“Loveless Parke Logo” Custom Knife Stag “Big Bear” Subhilt Fighter

This "Big Bear Subhilt Fighter" was made in 1967 by Bob Lovess for Safariland, a custom sheath and holster company. It is stamped "Loveless & Parke Sierra Madre, Calif." There were only 36 (Loveless Parke Logo) knives made in total.

Bill Parke was Bob's first business partner. He was going to sell and market the knives that Bob Loveless made. Parke was a marketing and sales specialist. His influence on Bob Loveless' knife making was fantastic. Prior to Parke's influence, Loveless knives were much stubbier and shorter in the hand. He explained to Bob that if he would elongate the handle of his knives, they would photograph better and be perceived by collectors to be more substantial for their cost.

The blade of the knife was an experimental steel that Bob Loveless called "Special Melt Steel". It was very difficult to mirror polish and has a cloudy appearance to it. If you look at the blade closely you can see (a small pin sized dent in the steel) where Bob Loveless tested the Rockwell Hardness. This particular blade has a Rockwell Hardness of 64- 66. In order to preserve this blade it was necessary to have it professionally polished.

In over 18 years of selling custom knives, I have only seen or handled 10 of the 36 (Loveless Park Logo) knives made. Out of those, only 2 of them have been Subhilt Fighters. A leather stacked handle Subhilt Fighter is featured in "Living on the Edge Logos of the Loveless Legend" and this one.

With the specs of this Subhilt Fighter being a blade length of 8 3/8" and an overall length of 14" it is considered to be a 'Big Bear". Out of all knives that Bob Loveless made, the "Big Bear" Subhilt Fighters and (the original New York Special knives) are the rarest and most desirable. Lastly, this knife has the Loveless Parke logo on it. This is quite possible to be the only "Loveless Park" "Big Bear" in existence today.