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.

I acquired this beautiful boomerang directly from Al Gerhards nearly 30 years ago. This large left handed offset strip laminated hook has 3 lead weights in each tip. It was constructed using Al's special offset lamination technique. Offset lamination construction involves the gluing two S/L blanks together so that the top and bottom layers have strips that are offset from each other. This adds strength and stiffness to the finished boomerang. Only a few boomerangs were made using the offset strip lamination process. This is one of the first ones, made in the 1970s, and it was a prototype of the famous White Lightning Hook that Al used to set a world record in long distance throwing. This boomerang is not signed or dated. Al would not sign any boomerang that he was not 100% satisfied with. I asked Al why he would not sign this hook and was flabergasted to hear the reason. Al does not like to make boomerangs out of thin strips or different species of wood. When he constructed this boomerang, he was completely happy with it until it was fine sanded and a coat of oil was applied to both surfaces. A single strip of Ash was accidently mixed in with the strips of Oak and the color and grain look similar until stain is applied. If you look closely at the photo below, you will see that there is a single strip of a very light colored wood on the underside only. That strip of wood is Ash. Although the flaw is only cosmetic, Al refused to sign it. This is a terrific hook that I have enjoyed in my collection for more than 30 years. It was a good long distance flyer in my younger and stronger throwing days. It is in near mint condition with no cracks or dings and it has a smooth satin finish. The construction is perfect, except for the strip of Ash that snuck into the construction process. There is only one other large lefty offset laminated hook that I am aware of and that one also has a single strip of Ash This is a very rare collectable in the best of conditions.