[keeperofthehills]

bought a cheap set of stainless steel throwing knives from my dealer for like 10 bucks.

And after almost sticking myself in the foot, I realize I have no idea what I'm doing. Can anyone give any hints, tips, throwing techniques or etc.

[Third_Rail]

Absolutely! Number one, DON'T USE STAINLESS!

I went through four stainless knives before I realized that they're very brittle for throwing.

Use 3/4" plywood as a target, don't worry about accuracy yet, just getting them to stick.

Go to a local bookstore and look for anything about knife throwing, read it.

Don't bother buying.

Start close to the target, and buy better knives.

Practice.




Other than that, I have no advice. :D

[Brian Williams]

If you want to throw knives for fun and profit, go and enjoy yourself. My DI taught me to never throw a knife in a SelfDefence situation or in combat. To throw a knife you have to know the distance and have a material that will be permeable by the knife, and you would have to throw it real hard. More than likely you will just annoy the other guy and then he has your knife.

[birdv]

Don't throw the knife hard. Let the knife spin once. Don't setup your target by the front door.

[keeperofthehills]

Yeah, the stainless is brittle. Ive already put a "J" on the end of one and had to grind a new tip on it. I can throw them underhanded at like 3 feet and get them to stick.

Ive had a little luck at 6-8 feet over hand with the pommel in the palm of my right hand and index finger up the back of the blade. (one sided blade)

Yeah Im throwing knives just to say I can. but It is really cool.

[tcdrennen]

Throwing axes (tomahawks) is even more fun. I have two very nice ones I used to carry around when doing 16th Century Scots-Irish Mercenary Clan at Rennaissance Faires. Very impressive when done rigfht, though I could only get them to stick about 7 out of 10 throws.

Nice thing about an axe, though, even if it doesn't stick it's heavy enough to do some damage.

Sweet Jeebus, did I really used to carry 40 lbs of chain mail, a broadsword, targe, fighting axe, the two throwers, about 5 knives AND A PIKE in 100 degree heat for 3 months every year for ten years FOR THE FUN OF IT? :what: :eek:

Oh, yeah, I was drunk most of the time then, too; now I remember... :scrutiny: :rolleyes: :cool: :evil:

MacColin Abu! :D

[bad LT]

I throw knives. Lots of fun and a great way to build up your hand eye coordination.

Tips:
1: Get a whole bunch of the same type of throwing knives (even relativly cheap ones). This lets you practice more while spending less time retrieving them.

2: Mark distances from where you throw. I like to mark every 1/2 turn (ie first line is half a turn, second line is a full turn, etc.)

3: Find a method of sticking knives into your target, repeat.

Really not much more to it then practice.

[Skofnung]

I grew up throwing hawks and knives, as my family was involved in buckskinning in my formative years.

I still throw hawks every now and then, and a knife once every third blue moon. I don't do it much anymore because I find that the practical applications are lacking. It is fun though, and it can be quite impressive.

I prefer heavy knives for throwing. They are easier to throw right and hit with much more force.

[DigMe]

Watch Gangs of New York. Repeat.

brad cook

[JShirley]

Throwing a knife is one of those things that I believe the right attitude is very important for. If you want to learn it as a combat skill, understand that there are many more important skills to master first, so good form with your firearms, basic strikes and blocks, and even how to hit the ground without taking any damage is much more important. OTOH, if you are already devoting significant time to such training, a few extra minutes a day throwing is certainly not wasting much time.

If you are only doing it for sport, and are aware there is almost no room for knife throwing in genuine combat training, throw away.

I disagree about accuracy. You should always aim at a specific target. You can throw with either a blade-down or blade-up orientation. Typically, if you are holding the handle, with a blade-up orientation, one has to be quite close to the target. If you are holding the blade, you have to learn how many rotations the knife will make en route to the target. It takes a good bit of practice to master. (I don't have this much patience. I tend to only throw at a 2 specific distances from the target, one (close) for handle throwing, and a little further out for blade throwing.)

For martial arts applications, I believe knowing how to throw your carry blade is worthwhile, but it's way down on the list of training priorities.

John

[Skofnung]

In terms on blade up/blade down, distance is the key. Distance varies person by person and knife by knife, but a general rule goes something like this;

5 paces from target - blade up.

Back up 2 paces - blade down

10 paces back - blade up again

Back up 2 paces - blade down

and so forth and so on...

[MikeK]

Try this link.

http://www.throwzini.com/index.html

You can even sign up for a free newsletter.

[Kar-el]

This may sound stupid, but....

Get a 10-12 inch Craftsman screwdriver (regular head) and use that.


I was a waterfront director at a camp for about 10 years while I was in high school and college. I used to get bored when no one was down there at free time (usually when a big game of capture the flag was going on) and my craftsman kept me from being bored.

Hold it by the blade end, throw overhand, let it rotate once.

If you break it, you have a lifetime warranty.

I used to keep a pop can on a nail on a big tree that sat about 12 feet to my left of my station. (picnic table)

One evening a particularly annoying newbie counselor was down on the waterfront and he asked me why I had the screwdriver. I told him I used it for throwing practice. He laughed and said "Yeah, like you could hit anything with that."

I was sitting on the table, I turned left and threw it hard, THUNK. dead center. He said "no way you could do it again." He retrieved the driver (with some difficulty-it was stuck in hard) and THUNK, I did it again. He then replied, "If you hit it again I'll believe that it just isn't luck." THUNK. He walked away shaking his head.

Thank god he didn't ask me to do it a fourth time! I'm sure that there was some skill involved- but more luck I'd say.

I still have a close buddy who was there and I still throw a screwdriver on occasion (I've tried 3 different knives and I don't like the balance as much).
He says why do I need to carry a handgun, just walk around with a toolbelt with a selection of screwdrivers in it.

[goon]

I can do it but not as well as I used to. When I was a kid I could throw two knives at the same time, one in each hand, and stick them both within about three inches of each other. What can I say? We couldn't afford a nintendo.
Lately I have found that Glock field knives work well for throwing. I have also read that the spike bayonets from chinese SKS's work well too but that was just something I found on the web.

While we are on the subject, which throwers would you guys reccommend as my first thrower? All I have ever used were excess hunting and kitchen knives that I got at yard sales.

[Hand_Rifle_Guy]

Loud seconds on using HEAVY knives.

They're much easier to be consistent with. You don't have to throw 'em NEAR as hard to get 'em to thunk satisfyingly into your target.

And most of all, THEY BUCK THE WIND.

I got a few sets of cheap throwing knives from Smoky Mountain Knife Works. Spent 20 bucks on a set of the littlest stainless Hibben throwers, (Remember Steven Seagal in Under Siege? He was throwing one of these into a butcher-block on the wall of his kitchen, but he had the 7" version. Mine were 5", and I SHOULDA bought the 10" beasts.) as I was intrigued by the concept of a bunch of little knives for repeat strikes.

Got a four-dollar set of "medium" carbon-steel slivers for to learn the ropes with, and for yucks I got these tiny-little 4"-long mini-knives. Alla three bucks the set. All black-finish, double-edge grind with lousy points, until I figured out the chisel-point thing.

Had a giant 3-foot diameter redwood stump fer a target in the backyard, took the practice set out and proceeded to figure this stuff out. Found out some things.

Don't "point" your knives. A 1/16" square "chisel" point holds up, and sticks lots better than a real point, with tons less work. Still plenty sharp where it matters.

The pracice knives were stamped sheet, about 1/8" thick, by 3/4" o.-a-.width or so. They were A) WAY TOO light. At one turn out I had to wing 'em like pitching a fastball. I mean just about as hard as I could, or they would be inconsistent or BOUNCE! And B) they were AERODYNAMIC! Those flat slabs of steel would catch the wind on the way out at speed, and fly all over the place! They'd displace 18"-20" to one side easily, with no predicting up/down/right/left/whatever direction. The lightweight steel made a fine wing. And throwing slower didn't help, as then they'd bounce.

This was a problem with the baby knives too. Maybe throwing darts, essentialy sharpened pieces of round stock, would do better, as they're not subject to air deflection. But they weren't NEARLY as cool as the idea of sticking a sliver of steel into a target decisively from across the room with a flick of the wrist. Such was not to be. Even indoors across the room at a styrofoam target these little guys would drift in funny directions during flight.

the Hibbens were no better, despite being thicker steel. They were heavier, but they were also wider across the blade. They did a little better, but I really gave up on 'em when I watched one wind-drift point-first into an already stuck blade, which completely destyroyed the point. I couldn't throw groups it was more like patterns. Completely unpredictable. Additionally, the Hibbens were stainless, so in spite of having a decent blade geometry, they wouldn't hold an edge worth beans, so they're secondary role as slicers failed to pay off, and they were a bust, unless I wanted to work up a sweat winging 'em with all my might. They still look pretty cool, though. The early Hibben throwers had a pretty-much standard clip-point blade grind, so they looked like real knives despite their lack of grips or hilt of any kind. Hibbens I've seen advertised lately are a littlte more in the direction of his wild fantasy blades, and look a LOT less ulitarian.

Effective throwers are still get-able. Smoky Mountain has a good selection, and they're cheap. Just get carbon steel, and buy BIG, THICK blades. 13" OAL or better, 3/16" stock thickness at least. The less holes in the knife, the better, more weight/less turbulence. You should be able to get three of these things for like $5-$10 each. Don't get fancy ones. You bounce 'em off each other when you can throw groups.

Heavy blades don't require a baseball pitch. You just easily but firmly "lob" the big chunx 'o steel, letting their weight do the work. You just have to do a precision release, consistently.

Remember, chisel points. Easier to maintain, stick into targets better. Throwing knives are often cheap steel, but you can get carbon steel that's been heat-treated, (Those are the $10, rather than the $5 knives that're the same size.) and it'll get sharp and hold up until you land one on another.

Little razor-slivers of Ninja death are a cool concept, but they whip around like a hacksaw blade when you try to throw 'em. The screwdriver idea is a pretty good one. No funky aero habits, and heavy enough to work.