Al Gerhards is one of America's most famous boomerang manufacturers. Al started making strip laminated boomerangs in the 1970s and only made boomerangs until the mid 1980s. Al would spend up to a year test throwing and tuning a single boomerang. He never sold or gave away a boomerang until it was perfect. Al taught himself to tune completely from scratch. Al was my tuning mentor and everything that I contributed to tuning of the MTA boomerang in the early 1980s was a direct result of what I had learned from Al. The Classic weighted hook was the most popular Gerhards boomerang. The Boomerang Man sold a few in his early 1980s catalogs as a regular stock item. They were bought up by eager long distance throwers as fast as Al supplied them to Rich. Supply was always a problem. This model had a typical flight range of 77 yards. A few, made out of heavier woods or with added weights, had ranges out to 100+ yards. Gerhards hooks are not indestructable. The majority of these hooks were thrown until they were broken or until delamination occured. I visited with Al Gerhards in early 2006 and asked Al about the integrity of his laminated boomerangs after 25-30 years. Al assured me that he used strong epoxy glues and that he still throws boomerangs that he made 30+ years ago without any problems. Al recommends that owners of Gerhards boomerangs rub the surface with Tung oil or Gun oil prior to throwing if the boomerang has been in storage. Gerhards boomerang should be oiled at least once every 3 months if it will be thrown regularly. I do discourage the throwing of Gerhards boomerangs unless it is thrown under very carefully controlled conditions by a very experienced thrower who know how to do fine tuning. I would prefer that the owner make a copy of this boomerang for his own use and save the original as a fine collectable.

This long distance Gerhards hook has a single weight in each blade tip and an extra half weight on the underside of the elbow. This boomerang is signed, dated 1979 and the wood is identified as American Elm. It has the serial number 350 stamped into the weight on the lift arm tip. This one was used by Larry Ruhf in early long distance competitions. This boomerang is in excellent condition with only minor edge dings on the tip of the dingle arm. There are no signs of delamination in the elbow area which is common on hooks that were made with a half weight in the elbow. Very few still exist in this condition.