Bargain Throwers

[Bikewer]

Not much activity in this forum lately...

I promised a review of these "Silver Wings" knives:
These are yet another Chinese copy of the Viper, similar to the "Blazing Arrow" jobs you see at some dealers.
Cost was 20.00 for a pair of the large ( 10" ) and 10 for a pair of the small (6 1/2") jobs. Both come with a rather cheesy woven nylon sheath.
440 Stainless, apparently stamped out, then ground. The large ones have a slight hollow-grind on the edges. Nicely done, no sharp edges.
I have to say, these are quite good for the money. No bends, breaks, or other damage other than an easily-filed-out ding or two from blade-blade contact. They seem to be quite stable in flight, turning over once at about 12' and twice at about 21'. ( funny, you'd think it would be double...)
This is my first experience with handle-throwers, having been taught blade throwing. I'm used to adjusting my grip on the blade to compensate for distance, rather than using a fixed grip and moving closer or farther away. This is the first time I really noticed that the blade rotates around its long axis as well as turning over. At 12', the blades reliably hit with the edge horizontal, while they strike vertically at 21'! Still, no problem, and the old
arm is coming back.
I would have to recommend these for someone who wanted to get into throwing without spending a lot of money; they're available from Century Martial Arts. ( I got mine from a local MA dealer.)

 

[KevinA]

Sorry this took so long. Finals,papers due, and a ton of other things have kept me off the forums. OK here goes. Nice review. The more "cheap" throwers that can still hold together the better. Well sorta. Not to many people want to spend a bundle for a sport they are just trying out. If they can spend a little money on throwers that will take the mis-throws when they are just starting out the longer they will keep at it. When they get better they will want to move on to better knives. Atleast thats the way I see it. Its basically the way I began chucking steel. Once again thabks for the review. Oh as for the knife hitting with the blade horizontal. You may want to try keeping your wrist stationary. I was teaching a friend how to throw and he had the same problem. He would rotate his wrist as he brought it forward to throw. Sorta like snapping the wrist but horizontally. It wasnt to much rotaton much just enough to make the blade spin a bit Not really sure if this is your problem but its the only thing I can come up with. Well I got to go.

Kevin

 

[Cliff Stamp]

Bikewer:

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">turning over once at about 12' and twice at about 21'. ( funny, you'd think it would be double...)</font>

You need to factor in your arm length. 12 - 3 = 9. 9 x 2 = 18. 18 + 3 = 21. Assuming your arm is about 3'.

In general how do those stainless steel throwers stand up to long term use. What is their lifetime as compared to a decent spring steel thrower?

-Cliff

 

[matthew rapaport]

That's an interesting approach Cliff! I'm not sure I agree though. I think the issue has more to do with "holdover". The knife thrown at 2 turns must describe a higher arc than the one thrown at 1 turn assuming equal initial velocity. The actual path the knife traverses in 2 turns is very close to 2x the 1 turn path, but the distance along the ground is something less than this. The extra arc accounts for the difference.

So what is the weight of these new knock off knives? Are they decently heavy?


[This message has been edited by matthew rapaport (edited 04-12-2001).]

 

[Bikewer]

Don't have a postal scale handy....
I would gues 10-12 OZ, though.

Just did a bit of throwing at 30', and they seemed quite stable. No tendency to "plane" or rotate around the trajectory.