anyone else have trouble with Blade @ 15ft throw?

[Joezilla]

This is my constant weak spot. Barely sticks, and accuracy is a joke. Anyone else have trouble at this spot?

15 feet, blade throw

 

[Watchful]

Obviously there's a factor working against you:

- Your distance to the target. Try 14'-6" or 15'-6" and see if it improves or worsens.

- Your grip. Try a blade throw vs handle throw.

- Your release point... try releasing a fraction sooner.

- Your knife. Does it not have enough mass to stick deeply?

 

[Joezilla]

these are all tournament regulated distances

Obviously there's a factor working against you:

- Your distance to the target. Try 14'-6" or 15'-6" and see if it improves or worsens.

can only go a little past the 15" mark with IKTOF rules

- Your grip. Try a blade throw vs handle throw.

has to be blade throw

- Your release point... try releasing a fraction sooner.
you are right about that, the flick of it is about the only way i can get it to stick, it is sticking alot more now, thanks...that might have been the problem

- Your knife. Does it not have enough mass to stick deeply?

cold steel pro flight thrower, 14", definitley a heavy thrower

 

[Watchful]

Didn't realize you were focusing on competitive throwing... I defer to the eminently more knowledgable Mr. Branton.

 

[Kevin the grey]

Get a bigger target just to see what the blade is doing when it gets there . If you are slightly under or over-rotating it is not always obvious or evident on a miss . When your blade hits a target it is more evident if you are under or over-rotating .
I also found with larger blades even heavier ones that as they slow down they can begin to waffle through the air . While it is not always evident visually it can lead to eccentricities in the rotation of the blade . Try throwing a little harder which will have a twofold effect . It will give you a slightly flatter trajectory and perhaps eliminate or lessen a waffling effect .If you throw harder give your arm time to get used to it . It may take a couple of sessions before you settle in to your new throw .

Whatever the case a temporary larger target may eliminate some guesswork
from determining your problem .
I,m not an expert and throw from where it sticks instead of tournament distances . I just happen to have wide long throwers and have observed a couple of things . Good luck .

 

[NI200]

these are all tournament regulated distances

well, you can't move closer but I guess they should allow you to step a foot back, shouldn't they?

 

[Bobby Branton]

It is hard to tell what is actually happening without having more info. If the point is hitting and the knife is landing up that means that you need a little longer knife or you need to grip the knife as far back as you can or you need to lean into your throw a little more.

 

[Joezilla]

Try throwing a little harder which will have a twofold effect . It will give you a slightly flatter trajectory and perhaps eliminate or lessen a waffling effect .If you throw harder give your arm time to get used to it . It may take a couple of sessions before you settle in to your new throw .

Kevin, amazingly, that was it. I threw a lot harder and am now able to get it to stick consistently. You were absolutely right! THANKS!!!

 

[Kevin the grey]

Now if you could only help me with that non-rotational throw ! L:O:L

Is there a technique or do you just try to get the knife to leave your hand perfectly level ? Like I said I can do it out to four feet and then there is no control whatsoever .

 

[Watchful]

Like I said I can do it out to four feet and then there is no control whatsoever .

Remember--always--that there is a practical limit to most non-rotational throws. It's pretty much a matter of your arm length, but compensating your throw to keep the knife level will shorten your distance dramatically.

The alternative is to weight your blade to counter the rotation, a la the Ralph Thorne method.

You give up something, though, to gain something.

 

[Kevin the grey]

Remember--always--that there is a practical limit to most non-rotational throws. It's pretty much a matter of your arm length, but compensating your throw to keep the knife level will shorten your distance dramatically.

REPLY > When I am at one with the cosmos(about once a millenia .) I throw underhand rotation with a heavy blade .The tricky thing here for me is that the knife is lower than the target at the beginning of the throw and then higher as it reaches its arc and then descends into target range . I,m not bad and if I did the smart thing and actually practiced I,d be o,kay .

As for non-rotational I,ll think about your angle of it being a matter of the length of your arm . The question here is the release must be almost perfect . If not it doesn,t have much of a chance to stick .
Rotation conceals and forgives error in both form and knife .What do you think ?
I don,t have an indoor spot to throw . Its started to snow where I live which makes for stiff fingers and hidden misses . I,ll keep throwing my hawks for a while . They are easier to find . Not that I ever miss ! ! L:O:L

 

[Watchful]

I throw underhand rotation with a heavy blade .The tricky thing here for me is that the knife is lower than the target at the beginning of the throw and then higher as it reaches its arc and then descends into target range .

That's an interesting idea--I'm sure lots of people have done this, but it seems like a "slower" throw to me. I can easily do a non-rotational underhand at 15 feet... it doesn't need to arc as much, but it's several miles an hour slower than a rotational overhand.

Rotation conceals and forgives error in both form and knife .What do you think ?

Rotation takes advantage of the conservation of angular momentum--which means as the knife rotates, it tends to correct yawing. No trick here--a rotating object tends to use less energy as it spins smoothly around its axis, so it would take *more* effort to get it to travel sloppy.

Non-rotational throws take some form of compensation, and if that compensation takes place in your throw, well... any slight error can be quickly exaggerated and your throw is bad.

It's astounding how much physics and analysis can go into something as simple as throwing a piece of steel, but I think that's the beauty of it. When you throw a blade and stick it sometime, take a moment and appreciate how much calculus, trigonometry, and physics you just applied. In your head. With no paper or pencil.

 

[Kevin the grey]

I express the idea in different terms and on a different level . I do think we are talking about the same thing . I am lucky in that most of my blades have feathers too to make up for most of my errors . Maybe if I taped feathers to the handle of my knife ! L:O:L

 

[Bobby Branton]

Try this new group that I have been working with. This group soecializes in non rotational throws.

http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/TheBladeThrower/

A group of knife throwers dedicated to the art of instinctive
knife throwing, involving two main types of throwing, one
is the method of throwing the knife with no spin, and the other, of throwing the knife with a half spin. Both these
methods are used for throwing knives from unmeasured distances. Multi spin throwing will also be discussed, but
is not the main objective.

 

[Kevin the grey]

Thanks , I joined the group and threw out a couple of questions including a real flyer .