Herb Smith was one of England's greatest boomerang makers and throwers. Herb started making Birch plywood hooks and traditional boomerangs in the 1960s. He was one of the first suppliers of boomerangs to the Boomerang Man in the early 1970s. Before Al Gerhards started making his S/L hooks, Herb Smith was the only commercial supplier of long distance boomerangs. One of the first boomerangs I ever purchased was a large weighted Sussex Hook with a range of 80+ metres. I became an instant fan. Herb was an early Long Distance World Record holder with a carefully documented throw of 108 yards on 17 June 1972 using a large weighted traditional model called the "Gem". In the 1980s, Herb introduced the world to Paxolin material, a dense and hard composite material that significantly extended the range of his plywood models. Herb continued to make plywood models as Sports boomerangs, even after the introduction of the Paxolin models. The Paxolin boomerangs were smaller and usually painted in two colors and with simple line art banding. The wooden models were often decorated with many colorful bands, flowers, birds and occasionally other themes. Herb did most of his own art work, but while he was a prison guard, he employed the skills of master forgers in the prison where he worked. Herb stopped making boomerangs for several years from the late 1980s until the early 1990s. Then in 1992, Herb got his second wind and he began making Paxolin and finely decorated Birch plywood models again. This continued for only a couple of years. Herb lost his life to bone cancer in 1995. Herb's models have become among the finest of collectable boomerangs and the supply continues to diminish.

This item is the " Sussex Hook " made out of 3 mm Paxolin. The upper surface is painted dark blue with gold tips and there are red and black border lines. The underside is painted dark blue and has " The Sussex Hook " and " July 1986 " written in black ink. This boomerang is in excellent, almost new condition. There is a Boomerang Man sticker on the underside of the dingle arm. I have not thrown this one, but I would expect it to have a range of 60-80 metres and it would require a moderate to high power throw.