Glen Hornby hunter

Bigfattyt

Bigfattyt

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Jun 23, 2007
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Hello all, I had a few questions about a Hornby hunter I own. It is about a 6 inch blade, full tang with African stag scales. I bought it from him at a family reunion in maybe 1987?(can't remember exactly when). Glen is my uncle (really my mom's cousin).
I just had a chance to play in his safe at a family reunion, and his Widow Michelle had us take some of his guns out to shoot, and we looked at quite a few of his knifes (most of which I had seen, but a few I had not).
I was simply wondering if any of you knew what kinds of steel he used, what kind of tempering he did etc. (it was his son in law showing us the knives, so he has no idea, and I did not really have a chance to talk all that much to Michelle Hornby, although she did invite me to the ranch if I ever start making knives).
I will try and get a picture of my knife and my dad's ( a bigger fighter/bowie he bought at the same time) and post them when I can.
I was just curious. Back when I bought the knife I did not know anything about knives (just that I mowed a bunch of lawns between family reunions to save up for one of Glen's). After I started getting more interested in knives, it was too late to ask Glen anything about how he made his knives.
 
Hi,

He was profiled in 'The Gun digest book of knives' 2nd edition (1982) by Jack LEWIS and Roger COMB (pages 208 to 215).

library of Congress cat. card 73-83465

Maybe you can find it in a library ?

ELDE
 
It wasnt '87......he was still alive then-or maybe I am reading your post wrong......?
He died at age 48, 12 years ago, on Sept 1st.

Mostly he used 440C and ATS-34 and all of his knives were heat treated by Paul Bos.

Glenn was a great guy...........I miss him a lot.
 
Ya, the 1987 was not a reference to when he died, the 87 was a guess on when I might have purchased it from him. I bought the hunter and my dad bought a big fighter at one of our family reunions. I was just a kid, I could ask my mom or dad, they might remember what year it was.
 
Thanks for answering Mr. Mayo, I have actually looked at your cite because it came up when I was gooogling Glen's name.

One of the highlights of every family reunion was when we would get together at night, and Glen would get out a bunch of his knives. One of my real regrets in life will always be that I did not buy more of his knives to pass on to my kids. But I will never be able to use the hunter, because I can never replace it, and would never forgive my self for loosing or breaking it.

I also regret that I was not old enough to go take off learn how to make knives from him.

Like I mentioned above, Michelle gave me an open invitation to come to the ranch to use the equipment (she said she saved his equipment and tons of material). Hopefully one day I will be able to take her up on the offer.
 
By the way, the knife my father has is similar to the one on your home page. The bowie/fighter style, but without the engraving.
 
the best grinder, his burr king, was given away by Missy right after he died.

I wanted that for my shop, so I could think of him every time I used it.....

I do have his American Straight Needle Stitcher.......dont use it much anymore but I am glad it is sitting there.........I think of him every time I look at it........He was a true friend. TM

I have been meaning to write up an article and send it to Blade for the "Mentor" series that they have been doing........

TOM
 
Missy and Amanda were at this last reunion a few weeks ago at Michelle's ranch.

I bet Michelle was mad/sad that Missy gave away any knife of Glen's. I know she was buying back any she found for sale for a while.

Did you ever know a knife/sword maker named Alex Collins? Michelle has one of his swords with interesting grind lines in her safe. She said he gave it to Glen before both of them passed away. She wanted me to let her know if I was interested in it if I decided to buy another sword.

I searched for any examples of his work and found mention of him, but no pics.
 
Bigfattyt said:
Did you ever know a knife/sword maker named Alex Collins? Michelle has one of his swords with interesting grind lines in her safe. She said he gave it to Glen before both of them passed away. She wanted me to let her know if I was interested in it if I decided to buy another sword.
Click to expand...

Alex(A.J.) Collins was a lunatic, in the BEST definition.

Everyone knew Alex. He was black..... back in the day, he wore an afro that looked like it belonged on Shaft....he called his business KKK-Kustom Krafted Knives....his stuff was just bizarre, he would purposefully twist knives so the tip was 90 degrees to the handle, use lime green pakkawood, stuff like that.

He was good buds with Jody Samson, John Nelson Cooper, and Paul Basch.

He died of cancer or complications from cancer in 2002.

He was one of those unique individuals that made the world a better place...always had a laugh and smile, even when he was feeling bad.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
Thanks for the info Steven.
The Alex Collins sword was like a western/modern take on a katana. It had 3/4 of the back sharpened as well as the primary edge.

The parts rest of the spine that was not sharpened had like deep spine fuller (for lack of a better description) along the top of the spine (for lightening and possibly for visual effect as well).

The top of the spine "fuller" appeared to have both edges sharpened.....so the back of the blade had a deep u groove, and the tips of the grooves were sharp (they appeared sharp enough to make two shallow cuts on a back cut (not to mention the large portion of the spine that had a normal edge on it).

It was really interesting. It was built like a user, with a practical finish (sort of a brown finish). The handle might have been brown micarta.

The tsuba was more square than oval, but with softened edges, and a lightening grind around the edge (that also matched the grind on the back of the blade only not sharpened).

It was an interesting piece.

Also, Steven, do you have any links to any of his knives or swords? I have only found one good picture of a small skinner, and some very fuzzy pictures on a sheath maker's site.
 
I have one of of Alex Collins big CHOPPERS very unique original knife.. Love it.. Shame his stuff is so hard to find!!
 
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