Sylvester Stallone contacted Jimmy Lile, the Arkansas knifesmith, in 1981 because he wanted a particular knife to use in the film First Blood for his character John Rambo.
Jimmy thought the knife should be a survival knife with several functions:
- A long edge suited to cutting material for building a shelter, gathering firewood and hunting.
- A compass.
- A sealed hollow handle to carry a small survival kit, and to let the knife be used as a spear point.
- A guard with screwdriver ends.
- A nylon cord that, wrapped around the handle, could be used to make traps and to fish.
- A pommel cap with a polished base, for signaling.
- A sawback for cutting wood and making a fishing rod or a shelter, and also useful after a crash for cutting through the skin of a fuselage.
- And, of course, a reliable weapon.
Jimmy’s lucky number was 13, and that is why he originally made 13 knives, numbered from 1 of 13 to 13 of 13, stamped LILE on the heel of the left side of the blade. On the opposite side was engraved First Blood.
All 13 knives have 14 teeth on the sawback.
Number 1of13 has a typing error in the First Blood stamp (Frist Blood); to correct it a piece of metal with the right wording was laid over it.
The knives from 1of13 to 6of13 were sent to Stallone for the shooting of First Blood.
They have a sandblasted finish with polished edges, and the knives from 7of13 on have the bevel of the false edge polished as well, which makes them different from the first 6 used in the film. But all of the first 13 knives are slightly different from one another, because they were made by hand.
The film First Blood is based on David Morrell’s novel, but the knives were not in the book: it was Stallone who decided his character needed a knife.
Nobody would have guessed that this knife would become one of the most famous knives in the world, if not the most famous of all, setting off new generations of survival knives that many people are still passionate about today.
Greg Foster
Rambo collector from Australia
YouTube Channel
Most of this information was gathered from the book “James B. Lile the Arkansas knifesmith”
