metal" ball/hook swivel on the market (other than the one company -don't even remember their name-with a terrible track record for taking you money and not delivering). And the Everlast plastic ball/hook is getting harder to find.
In closing, (If you couldn't already tell) I prefer the Ball/Hook swivel, especially the metal ones. Once your used to it, you might not want anything else!

[fingers]

Ok sold!! JC can you sign me up for one of your next batch please!! thanks Fingers.

[Tim]

Yes, that's what surprised me, Paranday. It seems just as fast, but definitely feels a lot heavier than the u-bolt. Which doesn't seem to make logical sense. Perhaps it carries more momentum from the weight of the ball and hook. I don't know. But it definitely feels heavy, yet is still lightning fast.


Yep, I figure I'll master it soon enough with a little extra time under the board. And like you say, once I'm used to it, I won't remember any different.

Ball hook swivels definitely have a different feel than a u-bolt. It's easier to go fast on a u- bolt , with all other things being equal. The ball hook requires a lot more precision, but the reward is overall better bagging skills, plus accurate rebounds from side punching. Many people give up on the ball hook too soon, as it is a hit to the ego when you first make the switch. however, stick with it for two weeks and you'll be back up to speed before you know it.

[Tim]

Great piece of equipment - solid with a lot of heft to it. Built like a tank. It's about as tall as an Everlast metal ball hook. Jump nailed the S hook part - easy to put any bag on, and they stay on. No bags flying off. I beat mine as hard as I could for about an hour and no problems. The eye hook stayed firmly affixed. Performs just like a good ball hook should. Makes side punching easy. It looks terrific, especially the black oxide coating. Shame it's hanging on the bottom of the board and won't be seen much. It sounds great and has the distinctive click-a-clack of metal on metal contact. No hiding mis-hits here.. this thing will keep you honest (that's good).

I'm totally and utterly satisfied. Not to mention the satisfaction of using a HAND MADE piece of equipment from one of our members, one of our very own bag brethren.

You better double the quantity on the second run This is the way metal ball hooks should be done.

I really can't thank Jump enough for doing this. I know it was no small feat, but the end results are magnificent.

Enough talk, let's see it: