In Honor of Mr. Hibben

[Grant Lamontagne]

I've met a lot of designers, but unfortunately Gil Hibben is not among them- yet.  Suffice it to say, I hope to one day meet the man and shake his hand and thank him for helping me get into knives- or more realistically, helping me to realize that there was indeed real people involved in knifemaking and design. 

Gil was the first "name brand" knifemaker I knew of and I followed his work as closely as I could, wondering why the hell a brilliant designer like him would have his fantastic knives cranked out by a crap company like United.  To this day I'm still not certain I have the answer to that question, but that hasn't stopped me from investing in a few of his knives over the years and lusting after a few others.  In my younger days I could often be seen at my local knife shop drooling over the Dragon Lord and Double Shadow.





Because of the cheap steels and low quality construction of United Cutlery's entire product line, they are not a company I think about often, and as such I haven't thought about Hibben in a while either- until recently when some good news came along that a sword he had made for Sylvester Stallone in the 80's had been returned to him after being sold by Stallone after Stallone sold off over 800 personal items.





As the story goes, Stallone and Hibben have been friends for many years and he has many Hibben knives and swords in his collection.  A private collector purchased the sword and matching dagger and presented them back to Hibben as a gift. 

Then the most recent news about Mr. Hibben broke, which is not nearly as pleasant as the return of his sword, and I absolutely felt that a thread to honor the man was very long in coming, given the massive influence he has had on the knife using, making and designing community.  I wish him all the best in his recovery, and I would like very much to share a couple of the Hibben pieces in my collection as a small tribute to the man who is truly a legend in this industry.

The first one is a knife that I never really thought much of, but bought anyway.  To this day I'm not entirely sure why- it is a pure fighter, and I'm not much of a knife fighter.  Even in the days when I thought I was, I really wasn't, and I have a lot of stitches to prove it.  Still, there was always something about the Claw that I liked.



I think it was a predecessor of sorts to the number of combat Kerambits that flooded the market a number of years ago.  When I entered my tactical knife phase there were numerous discussions of the limitations of reverse grips and it was generally regarded as something that a "real knife fighter" wouldn't do because of the extremely limited attack range. 



The Claw was an interesting design at the time because it was meant for use in a reverse grip, but didn't really limit your range much because of the angle of the blade. 



I liked it because of the quick draw sheath which allowed the blade to be drawn quickly.  With a little practice you could grab the handle and unsnap the retention snap, and due to the shape of the handle it would orient itself naturally in your hand.  I wore this knife on my duty belt for a long time, even though it really had next to no actual utility beyond stabbing things.



The drawbacks to this design were mostly from United though- getting past the limitations of a pure fighter for EDC, I felt that the steel was a bit too soft to have such a long, thin point and so it didn't get used for much for fear it would break.  Additionally the soft steel used was almost impossible to put a decent edge on, and if you did manage to it would never keep it for long.  Also, I preferred the look of kydex or plain leather to the basket weave, but that's not really a deal breaker! 

Def

[Grant Lamontagne]

Next up is a set of knives that Mr. Hibben was much more famous for- his throwers.  Hibben is an expert knife thrower and has written pretty much the definitive book on knife throwing.



While the tactical crowd was discussing how a knife is usually a last ditch weapon and how throwing away your last chance for surviving is a bad idea, Hibben continued making better and better throwing knives.  There are numerous generations of these knives, and I have had most of them at one point or another, but these are the ones that stuck with me over the years- no pun intended! 



In addition to being great throwing knives (and I know they are great because I have seen many great knife throwers throwing these knives, even when they have their own endorsement deals and their own designs!) these are actually quite functional for EDC and bushcraft as well.  Each knife is roughly the size of a 91mm SAK, and is very well weighted, which is exactly what you would expect from a throwing knife.



Given that I really suck at throwing and have even broken the tip off a Cold Steel True Flight Thrower, a knife that Cold Steel insists is indestructible and easy to throw.  Yes, my skill is so poor that even the "good" knives fail.  Still, I can usually stick these one slightly more often than not- maybe 52% of the time, which is a very high average for me.



Again due to the soft steel the tips are easy to break off, but as you can see, even my lack of ability hasn't been able to damage these, and each one has been thrown many many times.



These ones come as a set of three and fit neatly in their own slots in the leather sheath.  I always thought this would be good for camping as you could sharpen them each differently and use them according to what they were likely to be used for- sharpen one with a very fine edge for cooking chores, one with a more robust edge for camp chores like cutting packaging, stripping bark etc and another one for dirtier jobs.  You could wrap each handle in paracord or similar to differentiate them and increase grip if you wanted.

I'm sure I have more Hibben designs somewhere in my collection, but these were the ones I found relatively easily and I wanted to share them.  I know I have had even more over the years, and it is a testament to his designs and skill that I even buy them knowing they are United Cutlery, a company I hold in only slightly higher regard than I do Taylor Cutlery.

Get well soon Mr. Hibben.  For whatever it's worth, Dear Ol' Uncle Def is rooting for you.

Def

[icculus]

I had one of those Hibben throwers as a kid and remember trying to practice with it throwing at a dart board. Needless to say it ended up on the floor most of the time and more holes in my parents wall than in the dart board.

[Gerhard Gerber]

His style and my tastes don't align, but respect where respect is due. 

[toolguy]

I certainly hope Ben{Gil}Hibben fully recovers from his illness.My family's prayers are extended to him and his family.

I never could understand the fantasy knife market but I'm certainly happy that the film industry discovered his talent.

I've seen some of his early knives,which he made before I was born and I really liked them.

[derekmac]

I think a Klingon would love those designs!  Not my thing, but they are quite interesting to look at.

[jekostas]

It's always odd to think about Gil Hibben.  Like Def I tend to associate his name with movie knives and fantasy stuff from United Cutlery... but he's also been the president of the Knifemaker's Guild since 2006.  Whatever your personal feelings are on his designs he's obviously highly respected by his colleagues.