Hello everyone, new forum member here. I need some help in identifying this Gerber folding knife. It is the size of their old early 70s Folding Hunter, but much slimmer and with an aluminum handle and inlayed hardwood scales.
My apologies for the lack of picture quality, but I took these many years ago with a camera that wasn't the best. However, I can assure all that the blade markings are the same or very similar to the old early 1970s Gerber Folding Hunter that wore walnut or ebony scales. The handle material appears to be polished aluminum with hardwood inserts, and is very well and professionally made. I do not think this was altered after the initial sale, but rather at the factory...but you are the experts on this.
I have wondered if this was a concept knife made internally at the factory for examination and refinement, and Al Mar was design chief there. Perhaps this design was made to compete with Ron Lake's aluminum interframe handled tail lock folder of the early 70s at a reasonable price and light weight for the mass market. Lake's were pocket sized and this is hunter size, but this might have been intended to be a more rugged form of the walnut handled Folding Hunter as the wood scales were rather damage-prone in use, perhaps even for use in fishing as no rust was on it but rather some tarnishing of the blade.
When I purchased this I asked the seller if anything was known about it, but he knew nothing. I made a forum inquiry back then but no one knew anything about it, and now that I'm retired and have more time I'm on the hunt again and hopefully will succeed this time.
Is anyone here knowledgeable about Al Mar’s work for Gerber Knives? I've read that Pete Gerber gave Mar the job of designing an aluminum handle on his kitchen knives in 1967 (American Blade Magazine, November/December 1976, Volume 10, p.14) and after his success the title of Design Chief was bestowed on him. Mar continued to experiment with designs, and was, of course, hired to do aluminum handles. Might he be the designer/craftsman? Perhaps a pet project that never took?
Sorry, I can't figure out how to post the pics. Any help on that?
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