Rambo III was the first Rambo movie for which Gil Hibben made knives, taking over from Cutlery Hall-Of-Famer Jimmy Lile, who made the knives for the first two Rambo films. When Stallone contacted Hibben about doing the knife for the third film, Hibben made a prototype hollow-handle survival knife with sawteeth on the spine.
However, Stallone decided he wanted something different and opted for another of Hibben’s designs, the now famous Rambo III bowie. However, the minefield scenes for the third movie already had been filmed with Stallone using the first design, the knife known as the Rescue Mission Knife.
On the 25th anniversary of Rambo III, Hibben teamed with award-winning knifemaker Vaughn Neeley to fashion a limited edition of 100 specially marked, mirror-polished and serial-numbered 25th anniversary Rescue Mission knives. Go here for more information.
Instead of the Rescue Mission Knife, Stallone opted for Gil Hibben’s Rambo III bowie (shown here) as the featured knife for the third film. Stallone had more input on the design of the bowie, including the long cutout in the blade. (Kris Kandler image)
Which of Hibben’s knives in the movie is your favorite? Is it (starting from top above), the Legion Fighter on the cover of the November BLADE® (on newsstands NOW), the Toothpick, the Alamo Bowie or the Double Shadow?
Let us know via a post, e-mail or whatever electronic means you need to use in order to vote.
And please, only one vote per person!
All of the above pictures except for the cover are by Mike Carter.
For the latest knives, knife trends, knifemakers, what knives to buy and where, knife legislation, knifemaking instruction, and much more, subscribe to BLADE® Magazine, the World’s No. 1 Knife Publication. Click on http://www.shopblade.com/blade-magazine-one-year-subscription-us/?lid=blss082112
Frost Cutlery’s new retail knife store will host a Duck Dynasty celebrity Saturday, Dec. 14.
Frost Cutlery’s new retail store will host Duck Dynasty celebrity “Mountain Man” Saturday, Dec. 14. In addition to its own brand, Frost sells a wide range of brands, including Buck and others. This is the iconic Buck 110.
Tim Guraedy, better known as “Mountain Man” from A&E’s “Duck Dynasty” TV show, will be at The Knife Shoppe to meet and greet customers from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The event is free to the public.
Mountain Man is one of several guests Frost will have in the coming months to help promote The Knife Shoppe located by the company’s headquarters and warehouse in Ooltewah, Tennessee. Boasting 9,000 square feet of space, the new store features a wide range of knives and knife brands—not only Frost knives but also those of Buck, Schrade and many others. Swords, hatchets, sharpeners and a wide assortment of other edge-related items also are on the menu.
Frost opened the story this past Black Friday. Company officials decided the store was long overdue to attract the millions of motorists that pass by Frost Cutlery on Interstate 75 each year.
Owned and operated by Jim Frost, Frost Cutlery generates $30 million in annual revenue, including $18 million from Cutlery Corner, a four-hour live knife show the company films and broadcasts four nights a week. The show reportedly reaches 90 million viewers in weekly replays. Frost Cutlery is known for a wide range of knives in its own brand, perhaps most famously the line of Dale Earnhardt knives it has done for many years.
The Knife Shoppe’s store hours are Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. It’s closed on Sunday. For more information call 423-305-6911.
For the latest knives, knife news and more, stay tuned to www.blademag.com.
THOSE WHO KNOW DISSECT TV’S LONG-RUNNING FORGED IN FIRE
Bladesmithing enjoys the same treatment as motorcycle building got in the mid- 2000s—that is, it has become a well-established reality show competition on cable television. Such treatment has ups and downs regarding its effect on the knife industry. Be that as it may, History Channel’s hit show, Forged in Fire, has been on the air for seven seasons, which proves its staying power.
FIF is characterized as both inspirational and gimmicky depending on who you ask. And ask we did—two contestants, a former FIF guest judge and a member of the board of directors of the American Bladesmith Society—with the goal of shedding light on where the hit show lands on the spectrum between the two.
At 19, Josh Smith was the youngest smith to ever achieve ABS master smith status when he did so in 2000. He has appeared on two episodes of FIF. (Brandon Horoho mage)
The long-running TV competition undoubtedly has been an asset to the forging community. For starters, it has introduced the general viewing public to a cast of characters that constitutes a realistic cross section of the knifemaking community. While its list of participants is far from a comprehensive Who’s Who of bladesmiths, one would be hard-pressed to spend more than an hour at the next BLADE Show without encountering a first- person recollection of pounding steel on the small screen.
More important is the awareness such publicity has brought to the craft, according to J.W. Randall, veteran ABS master smith and winner of FIF’s 2017 international championship (season four, episode 19). “It’s brought the public’s awareness around to hand- crafted items, and that’s a good thing,” Randall observed. “It appeals to a lot of people because it’s an old craft, and it’s been brought back, in a sense.”
Indeed, the fiery furnaces easily translate into a burning interest among many of the show’s viewers. For them, witnessing the process of manipulating steel into a knife, sword or axe using fire, a hammer and other assorted machinery and instruments, while facing the adversity of time constraints and random surprises, is at once exciting and inspiring.
ABS master smith J.W. Randall holds his spadroon sword, the one he made to win the International Competition episode of FIF. At left is “Dan the cameraman.” (Tammy Randall image)
“The men and women who compete on this show are engaging in an arena of gladiators,” described ABS master smith Jason Knight, B.R. Hughes Award winner and guest FIF judge during portions of seasons three and four. He agreed that the show’s primary value lies in inspiring its audience to appreciate, and perhaps pursue, a craft that ties together history, art, science and technology from an ancient world. “It’s important in our culture,” Knight added. “People like me hold fast to it, and I want to share it as art.”
Such interest has had a measurable effect on ABS membership, according to ABS journeyman smith, board member and treasurer, Bill Wiggins. “I don’t know what to call it,” he pondered. “It’s not a spike—I’d call it a steady rise in membership since the show started.”
An ABS journeyman smith and treasurer of the ABS, Bill Wiggins said the ABS has enjoyed a steady rise in membership ever since FIF’s debut episode seven years ago. (image courtesy of Bill Wiggins)
He added that the ABS has also seen a lot more turnover lately, with people joining up for a year only to never be heard from again. “We’re still gaining members, though,” he allowed. “There’s good and bad, but the good outweighs the bad.”
“The bad” is definitely part of the mix, according to the story’s sources who were contestants. Though none had the proverbial sour grapes about their FIF experience, the recurring caveat was that good television producers have one goal in mind, which is producing good television—and that doesn’t necessarily translate into total satisfaction for the contestants.
One way to achieve “good television” is to introduce drama. Thankfully, according to Josh Smith, a two- time FIF contestant and the youngest person ever to earn an ABS master smith stamp at 19 in 2000, it didn’t include any typical reality-show-style infighting on the set.
“Everybody needs to realize that they’re trying to make an entertaining TV show, and I think they do a good job,” Smith explained. “The clock provides the drama that they need instead of drama between the contestants.” He added that Mareko Maumasi, his competitor and winner of the “Judges’ Pick” special episode (season four, episode one), is now a good friend. “We didn’t have to become enemies!” Josh emphasized.
Unanimously, those interviewed who appeared on FIF maintained that the contestants should be better paid. “If you’re not sure if you do that show that you’ll be able to make your house payment, don’t do it,” advised Josh Smith, here admiring a red-hot billet in his shop.
TIME TELLS
Regarding the clock, each bladesmith is presented with strict time constraints— typically three hours to forge, grind and heat treat a blade, followed by a round of judging. In a second round, they have three hours to finish and handle the blade, followed by another round of judging.
“Three hours is a totally unrealistic timeframe,” Randall said. “That’s what makes the show interesting. Everything is stacked against you from the front, and that’s just a critical-thinking-and-an- overcoming-adversity deal. If you realize you’re backed into a corner, you have to adjust and come up with something to overcome it to gather yourself some time back on that clock.”
J.W. wipes down the spadroon sword in his shop. Of FIF he said, “It’s brought the pub- lic’s awareness around to hand-crafted items, and that’s a good thing.” (Tammy Randall image)
“A lot of these contestants have no experience, and it’s very entertaining to watch someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing get out there and forge a blade with unknown material,” Knight added. “It’s like throwing them to the beasts. It’s very gladiatorial and can be catastrophic. A lot of people will win by default because competitors will push themselves to the edge or get a bad choice in some garbage materials.”
Jason (left) and his fellow FIF judge, Doug Marcaida, deliver looks that “will keal” at the Winkler Knives booth during the 2018 SHOT Show. (image courtesy of Shelly Knight)
He emphasized that the use of questionable materials adds a dramatic challenge to the mix, and during his time as a judge, Knight would advise the show’s producers on what to make available. “They have no idea about metallurgy, chemistry, physics or any science,” he remembered. “Their job is to produce content, and they have license to do whatever they want because it is entertainment. It’s good television but it’s not good bladesmithing.”
During a third portion of the show, makers have five days, or 40 hours, at their home shop to produce another more elaborate project.
Knight likened the whole production to a television game show made to entertain rather than inform viewers of the actual forging process. “You shouldn’t watch Forged in Fire with an expectation of learning how to forge blades,” he said. “That isn’t what the show is about.”
He should know, as he said he and his wife, Shelly, created the original premise. Before Forged in Fire was ever conceived, Battle of the Bladesmiths began as an ABS competition. “In 2010, Bill Wiggins asked ‘Hey, what could we do at a hammer-in that would be more fun?’” Knight recalled. “Shelly got the idea from Iron Chef. She said ‘What if you did a competition where you have unknown materials, a limited amount of time and you have to make a knife that works?’”
“You shouldn’t watch Forged in Fire with an expectation of learning how to forge blades,” said Jason Knight, here in his FIF garb during a forging demo in Johnson City, Tennessee. “That isn’t what the show is about.” (Shelly Knight image)
Big recurve blades are one of Jason’s specialties. He said he and his wife, Shelly, created the original premise for FIF: the Battle of the Bladesmiths, the first of which was held in 2010 during an ABS hammer-in at Haywood Community College in Clyde, North Carolina. (Matt Cohen/2020 Knight Forge Studio image)
“Jason approached me about doing Battle of the Bladesmiths at the Haywood Hammer-In,” at Haywood Community College in Clyde, North Carolina, Wiggins confirmed. “He won the first one, and since then it has become a yearly event.”
Flash forward to 2014. Knight also competed in and won the first-ever, never-aired pilot episode of Forged in Fire. “I’m glad to have been a part of the founding legacy that no one knows about,” he laughed, adding that he also advised the content producers on 12 of the episodes but remains unlisted as a creator. “I wouldn’t do the show again unless they paid me what I want to get paid,” he added. “What I want to do is what I’m doing. What I want that show to be, it can’t be.”
Smith, who competed on the show twice (including season three, episode five) but never won, said if he could change something about the show, it would be an opportunity to explain the knife project to the judges. “Instead of just handing the sword over to the judges, give me two minutes to talk about it,” he said. “I would have educated those guys about details that otherwise they wouldn’t notice with a cursory glance. I think it would have made a difference.”
He feels like he got a raw deal with his Kora Sword, in which his mosaic damascus was oriented so the pattern lined up, made with all take- down construction and blind-pinned together. “It’s a lot of stuff that no one on TV knew,” he noted. To his credit, changing the rules to allow non-winners to get their knives back was a prerequisite for his return to the show.
Randall said editing was an aspect that bothered him. “I want to be represented for who I am. I don’t want television to modify me and make me be somebody that I’m not,” he said, referring to being “bleeped” twice during his episode when he did not use profanity. “I don’t want to be seen by the world as that guy. That’s not who I am and what I want to represent, and it bothered me.
J.W. and Argentina’s Guillermo Mendoza (left), the two contestants in FIF’s Inter- national Competition, enjoy a reunion at a past BLADE Show. (Tammy Randall image)
“And more so in my closing remarks,” Randall added regarding the editing. “I gave God the credit and the glory at the end of this deal, and I also gave our military a bunch of credit for providing the freedom that we should never take for granted. That all got omitted. Represent people accurately for who they are and what they are.”
MORE JACK
Unanimously, those interviewed who appeared on FIF maintained that the contestants should be better paid. The $10,000 prize, which is only administered to the winner, isn’t enough compared to the month it takes the maker away from his or her work. For non-winners, it is a big financial hit to walk away with nothing. “If you’re not sure if you do that show that you’ll be able to make your house payment, don’t do it,” Smith advised.
“It’s like rolling the dice,” Randall proclaimed. “For me, it’ll take $25,000 to get me back. They’re cutting a fat hog, partner. That producer is making money hand over fist. They asked me to come back and I told them I’m not leaving my shop for 10 grand when I can make more money staying in my shop. Why would I roll the dice and potentially come up empty and lose a month of income?”
Overall, each source in the article was gracious in his comments about Forged in Fire, often reiterating that the drawbacks are tied into the fact that it is a television show. The point is to be entertaining, and it comes at the expense of some grievances about how it should be produced. They unanimously agreed that the most important effect is that it has enlightened and inspired millions of people regarding the craft of forging and knifemaking.
For the latest knives, knife news, trends and more visit blademag.com, BLADE®’s popular Instagram page @blade_ magazine, and on Facebook and Twitter.
KA-BAR Knives will be featured on a new History Channel Show, What People Earn, Sunday, March 10.
Highlighted on the show’s premier episode entitled “Beer, Knives & Football,” the 115-year-old manufacturer will star along with American brewer Samuel Adams.
The March 10 issue of Parade Magazine will run a companion piece on the new show and KA-BAR.
The show will air at 10 p.m. EST in most areas, though be sure to check your local listings.
Of the 45 products that were in the KA-BAR line in 1996, only five still remain in line and one that is/was made in the USA: the 1217 Marine Combat Knife. There are now 85 products made in the USA by American cutlers stemmed in the KA-BAR tradition born in 1898. Among them is KA-BAR’s Zombie® Knives line, the Becker Knife & Tool line, a number of Bob Dozier designs, the TDI Law Enforcement line, Union and traditional KA-BAR knives including the Dog’s Head pocketknives, the Mule line of folders, and more.
For more visit KA-BAR.com or call 800-282-0130.
KA-BAR’s USMC fighting/utility knife, an industry icon.
As with all Johnny Strong knives, the Urban Assassins (top photo) are flat ground from CPM-S35V stainless and heat treated by Paul Bos Heat Treating. Overall lengths: 11.5 inches. (Katie Summers photo) Johnny Strong’s latest movie Sinners and Saints (second photo from top) debuted in January. (Photo: Mark Rutledge; Poster: Dave Burton) The author [left] and Strong [right] (third photo from top) at the author’s house.
Star of Sinners and Saints also makes knives
By Wally Hayes
Through knives I have met some of the most amazing people, one of whom is actor Johnny Strong. Last summer I received an e-mail from Johnny. He was interested in my Dragon Waki he had found on Bladeart.com’s website. We exchanged e-mails about his new waki, music and his interest in knifemaking. I learned Johnny is an actor, musician, martial artist and artist. He has been collecting knives since he was 8.
“It was when I was on tour with my band, Operator, that I got serious about collecting custom knives. I would be on the tour bus searching the web for knife dealers,” he said.
After talking with Johnny and learning a little about him, I suggested he visit my shop and hang out for a weekend. He did—and he jumped in with both feet.
We started out forging two blades to shape. Then I taught him grinding and heat treating. The crash course was three long, fun-filled days. As Johnny told BLADE®, “It was a great experience coming to Wally’s and having him share all his knowledge with me. I learned how to manipulate steel and apply these skills to my edged art.”
As soon as Johnny returned home, he ordered a belt grinder, drill press and some steel. In the past year he has created some very original designs. His computer-drawing skills enabled him to develop a practical and aggressive-looking knife style. As he noted, “With my knives, I like to paint in tactical colors.” His blades are flat ground from CPM-S35V stainless steel and heat treated by Paul Bos Heat Treating.
Johnny has created some unusual blade finishes with a combination of bead blasting and etching. The blades are ground with a wide secondary bevel that makes his knives razor sharp, similar to those by Shiva Ki. Johnny hand carved a mold to make his handles. He casts them one at a time. The handle material is an impact/chemical-resistant resin. The cutouts in the handle butts are multi-purpose prying/shaping tools. He also designed and ordered custom-made black titanium handle fasteners.
Three of Johnny’s models are the Urban Assassin, Canine Assassin and Combat Assassin (this issue’s cover knife; see page 7). Respective blade lengths are 6.5, 8.5 and 11 inches. The blade of the Canine Assassin has a tiger-stripe finish, while the Combat Assassin blade features a sawback. Each blade has what Johnny calls his three-edge design, which was inspired by the knife-combat training he has received. All his knives come with custom leather sheaths.
Sinners and Saints
Johnny has starred in Black Hawk Down, The Fast and The Furious, Get Carter, The Glimmerman and his new action movie, Sinners and Saints. Johnny plays the lead role of Sean Riley, a New Orleans detective.
To prepare for one of the movie’s knife fight scenes, Johnny trained with Ron Balicki for three months. Balicki is well known as a practitioner and teacher of the martial arts, and is a student and son-in-law of Dan Inosanto, a legendary martial arts instructor who studied under Bruce Lee. Balicki is also a top Hollywood stuntman and plays the role of Rucker in Sinners and Saints.
Johnny learned both one-handed and two-handed combative drills. In a knife-fighting scene in the movie, Johnny uses an Allen Elishewitz “Phalanx” folder and a Cold Steel Tai Pan dagger. Balicki plays Rucker, a bad guy Johnny’s character must kill. The knife-fighting scene took two days to shoot. Balicki uses a Cold Steel Voyager folder in the scene.
“Ron has a ton of experience and was great to work with,” Johnny noted. “We wanted to make the knife fighting scene as realistic as possible.” Johnny has a strong background in martial arts with a black belt in Brazilian Ju-Jitsu and is training hard to get in shape for his next movie.
Movies, Music and Knives
This past fall I flew down to Johnny’s to help with his knifemaking and have some fun playing music as well. Music is a big part of Johnny’s life. When not acting, he works on music either for film scenes or his own CDs.
His new album is The War of Art on iTunes. It features two of his Urban Assassin models silhouetted on the cover. I was asked to bring my guitar so I could play lead on a couple of songs in his studio. What a blast—mixing knifemaking with recording music. We worked on edge geometry, sheaths and a new folder design coming out in 2012. Stay tuned for more movies, music and knives from a very talented guy.
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Sylvester Stallone (top) holds the Gil Hibben Toothpick (second from top left, above) in a scene from The Expendables 2. Along with the modified version of Gil’s Alamo Bowie (top left, above), it is a carryover from the first film in the series, The Expendables. The Legion Fighter (fourth from top left, above) is the knife Hibben made expressly for Stallone for the sequel. (photo from The Expendables 3 by Frank Masi; photo of Hibben knives by Mike Carter)
The longest-running custom knifemaker/movie star connection of all time will have another go soon with the imminent worldwide release of the action blockbuster, The Expendables 2.
In 2010, The Expendables, co-written, directed by and starring Stallone, along with an all-star cast of action-film heroes, again employed Gil’s knives. Stallone’s character, team leader Barney Ross, carried a custom Hibben 17.5-inch “Toothpick” model (cover, November 2010 BLADE). Meanwhile, Gunnar Jensen, played by Dolph Lundgren, and Lee Christmas, played by Jason Statham, took turns using a huge, 19-inch custom Hibben bowie.
All of the original Expendables except Mickey Rourke return for The Expendables 2, which at press time was due to open in theaters Aug. 17. The all-star cast has grown with the addition of Chuck Norris and Liam Hemsworth to the Expendables team. Action star Jean-Claude Van Damme joins the cast as the leader of an opposing team of mercenaries, along with his right-hand man, Hector, played by Scott Adkins. Both Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger return with more substantial parts in the new film. The $100 million sequel was filmed in Bulgaria in late 2011.
SLY ON LINE 1
Gil received the call from Stallone early last year to discuss the knives Stallone wanted for the sequel. Two of Gil’s knives from The Expendables will return to the big screen in The Expendables 2. His big custom bowie again will be carried by Lundgren, and both Stallone and Van Damme will be seen with the Toothpick. But Stallone said he wanted more—a lot more.
The amazing 76-year-old Gil set to work and delivered at least 10 different models, including multiple copies of some and a few prop knives with half blades to give the appearance of being embedded into something or someone. As before, some of the knives have the Expendables skull-and-raven logo scrimshawed on the handles by scrimshander Richard “HutcH” Hutchings, who does nearly all of Gil’s scrimshaw work. HutcH also scrimmed the logo on several sets of black Micarta Colt .45 pistol grips Gil provided for the film.
Some of the knives Gil made for the movie were based on previous models he has made during his 55-year career, though some are new designs he made especially for the film. Among those expected to be prominently seen is his Legion Fighter, this issue’s cover knife, a recurve fighter with a 9.5-inch blade of quarter-inch 440C stainless steel. The Micarta handle is sandwiched between a hefty stainless steel guard and buttcap.
One of the new, never-before-seen models is a split-blade fighter, somewhat reminiscent of Gil’s “Double Shadow” knife (second photo from top, third knife down from top left), with a stainless steel guard and buttcap and a handle of black Micarta and amber.
Stallone chose the big bowie that appears in both the original movie and the soon-to-be-released sequel after seeing a similar model, Gil’s Alamo Bowie, on the Hibben Knives website (www.hibbenknives.com). The decision was made to modify it with a different handle of ivory Micarta® that could be scrimshawed with the skull-and-raven Expendables logo seen throughout the original film on tattoos, motorcycles, clubhouse doors and the knives. The long, slender Toothpick carried by Stallone in both movies was an entirely new design Gil developed for The Expendables.
I have seen some stills from the sequel and a couple of preview trailers that show some of the knives very prominently displayed, but it remains to be seen what makes the final cut. “We never know what will actually end up in the movie,” Gil notes. “Sometimes scenes are filmed using the knives and then those scenes get cut in editing. I guess we will find out when everyone else does at the theater.” (Editor’s note: From reports at press time, the Legion Fighter cover knife gets its best movie air time when actor Randy Couture, who plays the role of Toll Road, uses it.)
IMPROVISE AND REVISE
As is usually the case when making knives that will be featured in a film, designs are revised and changed along the way to satisfy the producers, directors, prop masters and actors involved. Once the designs are finalized and approved, Gil has to scramble to get several copies made and delivered to remote filming locations such as Burma for The Expendables and Bulgaria for The Expendables 2. The knives he makes for the films are fully functional and sharpened. In some cases the prop department will make dull replicas that can be safely used in close-up fight scenes.
The Expendables featured an impressive lineup of stars that, in addition to Stallone, Lundgren, Statham, Willis, Couture, Schwarzenegger and Rourke, included Jet Li, Steve Austin and Terry Crews as a team of elite mercenaries. Eric Roberts played the bad-guy/corrupt CIA agent.
The Expendables was No. 1 at the box office in its opening weekend in August 2010. The film’s budget was reportedly $70 million. It grossed over $274 million worldwide by the end of the year, and that is not counting DVD sales. That was certainly enough success to entice movie officials to make a sequel.
REEL STEEL BY THE DOZENS
Gil has made knives for dozens of movies and television shows, including designing and making Klingon swords and knives for assorted Star Trek TV shows and movies, throwing knives in Steven Seagal’s Under Siege, and knives in The Perfect Weapon starring Jeff Speakman. He also has enjoyed a following among Hollywood celebrity collectors, among them Elvis Presley, John Wayne, Steve McQueen and Shelley Berman.
Stallone long has been a collector of custom knives and a fan of Gil’s work. In fact, Stallone ordered some large custom lockback folders based on the Rambo III knife design he had personalized as gifts to Willis and Schwarzenegger during the filming of The Expendables.
The Expendables 2 will be the fourth Stallone film for which Gil has made custom knives. There are Hollywood rumors of further Rambo and Expendables sequels, so you may be seeing more of the Stallone-Hibben connection.
The Expendables 2 is produced by Nu Image and Millenium Films, and is distributed by Lionsgate. It is written by Sylvester Stallone and Richard Wenk and directed by Simon West.
