Throwing knives

[psyCel]

I just got my hands on these knife.



But I really dont know how should you handle and throw these? There is a place to grip just like in any other knife, but should you throw it holding it normally or holding it from the blade? And should the sharp side of the blade be pointing on your fingers or your thumb and wrist?

Post here anykinds of advices and your own technics about how to throw a knife. And please forgive me the typing, I tried to make sure everything is written correctly.

 

[Zero_DgZ]

A properly balanced throwing knife will spin at the same rate as the movement of the arm when it is released. The number of spins is derived from the number of full paces away from the target (as a general rule of thumb). Given that the knife will make a half rotation per pace, if your feet are an odd number of paces from the target you should hold by the tip and if your feet are an even number of paces away from the target you should hold by the handle. If you hold the knife at or near its balance point its spin should be consistient when you release, and with the correct hold (point or handle) for the distance from the target the knife should stick itself.

 

[hso]

For anyone interested -

http://users.rcn.com/comlogic/knife/...rips/grips.htm
http://www.knifethrowing.info/

 

[The Cultural Woodsman]

You can also throe straight with no rotation up to a certain distance...just depends on who taught you.

 

[lawson]

make sure you use a proper target and backstop. you don't want to damage your knives by accidentally throwing them into something rigid.

when i was younger, my brother and i got really into knife throwing for a few years. we used an old railroad tie set upright as a target. haybales work well if you can get your hands on a few. you can put paper targets on them.

the big thing is learning to estimate distance and trajectory instinctively. i don't throw knives anymore, but i got to be pretty good at it. all you need are good knives and plenty of practice.

 

[psyCel]

You can also throe straight with no rotation up to a certain distance...just depends on who taught you.

How is that possible? In the movie "The Hunted" they throw knifes what first spins and then goes straight. Is that possible?

Links were good, very much information, now all I need is to try.

 

[Boats]

How is that possible? In the movie "The Hunted" they throw knifes what first spins and then goes straight. Is that possible?

Physics don't exist in Hollywood special effects and stunt shops. See the Mythbusters for details.

A knife can be thrown like a dart over short distances using certain throwing motions. Longish thrown objects over longer distances are going to rotate in space around their center of mass. Axes, hawks, knives whatever, are not going to stop rotating until they strike something that impedes their further progress. The trick is to know over what distance at what force, how many revolutions to expect.

 

[psyCel]

Okey. That sounds really difficult to measure how many rotations you need etc. But I need to try and see.

So the way they throw knife in the movie "The Hunted" is not proper way? Because in the movie it first spins and then goes straight. That would be nice to learn if it´s even possible.

 

[Boats]

That "rotate to straight" is not physically possible without fletching or vanes, (control surfaces), like an arrow or a dart has which serve to correct the path of the flight of an object.

A "tracker" style knife like in The Hunted, is going to always rotate around its mass axis no matter how it was portrayed on film. Not even Chuck Norris can really violate Newton's First Law of Motion with a knife.

 

[hso]

it first spins and then goes straight. That would be nice to learn if it´s even possible.

The conservation of angular momentum tells you that it's not possible.

 

[JTW Jr.]

one of these days I am gonna get to spend some time with Bobby Branton and learn the art of the throwing knives.

anyone seen the movie " Bandidas " ? I have to rent it and check it out , he was the tech advisor and did many of the technical knife throwing parts in the movie.

 

[The Cultural Woodsman]

You cant spin and then go straight...and I was not referring to trowing as a dart.....you can throwusing a whip like motion of the arm and letting go just as your hand becomes straight, but you have to let go "all at once".

This works for shorter distances, for longer distances it would involve the left leg as a beggining for throw momentum, assuming you are right handed, but the same release.

You dont need a specially weighted knife to do it, although I would not risk the tips of good knives meant for other purposes unless you were actually training for combat.

There are many, many professionals out there better than I am, for sure, but I can tell you throwing without rotation with a knife is possible.

 

[loki.fish]

hso.....that first link comes up with HTTP 404 error.

 

[hso]

Another good site - http://www.throwzini.com/

 

[kodiack]

Handle is no good for Throwing

While that's a fine set of Knives you have there, the handle needs to be semi straight for a consistent release. A good knife thrower always goes for consistency. That is going to be hard to do with the curvature of those handles. They will catch on different parts of your hands as you release.
Although it should throw just fine by the Blade.
Just stand 8 feet away (1/2 spin, 12 feet for one full turn) and release at the point you want it to hit the target. Just like throwing a Baseball. Don't snap your wrist.
If the Blade is sharp, I would dull it with a file or a grinder.
A good indication for me as to whether a knife is made for throwing or not is whether the Blade is sharp or not. They should always be dull.
You haven't lived until you get a knife coming right back at your head faster than you threw it.
I hope this helped.

 

[JShirley]

you can throwusing a whip like motion of the arm and letting go just as your hand becomes straight, but you have to let go "all at once".

Yup. This is how bo (spike) shuriken are thrown. Only works at very short range, though realistically, something as light as most bo shuriken is only good for a few feet anyway, and is still mostly a metsubishi device.

Personally, those SOG throwers have too many odd protrusions for my taste. The best way to train (IMO) is to learn how to throw the knife you have, not a dedicated thrower. Truthfully, though, this is something to do when you've practiced a LOT of other things already. Just not high on the priority list.

 

[hso]

kodiack,

Welcome to THR! Great first post!

Take a look over at Genaral and introduce yourself at the new member thread when you get the time.

 

[sm]

Throwing knives ain't hard, y'all making stuff difficult again.

I got a $1 paring knife from the Dollar store with genuine imitation black plastic handles. Kids and I needed a quality knife to scrape stuff.

Scraping done and figured time to share about Mumbley-Peg. Umm...well handles were coming undone (might have been the setting the heavy box atop said knife and scooting across the cement floor).

Got the handles off , has full tang, and taking a file, and emery paper on paint stick customized this here knife. Mumble-Pegs better now.

Now practicing the Rules of Adopted Uncle with sharp pointing things, we just tossed this knife into a hay bail ...seems underhanded like horse shoes work best.
Time passes...

Horse ate our hay bail ! - kids

So being the ingenious
Adopted Uncle I am - get a cardboard box Yeah!

This here customized tossing knife is crafted such it un-sticks cabinet drawers, undoes tape on boxes, pries off paint lids, and other duties.

I used part of a cement step to last sharpen it, and stropped on a wood fence post.

Just passing forward is all...

 

[SeanSw]

The handle on that knife looks like it will interrupt your release if you choose to throw by the handle. You can pinch the sides of the handle but you'll probably learn more consistency with a smooth handle and release. You may want to begin throwing by the blade and practice the 180 degree rotations before anything else, so it will make exactly one half turn on the way to the target (a powerful and accurate method within knife throwing distances).

I purchased a dozen of the leaf blade throwing knives and found them to be cheap and useable, although not particularly interesting. I don't practice throwing anymore but I found more enjoyment in taking standard fixed blade knives and making them stick than using purpose-made throwing knives. I taught myself to throw by using an Italian folding stilleto in my bedroom and throwing it at my dresser. My parents never forgave me, but that knife lasted thousands of throws and held up well for a folder.

Although you didn't express a desire to use these as weapons Hollywood physics and Ninja movies make knife throwing out to be a deadly and precise method of assasination but they're not effective weapons. Just as JShirley wrote they are best used as a distraction or irritant. It didn't stop me from taking pot shots at hundreds rabbits with a belt knife, but they would have been killed just from the force of a knife slamming into them.

*edit*

Please dull the blade somewhat if you'll be throwing it routinely. All knife throwers have sliced their fingers apart with a sloppy grip or too-sharp blade. It takes very little force to make a narrow piece of steal stick into wood or cardboard and a razor edge is fragile.

 

[Kar-el]

Knife throwing

All this talk of knife throwing has me waxing nostalgic about my experiences with "knife" throwing.

I was a waterfront director for 6 years at a summer camp in central MI and when no one was down there (I still had to watch the lake in case anyone came down from the rousing game of capture the flag) I sat on the picnic table and threw a medium to large sized Craftsman regular head screwdriver at the large oak tree about 12 paces to my left. And YES, you haven't lived until one comes right back at your head faster than you originally threw it!

I eventually got pretty good at it (throwing it by the tip) that I hung a pop can from a small nail to give me something to aim at.

One year one of the other counselors came down to waterfront for guard duty shortly after I had hung up a new can and he asked me "What's the can for?". I replied that I chucked screwdrivers at it and he laughed. I grabbed the Craftsman and threw it and hit the can center mass while half resting my butt on the picnic table. He retrieved it and said that I couldn't do it angain if my life depended on it. Sure enough, I hit it about 1 inch to the right of my first hit. He grabbed it again and muttered something about two lucky throws so I threw it a third time and actually widened the first hole I had put in the can. I told him then that the kids were coming and I had no more time for this garbage and for him to get out to his station. (The whole time trying not to grin from how lucky I had gotten!)

The story got around and I let that screwdriver sit in that can the whole swim time so everyone could see it. Sure were some good tale tales told by the campfires that night about where I got my talents........

The sad part of this story is I have tried many throwing knives and have not come up with anything better for me than a good $3.50 screwdriver. After I got my CCW 4 years ago my good friend who was a counselor up there asked me why I didn't just carry screwdrivers instead.......

So if you just want to practice throwing, get a couple cheap somewhat well balanced screwdrivers to start with, sharpen the tips on a grinder and have at it. I prefer Craftsman because of the lifetime replacement warranty-the handle sometimes break.

I can also show you how to make a blowgun out of 1/8 inch pvc pipe and use Q-tips cut in half with the tips fluffed as ammo. (They hurt like a bee sting-but no aiming above the waist! It's only fun till someone puts an eye out!)

 

[50 Freak]

Objects thrown very fast can fly straight and stick into things.

One of the most interesting things I've ever seen with my own eyes were these Monks I saw in Hong Kong once. They took plastic chopsticks (the kind you find at Chinese restaurants) and threw them so they stuck into a wooden door.

The ends of the chopsticks would break but not before the front half would end up sticking out of the door.

 

[wizard of oz]

good mention of chopsticks. For practice we use nails - go to the hardware store and buy some long and heavy nails. Throw into cardboard. If you can throw nails, you can throw anything.

 

[steeltiger]

Personaly, I use a thumb and forfinger grip,(handle oriented so i dont cut myself) it works great for light knives. When I want to be scientific about things, the knife in rotation, reaches for times its length, each rotation. Starting throwing practice close to the board ( or whatever your target is ) making quarter turns can help to get the ''feel'' of the knife. the higher you grip the knife when thrown, the less rotations per linear foot. I only ever got good with one knife, after two weeks of perfect hits at 34 feet it promtly broke, so even the best knives have their limmits. I preferr handle heavy knives as the blade is even more likley to hit the target.

 

[chipp]

I agree with steel tiger.

You should be able to find directions on the internet.

When you throw the knife make sure the blade is flat/horrizontle.


grab the knife in the middle of the blade or a little closer to the tip.
find distance wise, where it will stick for you. Practice from that distance with the same grip untill you are consitent. Then if you move closer. hold closer to the tip. it will spin faster. If you back up, choke up. (grab more of the blade) it will spin slower. keep practicing with one spin till you can pick a random spot and you are able to stick the knife by picking where to grag it.

Be consistent with the way you throw it. try to let it slide out of your hand rather than triing to jerk or flip it.

You'll notice that you can get back pretty far with one spin if you choke up.
at about the furthest you can stand on one spin. you can start from the same place and move your hand closer to the point. practice till you can stick it from this point with 2 spins. Then gradually back up raising your grip. until you can stick it from various places on 2 spins. Then back up and try 3 spins. Im thinking alot of practice to get to 3. Practice the one spin regular untill you can stick it at will from say 3 to 10ft.
you can throw from the handle or the blade the same way
axxes hatchets tomohawks work the same way.

 

[steeltiger]

Unfortunatly my sight isn't good enough to count my spins, two spins in fifteen feet is awfull hard to focus on. You, fortunatley, have knives durable enough that misstakes cause no harm to the implement, something you have to wach with most knives.