'The Abyss' Lt. Coffey's knife

TheMechanic

Sr Member
Ever since I was a kid I've been into knives. Especially survival style knives and even more especially those seen in movies.

After 'Commando' and 'Predator' I was a full fledge knife junkie.

In the summer of 1989 I saw 'The Abyss' in the theater and instantly took a liking to the dive knife used by Michael Biehn as Lieutenant Coffey.
Although the knife gets very little screen time and is never fully shown in it's entirety it was enough to peak my interest and set me on a quest that would last for 20 years.

Over the years I tried to find the maker of the original knife with no luck but my luck changed in 2005 when someone answered my question. Well now I knew who made the knife but he was retired and had only made a handful of the knives for some Navy SEAL's.

I was out of luck until 2009 when I contacted one of the most talented tactical knifemakers on the planet, Shane Sibert. I asked him if he'd be interested in making me a replica of the knife. It turns out he's a huge fan of the knife and the movie as well.

Luckily Shane had an old magazine article with a great picture of the knife so we could base the replica on that as well as the screen captures I provided.

Luck again came to be on our side as Shane eventually contacted the original maker of 'The Abyss' knife and got his full blessing and endorsement to do my replica.

Shane was not only able to re-create this knife, but do it better than the original. This is no movie prop mind you, this is an extremely hard core knife, built like a tank out of the best materials available by a meticulous master craftsman. It's 1/4" thick Crucible S30V steel and weighs over 18 ounces.
The fit and finish far exceeds that of the original.

Anyway, enough rambling, here it is after 21 years, 'The Abyss' Lt. Coffey knife by Shane Sibert. 1 of only 2 ever made. Shane kept the other one.

I even had commemorative patches made up for the occasion.

Thanks for looking.

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That knife you had made is probably ten times the quality that the original was.

Lots of controversy on that knife when it came out.

:lol Surprisingly enough out of about 10 S.E.A.L.s that I know who are still active duty carry taiwan made pieces of junk! :lol
 
Yeah, George Lainhart who made the original knife only made 5 or 6 for a very specific SEAL team. I can't remember which. It was back in the late 80's though when the Dept. of the Navy was evaluating every knife it could get it's hands on for testing to determine what knife they would issue the teams.
But Uncle Sam ended up just sticking with the standard issue POS.

The original knife (in the film) was a hand made custom knife though and very high quality, but Shane's reproduction is even better as far as materials, fit and finish.
 
Not with some S.E.A.L. Teams.

MadDog Knives ATAK is one knife that was actual issue to one of the how should we say "controversial" Teams.

Regardless that is one helluva sweet blade ya got Bro!! :thumbsup

But Uncle Sam ended up just sticking with the standard issue POS.
 
That's cool, I forgot about Mad Dog! Maybe some teams get better funding or have more say in the gear they use than others.
Thanks man.
 
Wow, the fit and finish looks stellar! :love Congratulations...I'm liking the patch as well. Awesome set. A piece to be proud of. :thumbsup
How are you displaying it?
 
I love it!

I'm a big Abyss fan but I never noticed what an interesting knife that was.

Did you have to eyeball the shape and measurements or were you able to get the specifics from the original builder?

Nick
 
The magazine article that Shane had (from 1990) had all the specs for the knife as well as a great profile shot so we had all the info we needed for this replica to be accurate.
My knife even has the same number of serrations on the false edge as the original.
Shane also was in contact with the original maker who confirmed some other small details for us.

As for a display, I'm working on building a box out of diamond plate and 3/8" ABS plastic with a hinged door.
 
Great knife,great pics.



It is also my favorite. It was presented in the Fighting knives magazine, a superb publication which was unfortunately stopped being published.


As for Commando/ Predator the knives were made by Jack Crain

In Greece there is a word describing the individual with great taste -meracles. So Mechanic you deserve the credit.
 
My crew jacket has "Ron" embroidered on it. I've often wondered if I got Ron Cobb's jacket? He's the only Ron in the movie's credits so who knows.
Cool piece of memorabilia.
 
The story gets MORE epic!
My knife is featured in this months issue of 'Blade Magazine'!
21 years after I saw the original knife in a magazine now my reproduction appears in a magazine! Weird.

The article is written by the maker of my knife, Shane Sibert and includes some great photos and mentions me a few times simply as "the customer" and he even mentions the custom embroidered patches I had made to commemorate the knife.
 
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