On Sep 24, 2014, Ian McColl wrote:
Hi Jay, thanks, didn't want you to hyjack Ken's thread for a tale of your own. It's good to keep these threads on target. (if you don’t then other off topics like mentalism, palm reading and thugs punching people, or advert for 'quafiki' can creep in).

On Sep 24, 2014, jay leslie wrote:
Ian, Frist off, hats off to Ken. Very few people alive would stand up to that challenge. A few advertise as Escape Artists but don't think outside the box, literally.
So Ian, I would have made a point that the spot welder could not be used while anything was attached to me because of the possibility of electrocution. (Take it for what it's worth) it's possible to pop a spot weld using part of another piece.
I don't know how thick or what type of metal was used but I (me personally) when I was doing "nothing bared" escapes, I carried a steamer trunk with 8 drawers full of tools. Full.
Tool wise, knowing in advance and being able to hide any that would do the trick: a French Sheet Metal nibbler, a pair of reverse-action plyers that push things open, a pair of Vice Grips with a wire cutter, two levers that apply force when crossed like an X. The aforementioned wire saw, possibly some liquid nitrogen. There is also a neat little chain-breaker that works with screw action.

Then there would have been all the "offering" of various body parts, with the warning that if they didn't wrap the chain all the way around me, that I might break out. And standing or bending might have "helped" the volunteers to get the job done "better" but I can't say because I wasn't there. These are all speculations of modus operandi.

I also would have (and have) advertised that "various members from the audience will be selected to help each other, in the tying process" but obviously those Gentleman were H bent on working together with a plan. so. It would be a good idea to make them trip over each other by challenging their manhood and ego about how one is working better or faster then another ... And that might have made someone slip- up.

Finally, if I had a few hours to "Examine" the restraints, I would have done something "very similar" to what Arthur Coghlan did in making his fantastic escapes work. I would have just worked a part here and there, nothing as elaborate as what Mr. Coghlan did on a larger scale, but you get the idea.

Then yet, given enough time it's possible to get inside the spot welder and remove a few coils so the penetration would be less.

That's just off the top of me head since I didn't see the actual parts in question. However it hopefully illustrates the directions I would have considered.

I'm sure that Ken developed a stratagy within a few minutes and with his massive knowledge and experience, obviously made it work.

So Ian, here are my two questions back
1. Who else that's alive do you think could have met this challenge? (I'm only counting 9 to 11)
2. If the others can not meet a challenge, should they call themselves Escape Artists, escapologists or Performance Artists?
The title, Escape Artist, should be reserved for people who don't just buy Hanburg8s and a Seiberian Chain Escape.

But that's just me. Jay, the Dolly fixer.

On Sep 27, 2014, Ian McColl wrote:
So Murray wasn't a escape artist? you are being very philosophical.