Team Blog

-- Contributed by Kevin Ryan,
   guest blogger

Entry 5: Day Two


Chatting with Gil Hibben about the evolution of the Web

Gil Hibben is about as down to earth as they come considering the man is a living legend when it comes to blades.

Gil’s working on some new designs now but I promised I wouldn’t say anything about them. Given some of his concerns about the Web, I understand the need for secrecy.

Gill grinds every knife himself right here in his Kentucky workshop. Gil made a knife for Elvis (more on Elvis later). Woody Harrelson’s character carried Gil’s Bowie knife design in the movie, “Natural Born Killers.” “Rambo” carried Gil’s blades in “Rambo 3” and “Rambo 4.” Gil’s had an amazing career and his knives have been featured in more than 36 different movies and TV shows. He is also president of the Knifemaker’s Guild. Gil calls his big red working barn “the shop that Rambo built.” Gil’s wife Linda has another name for it, “no longer in our basement.”

After a brief tour of the shop, Gil was kind enough to invite me up to the house for a tour of some of his more impressive knives. This one was made at the behest of New York City Fire Department and is constructed of steel from World Trade Center Towers that were attacked and destroyed on September 11, 2001.
 

(P.S. This is what Kevin looks like after 14 hours on the road.)

There are two ways to acquire a Gil Hibben blade. United Cutlery builds large volumes of Knives of Gil’s design and Gil receives a licensing fee for them. You only need to search “Gil Hibben” on eBay to see what I am talking about.
The other way is by contacting the master himself. And bring more than some pocket change if you want Gil’s art.

I asked Gil how the Web has changed the way he does things. What are the plusses and minuses?

Gil noted that the speed at which things happen changed dramatically. Gil’s wife and business partner, Linda, quickly chimed in with how the Web offers a series of changes like same day shipping and faster credit card transactions. Both found the speed at which things change to be remarkable.

For example, over 20 years ago the Rambo 3 knife, a numbered series of 350, was released. These knives took nearly two years to sell out. Of course there was no Internet back then, and Gil even has a few still available today. Rambo 4 blades were limited run of 100 and were gone to collectors in only two months.

Another example is the Rambo 3 knife. Each has a serial number. The Hibben’s track—but do not set—aftermarket prices (the sale and price of each knife as it moves around the world). Both were amazed at the pricing architecture and increases. An original Gil Hibben blade can fetch at minimum $500 US, up to and beyond $20,000 for a collector.

Linda noted another upside lies in the ability to avoid fraudulent transactions from collectors attempting to use some ill-gotten means. Jill cited a very large sum of money that might have changed hands had it not been for today’s information-fed society.

Linda noted the downside of a web presence is copying designs, misinformation. For example, when bidding on Gil Hibben terms in paid search online advertising, one will find a plethora of well… in Hollywood it’s called an "homage," but in Kentucky (and where I grew up ) the “homage” would be followed closely by a beating, then perhaps some costly trademark litigation.

Design patents and trademark protection may save the day following the short period (14 years) that patent remains strong.

The final drawback lies in the simple process that can appear complicated to the laity. Remember that we are not all digerati. Simple functions like logging into a computer can be a feat for many, many people. Forget about loading images, tagging them correctly and pulling them together.

Well, with the Knife Makers Guild Show coming up in a Ghostly Louisville Hotel this September, we’ll see some of those great designs there. As we wound down the interview, I asked Gill about all those phony personalities out there trying to be something they are not; in a nutshell the fall of personal communication and the rise of digital social communities.

Gil said, “You can pretend to be something you’re not, but sooner or later the truth will come out.”

Next up: The Ghostly Hotel in Louisville and “Walkin” down the aisle in Memphis.