Rusty Harding is one of America's best known boomerang manufacturers. I first met Rusty in 1979 when Rusty and I lived in Florida only 30 miles apart. Rusty was already an experienced boomerang thrower and manufacturer. I had been throwing longer than Rusty, but Rusty put a lot more effort into making premium boomerang products. The quality products that I made and sold in the 1980s and 1990s was highly influenced by my association with Rusty.. Rusty was left handed and his lefty booms were exceptional. He made a large number of sporting and competition boomerang models. In the 1970s and early 1980s, Rusty made boomerangs from his home in Vero Beach, Florida. In the early 1980s, Rusty moved to Lebanon, Tennessee where he continued to make boomerangs until the late 1990s. Rusty's old classics, especially those from Vero Beach, have become valuable collectables. The boomerangs that have the highest collectable value are the Concept models that were made out of lapped hardwood boards and with angles of 70 or 90 degrees. These were sometimes weighted. His Hurricane Hook and Contender [omega] designs are the most popular sporting models. Rusty died in November 2010 after a lengthy battle with coronary disease, so his models continue to grow in demand.

This small hook is a half scale replica of Herb Smith's Birch plywood Tigabo hook. It was made as a gift to Max Hoeben in 1979 and it has one of Max's paper label collection tags. The underside of the lift arm has "Short range model for Max Hoeben, a great friend". The elbow has " handcrafted miniature boomerang by Rusty Harding, Vero Beach, Florida, USA, Sept 30, 1979" written on the underside and the dingle arm has " 1/2 Scale Herb Smith's 'Tigabo' Hook". The colors aren't as bright as the day it was made more than 30 years ago, but it was rarely thrown and is in excellent condition. I did test throw it and found that it is a good (not great) returner with a flight range of about 15 metres. It would probably be easy to give this some tuning and turn it into a great flyer.