Paul Champagne Died of a Heart Attack

[bond_fan]

I just read on several forum and saw the obituary where noted blade smith, Paul Champagne, just died of a heart attack on April 11, 2009.

(http://www.saratogian.com/articles/2009 ... 931232.txt)
Paul J. Champagne

GREENFIELD CENTER — Paul J. Champagne, 45, died unexpectedly Saturday, April 11, 2009 at Saratoga Hospital, surrounded by his loving family and friends.

He earned his bachelor’s degree in marketing and management from Siena College.

Paul worked as an engineer/manager for Stephen Bader Company in Valley Falls.

As a master swordsmith of Japanese, Chinese and European swords and daggers, Paul was world-renowned. His work has been featured on the History Channel, in documentaries and in many publications.

Paul loved the outdoors. His interests include hiking, sailing, camping and traveling. He also enjoyed books, music and keyboards, cooking, computer games, martial arts and history.

He loved and enjoyed life, his family and friends.

Paul is predeceased by his mother, Joan Butsch Champagne.

Survivors include his wife, Ann Olsen; his father, Robert Champagne of Colonie; his brother, Marc Champagne (Giuliana Iannuzzi) of Guilderland; his sister, Lisa Champagne (Noah Francis) of Guilderland; and his nieces and nephews, Olivia, Emilia, Brit, Caroline, Giada and Dominick.

Other Forums

http://www.thearma.org/Paul_Champagne.htm
http://15minutelunch.blogspot.com/2009/ ... waits.html
http://www.myarmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=16139

My condolences to his family, many friends and the sword community.

Champagne was one of the few modern blade smiths that took an interest in Chinese arms, unlike the majority who specialize in Japanese arms like he used to do. From my conversations with Rodell Laoshi, Champagne was studying the techniques of the original Chinese blade smiths and trying to incorporate these techniques for projects he was working on. I was told it was common for him to build and destroy several swords just for experimentation purposes. I'm sure that those who collect Chinese arms like myself were eager to see what beautiful, authentically designed and interesting pieces he was creating. It is a great lose for the Chinese arms community.

[Peter Dekker]

Champagne was one of the few modern blade smiths that took an interest in Chinese arms, unlike the majority who specialize in Japanese arms like he used to do. From my conversations with Rodell Laoshi, Champagne was studying the techniques of the original Chinese blade smiths and trying to incorporate these techniques for projects he was working on. I was told it was common for him to build and destroy several swords just for experimentation purposes. I'm sure that those who collect Chinese arms like myself were eager to see what beautiful, authentically designed and interesting pieces he was creating. It is a great lose for the Chinese arms community.

I heard the news this tuesday as well. What a loss...

Apart from swords he also took an interest in Chinese arrowheads so I sent him some to do tests on, he would reproduce some for me as well. There is so much I still wanted to ask him but I thought that time would still come. The last I heard from him was that he was really happy with the arrowheads I sent him, along with some drawings, and couldn't wait to get started.

I never personally met him but we've had some regular email contact. Apart from his knowledge and skill he seemed like a great guy, generous, driven by an unstoppable curiosity, and always pretty modest on his own accomplishments. But what I've seen must have only been a twinkling reflection of what he meant to the people that met him in real life.

My regards to any he left behind.

-Peter

[Nik]

This is very unfortunate news. Strangely, my weapon smith who is in his early 50s also had a heart attack recently (but survived and got a bypass and monitor). I wonder if that is related to their working environment, since I felt uneasy in his hut too, from the feel of the air.

Nevertheless, best wishes to the family.

[bond_fan]

It is a sad loss, his passing! I never got the chance to talk to him other than through a response to a thread. I think that would have been an enjoyable experience to meet him in person.

I hope you can get your arrowheads back?

[Scott M. Rodell]

Paul Champagne
1963 - 2009

It is with genuine sadness that we mark the passing of Paul Champagne, Master Swordsmith and true friend.

Paul was a man totally dedicated to his art and I feel very fortunate to have known him, learned from his many years of practical experience and to have been his friend. As a consummate artisan, Paul forged blades for the simple joy of forging and learning from the process. He never wanted to make a living from his craft, though it is likely he could have lived quite well off his skills. He explained to me that he just couldn't afford the distraction of providing customers the service they deserved and forging what the client wanted, when he was busy working on other research projects. And it seemed he was always working on several projects at once. When his interests turned to forging Chinese Swords I was slowly able to convince him to allow me to represent his work, handling customer relations, so that swordmen would once again have access to traditional hand forged swords, while not interrupting his work.

I spoke with Paul a few days after his heart attack. He sounded tired but not too bad, and expected to make a full recovery. Paul had been working on a commissioned jian with a horse tooth pattern for months. As was usual for Paul, he repeatedly tested the blades he was forging to the point of destruction. He typically forged the same blade 4 or 5 times, breaking each one to test it, before he was happy with the end product. Paul particularly wanted to get the horse tooth edge looking right. I always wanted to say, "Paul, Man, don't break 'em all, lot's of guys (like me) would love to have one of those less than 'prefect' swords."

Paul spoke about having got things all set up the way he wanted to start forging blades, both Chinese and European, at a faster pace than the one he had just spent months forging and reforging. Alas, it was not to be. A week later he collapsed at home and could not be revived. Paul had just finished his first jian with a horse tooth pattern blade just before he passed.

Paul, you are missed by a great many people and we are very much the poor having lost you, thanks for all you gave us...

A Tribute to Paul from another of his good friends, John Clements can be found at:
http://www.thearma.org/Paul_Champagne.htm

[Scott M. Rodell]

Paul sent me a few photos his wife took of him at the forge working on jian blades...

[Scott M. Rodell]

Seeds of a jian blade, the billets Paul used to forge his last blade...

[bond_fan]

Laoshi,

Thanks for the pictures of Paul at work and the billets which would be come the jian he was working on. I hope that when the owner of the jian gets it he will post nice close-ups of the jian on forum, so we can see the finished work and appreciate the beauty of it as well.

[Scott M. Rodell]

One of the great things about Paul was the way he got his hands "dirty" actually doing things, in a world full of arm chair experts, Paul walked his talk... there's a nice clip of him in the Trailer for "Reclaiming the Blade" (which I would recommend) -
http://www.reclaimingtheblade.com/RTBtrailer.html

"I don't like reading about it & putting the book on the shelf, I want to do it." -Paul Champagne

[bond_fan]

Cool and a brief cameo by Paul as well!

[J HepworthYoung]

Irreplaceable.
This came as a shock to me.

I can only say that I am glad that he lived in a time when the technology allowed him to touch so many lives of people with similar interests. If not for this I never would have known of him or his fine work, and I am grateful to have been able to learn from his influence in the sword world.

May his work and words continue to inspire for as long as his steel may endure.

[johnnyvirgil]

Hi there. I know this forum is for Chinese blades but if anyone would like to see some pictures of the last japanese style blade we worked on together, please let me know and I can post them.

[bond_fan]

Sure please put them up.

[johnnyvirgil]

Thanks, I hope you enjoy them. I am honored he asked me to do his saya, since I'm by no means an expert. We learned a lot together, and had tons of fun talking about bladed weapons of all types.

Since the pictures are large and don't scale all that well, here's a photobucket link.

http://s462.photobucket.com/albums/qq34 ... =slideshow

[bond_fan]

Nice looking sword! I take it is a mono steel and if not please tell us about the blade, materials etc.?

Thanks!