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THE HOBBIT WARRIOR STORY
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THE HOBBIT WARRIOR STORY

The Warrior knife, the Predecessor of the Hobbit, was designed in 1978 by Bob Taylor and Randy Wanner, both of whom had extensive training in Close Quarters Combat and between them had amassed over forty years of training and teaching. The late Michael Echanis was also doing research on the failings of "Combat Knives". Echanis's research and theories reinforced what they already knew, "Combat Knives" available at that time were only rehashed ideas of the Bowie, Tanto, and Dagger which were centuries old with no major changes. The problem with these designs was that they weakened the grip and/or provided limited motion. The Warrior was designed as a pure combat knife used primarily in the reverse grip style. The Warrior increased the strength of the user and added full range of motion. The serrated secondary edge, the "soft handle" and the curve of the Warrior were unheard of at the time.
After building the first non-working prototype Mr. Taylor took the basic design and utilized a HP-3000 Main Frame computer and maximized the angles to even further enhance the Warriors capabilities. A number of working prototype's were produced by a number of custom makers and the Warrior became a reality. Unfortunately the Warrior design was deemed impossible to build with the manufacturing capabilities of that time. None of the factory makers even wanted to attempt to make the Warrior.

In 1991 Al Mar, a innovator in the industry and radical designer himself, decided to attempt to manufacture the Warrior. Al Mar figured that manufacturing technology had caught up with the design. AMK started to manufacturing their version of the Taylor/Wanner design in Japan. While the basis of the Warrior was intact, the original design called for 3/16th 154CM or ATS-34, the Japanese manufacturer decided to use a cheaper 440 series and increased the thickness of the blade to compensate. The guard was also oversized because of inferior materials. The solid steel skull crusher was also over weight. All of this additional weight slowed the knife down and made it very handle heavy, so it never realized its full potential. To further degrade the Warrior the subdued coating did little for protecting the metal beneath.

The Japanese manufacturers refused to pay royalties and ended up basically stealing the design. In 1995, the design was withdrawn from AMK. The only Warrior designs currently in production are the inferior rip offs being manufactured in Japan and Taiwan.

Bob Taylor, also known as the Hobbit from Hell, listened to those who used the Warrior in the Special Operations and Law Enforcement sector, as well as civilians who realized the Warriors potential. They loved the inherent design but felt the Warrior was simply to heavy and big. Many of the knife fighting experts including Eric Remmin, James Keating, Kelly Worden and Greg Walker, felt the Warrior design to be at the top but it was still lacking. In 1992 Mr. Taylor started researching the possibility of down sizing the Warrior and making a smaller more street sized knife, without sacrificing the basic design and features of the original Warrior design. A series of prototypes were produced in 1993 and 1994. In early 1995 the final basic design was finalized and the first preproduction Hobbits were introduced at the 16th Soldier of Fortune Convention in September of 1995. The Hobbit was so well received that the decision to manufacture the Hobbit was made.

The first prototypes of the Hobbit Warrior were distributed to trainers and operators before the design was finalized. After seeing these prototypes a number of manufactures offered to manufacture the design but only in Japan. Having been there and done that and not getting fair treatment Mr. Taylor declined. If the Hobbit couldn't be manufactured in America then the knife would stay as a custom offering. The Hobbit and Mr. Taylor's other designs for Specialized Equipment were sold to Round Eye Knife & Tool. Because Round Eye had more than just the Hobbit to manufacture, the cost could be brought down. The dream of an American Made, Semi-Custom version of the Hobbit at a price that was affordable became a reality.

The Field Grade version starts with a precision laser cut blank of 5/32 ATS-34 and is hand ground by our skilled craftsman. The Presentation model is ground out of 1050 High Carbon & L6 Nickel Damascus steel made by Master Blade Smith Bob Brothers. Throughout the grinding process, the Hobbit undergoes constant quality control.

After the finish grind, the Field Grade Hobbits are heat treated with a cryogenic quench at 100 degrees below zero for 18 hrs by Paul Bos, the cutlery industries best heat treater, to bring out the best in the ATS-34. The Presentation models are differentially heat treated by Bob Brothers. Each and every Hobbit is then tested for Rockwell hardness. After being returned from heat treat each Hobbit is inspected and tested before the guard is added.

Because the Hobbit was designed as a combat knife to increase its durability and corrosion resistance the Hobbit is coated with Black T® . Black T® is a proprietary process exclusive to W.E. Birdsong and Associates. Black T® is usually reserved for automatic weapons and is used for it's durability, lubricity, and corrosion resistance, which supersedes Mil Spec by a wide margin. The entire Hobbit is totality encapsulated in Black T® to ensure the Blade, Guard, and Tang are thoroughly protected. There are cheaper coatings we could use but nothing compares to Black T® .

The Skull Crusher is machined from aircraft aluminum and is hard anodized to a Rc 50-55 prior to being coated with Black T® . Each Hobbit is inspected again before adding the heat & chemical resistant rubber handle and skull crusher.

The Kydex® sheath is hand fitted, in our shop, to each knife on a individual basis, to insure a perfect fit. With all of the attention to quality and detail the Hobbit is sure to give you a lifetime of service.

The pictures are of the SOF special edition knife there was only made 10 Eeker

Pictures By M Welce thumb

Cheers,

André








The Field Grade version



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MIKE ECHANIS AND RANDY ARE TWO EXAMPLES OF SOF MAGAZINE WRITERS FOR EXAMPLE ECHANIS WAS A VIETNAM VET INJURED IN COMBAT AND A MASTER OF HWA RANG DO ,HE WAS ONE OF THE FIRST TRAINERS OF UDTS SEALS AND GREEN BERETS IN CLOSE COMBAT,THEM WITH RANDY WENT TO NICARAGUA AS ASSESORS AND DIED THERE ,BUT THEY LIVED A TRUE WARRIOR LIFE ,I RATED ECHANIS AS ONE OF THE BEST KNIFE TRAINERS EVER LIVED,.JUAN


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Juan Jæger

Do you like this knife style ? It is made for reverse grip style fightig. I know that you like the reverse grip.

I like the Rakat Hobbit warrior very much, lots of ideas went into this knife, Al Mar also made a Hobbit warrior knife.
The blade of the Hobbit Warrior is hard to do and production cost is high that is one of the main reasons that they did not come into full production.


LInk to picture of the Al MAr warrior version of the knife

http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0873647327/ref=sib_dp_p...-9079037#reader-link

Cheers,

André


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personally ill like it to kill wild boars but not formy style of figthing,Greg Walker the famous green beret expert in knives uses it in forward grip indeed is in the top of his book combat blades ,Echanis uses reverse and forward grip but he prefers revesrse for contact and forward for long distance i easily change to forward for long distance ,recently in a seminar i easily destryed a ufc and ex israeli comando with the reverse grip and your marks andre he couldt perform his jujitsu traps before my cuts.juan


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Posts: 6362 | Location: Cordoba argentina | Registered: 26 July 2004Reply With Quote
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Adre please put somephotos of echanis and randy waner and bob taylor they are real warriors in a world of armchair writers.juan


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Juan Jæger

Here they are:
The tree warriors behind the Rekat Hobbit warrior knife.

Randy Wanner left in black shirt.



Bob taylor



Michael Echanis



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Posts: 2293 | Location: The Kingdom of Denmark | Registered: 13 January 2004Reply With Quote
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Andre jaeger ,i read about Echanis Taylor and Wanner in early sofmags indeed i have one of them with a great tribute to Echaniis in the central page he has a great knolowegment of the ki the internal energy and he uses that to figth with a lot of his pupils and win them hes a legeng among early sof operators ,some argentine sf know him in nicaragua and they said to me he was a samurai who combine ancient believings with actuall training he created and trained nicaragua special forces.juan


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Echanis teaches unarmed combat to the seals,green berets and udts ,he teacches all the unconvetional forms of killing ,with a pen,nunchakus,knife ,baton,chains,bow crossbow,spear etc,he also teaches camouflge and in this he was a real master he believes in thinking you are a tree and the others will see a tree hes teachings are very useful to special operators worlwide and his manuals were the fist in its type.He worked for Robert K. Brown in a lot of designs of knives for the omega group you can read his articles in early sof mags.juan


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while in the army we read a lot of manuals about echanis basic baton and knife verygood indeed ,wanner was one of the founders of nicaragua special forces tooo and was killed with echanis.Taylor mde a lot of demostrations in sof conventions regarding martial arts and knives i believe hes fond of bowies knives.We have been testing yarara knives with martin aka afrikaner we will send you photos jaeger .juan


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Juan Jæger

I look forward to the pictures of your knife hunting.

Here is another picture of my Rekat Hobbit Warrior.

Cheers,

André



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Posts: 2293 | Location: The Kingdom of Denmark | Registered: 13 January 2004Reply With Quote
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your knife is in the front of combat blades the book of greg walker,afrikaander has the photos hes like us a warrior and hunter with not fear,my dogs liked him a lot hes from an old family of soldiers.juan


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Juan Jæger
The knife in front of Battle blades is a Al Mar Warrior knife. Looks like the Rekat but is not.

They made the Al Mar Warrior in tree different versions but not in Damascus.

The Al Mar also have one more saw teeth.

Cheers,

André







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Posts: 2293 | Location: The Kingdom of Denmark | Registered: 13 January 2004Reply With Quote
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you always know a bit more ,do you know that Al Mar was a green beret and he was in secret missions in china and laos ,he practiced kendo amog another martial arts AND HE WAS AN EXPERT KNIFE HUNTER I BELIEVE HE KILLED MORE THAN 200 HOGS.JUAN


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Posts: 6362 | Location: Cordoba argentina | Registered: 26 July 2004Reply With Quote
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What you think i believe this knife can be useful for hog hunting ,will you prove the sheath and knife here ,are you training a new group of warriors to hunt here .Echanis based his figthing in hwa rang do but was he an expert in escrima too .juan


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Posts: 6362 | Location: Cordoba argentina | Registered: 26 July 2004Reply With Quote
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Andre im training a lot in knife combat ,tactis,ill but Echanis book in afew months ill finish my officer training ill need your advice in diving when you came we will visit marine units .Put in google comandos anfibios ,and infanteria de marina argentina ,you will see the dogo in uniform ill pick up one uniform for your friend lanhuel.JUAN


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Posts: 6362 | Location: Cordoba argentina | Registered: 26 July 2004Reply With Quote
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Ronin we have been training with an israeli paratrooper who teaches unarmed combat it surprised me a lot that he didnt know anything about combat knife and he told me that he wasnt teached combat knife while in the israeli army.


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