Strip Laminated Weighted Hook by Al Gerhards

Item S24        

This Item was Sold on 21 November 2017 for $88


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This beautiful strip laminated hook was made in 1978 out of White Oak. It is signed and dated and numbered 272. This is the standard weighted hook with a full lead weight in each blade tip and a half lead weight in the elbow. There are numerous light penciled notes on the underside. Al always put his hooks through numerous tuning sessions and after each test throw, he would add notes about how to heat tune before the follow up tuning session. Usually these notes were erased from the underside before it went to a buyer. Al left these notes on the boomerangs that he kept in his throw kit. Very few of these hooks survive. Most customers threw them until they hit trees or barns or were lost in the forest. This one has light wear, but the half weight is starting to come lose from the elbow pocket and there are a couple of small cracks starting to radiate from the elbow hole This happens to most of the standard hooks with an elbow half weight. After number 500, Al stopped putting in the half weight. Al would probably tell you to lightly tap the lead weight into the hole and add add some epoxy to the surface or let the weight come out and fill the hole and surrounding area with epoxy. I will tell you to keep this as a historic treasure and make replicas to throw.

Specifications: Right Handed ; Tip-to-tip Span = 39 cm ; Weight = 102 gm


Al Gerhards is one of America's most famous pioneers in the development of long distance boomerangs. Al was an active thrower, manufacturer and competitor in the 1970s and early 1980s. His most popular model is the Standard Weighted Hook which was made out of strip laminated hardwoods. The standard hook was occasionally made without weights, but the majority of these hook boomerangs had a single lead weight on each tip with a unique serial number stamped in the weight near the lift arm tip. The earliest examples (1970s) had an additional half weight inserted into the underside of the elbow. This was discontinued on hooks made in the early 1980s because the elbow weight was often the source for the initiation of strip delaminations. Al also made strip laminated large hooks, small hooks, omegas, traditionals and the awesome Big "U"s. The large hooks were sometimes called "White Lightning" hooks and Al used one of these to set a World Record in the long distance event with a documented throw of more than 125 yards in the late 1970s. Only 500 standard weighted hooks with numbers were made. The last one has a silver star inlayed in the dingle arm tip and this one is displayed in Al's living room in a specially made holder that also displays his world record "White Lightning" hook.

I visited with Al Gerhards in early 2006 and asked him about the integrity of his 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 the owners of his boomerangs rub the surface with Tung oil or Gun oil prior to throwing if it has been in storage. The boomerang should be oiled at least once every 3 months if it is thrown regularly. However, I discourage the throwing of old collectable boomerangs unless it is thrown under very carefully controlled conditions. I would prefer that the owner make a copy of this boomerang for his own use and save the original as a fine collectable.



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