Beginner questions *Listens to groans*

C

chrismoody

Joined
Apr 4, 2002
Messages
31
Hi all.

I recently *Came out* and pointed out to my parents that I like knives etc. It went down ok, seeing as my father collects antique and deactivated firearms :D

Anyway, my dad bought me a set of 3 Throwing knives. They're a cheap basic set at £10, including sheath. The blades are about 3.5" long, with the handles at about 2.5" to 3". At the centerpoint of the knives the weights slightly offbalanced so the handle is slightly heavier.

My first question is, am I right in choosing to throw from the blade as the handles heavier, and I presume at a distance of roughly 12 feet, half a turn is about right? I seem to be reletively successful after practising for about 2 hours (2 hours over about a week :)) and have about 50% success rate of the blade sticking satisfactory, is this ok, or am I doing something really wrong?

My other questions are what distance is the avergae/prefered by most throwers, and do heavy knives help increase distance?

Also, which knives are considered to be the best? I've seen mix and match knives from various makers such as gil hibben, but never a whole range in one place, which makes it difficult to buy in the uk. Does anyone know of any UK sites selling them? Hopefully once I get good enough i'll be able to persuade my father to pay for a new more expensive set (The metal on my current set is too soft meaning the blades have bent a little at the tips when throwing at wood, so I've been throwing at an old archery target :))
 
Welcome to the forums. Watch your language Elf boy!! ;)
Those little throwers are a great source of frustration to many beginners. See if you can't find some larger/heavier/longer carbon steel knives to throw. The Cold Steel line is pretty good. Lee Fugatt makes some relatively inexpesive throwers too. The reason I mention the CS is I think they are readily available in the UK, but I am not sure. Do not throw Sykes Fairbairns. I don't care what somebody's sainted great uncle that was in the Para's in WWII says. I don't care what the SOE training videos show. SF's were meant for stabbing, not throwing, or anything else for that matter. I speak from experience. I'm on my 3rd SF. The other 2 were ruined from throwing. USMC combat knives throw well, but are probably prohitively expensive on your side of the pond. By the way 10 quid sounds kinda high for those little throwers.
 
Hehe, What language should I watch? Didn't see anything wrong at all!

My dad ordered the *little throwers* through a gun shop near me, so that'll be why (The gun shop will have charged extra to make a profit)

I guess I'll be looking around for cold steel throwers. Can I ask whether the Cold Steel "Spike" is meant for throwing? It looks like it could be used as a dart if a length of cord is tied the the end of the handle to stablize it?

Thanks for the info!
 
Chris,

For best performance, always grasp the lightest end of the knife. If this is the blade then you will be throwing "half turns". You can throw by the heavy end with success but the physics work out to be more natural when throwing by the light end.

Distance is a personal question. It depends on the tool and the style of throwing you are using. Generally, a longer heavier knife will spin at a slower rate which means a greater distance for throwing. For a 14 inch/14 once knife you will find that 12 feet is pretty close for one turn.

Personally, I would not consider a knife smaller than 12 inches, just too much work to be consistent.

As for which knife, any one in a 12 to 15 inch range of 12 to 15 ounces will suffice. If you cannot obtain commercial knives then go to the metal shop and grind out a lawnmower blade, it will perform just as well.
 
Heh.

If it works out that smaller knives need more effort to be effective, does it mean if you are successful with one of those you are on thr right tracks?:D

With heavier/bigger knives, surely spinning can be regulated so they may spin slower, but with a little efoort you could add extra spin to it?

Thanks all for your help, it's very useful, hopefully I'll be getting some commercial/recommended knives sometime soon, till then I guess I'll use what I've got!
 
Some advanced stuff:

1. smaller knives have less mass (i.e. weight) which means that you must throw them faster (i.e. harder) to achieve the same impact force. You will find out in short order that your ball joint in the throwing shoulder will complain loudly after prolonged aggressive throwing of light objects. That does not mean that small, light knives are bad, just don't try to put one through 2 inches of pine for hours on end.

2. larger, heavier knives have mass, that is to say they have impact force without the speed. You, therefore can achieve high impact force with less aggressive throwing (i.e. speed). This will allow you to throw all day without the shoulder complaining much at all. I know it sounds odd, big knife-go all day, small knife-go till it hurts.

3. you can change the rate of spin (and therefore your distance) by many means. First you can snap your wrist. This is the least effective as it is very hard to snap the same amount consistently. Secondly you can move your grip further to the end of the handle. This will cause the knife to spin faster. Expect about 8-12 inches less in distance per width of the finger further towards the handle end for a grip. Thirdly, you can use a pinch grip. This allows the knife to snap (not your wrist) and achieve a faster spin rate.

Also, throwing one thing does not necessarily mean that throwing another thing will be easy or successful. I know people who are deadly with a tomahawk but couldn't stick themselves with a knife if paid to.
 
Hehe, cool.

Thankfully I don't need to throw 2 inches into pine every time! I used to do archery and I have an old straw archery boss. This is handy as the small knives I have are quite soft and I bent the tip of one throwing it as wood, so the straw works. Hopefully when I get a new better set of knives I'll have the foresight to go out and get a decent sized board of pine or something similar!

Is pine the best material for targets, or is there better wood/materials to use?
 
There was nothing wrong with your language, heck I don't even actually know what you said. I just recognized it as Tolkien's Elvish language. I was funnin ya.
As for the CS "Spike", I wouldn't. It seems way too delicate for anything except fileting Sardines, or very small Kippers. It is intended to be a last ditch "get off me" knife.
If you can find the steel, it honestly isn't that hard to make a decent thrower by hand. My dad made one out of an old saw mill blade back in the '50's with just a hack saw and a file. Worked pretty well too. Try to find a shop that makes or repairs leaf springs for lorries or delivery vans. Get the UNBENT UNUSED scrap. Old worn out springs are useless unless you have a forge and way too much free time. Throwers need to be "mission specific" for best results. Simple and ugly, cuz it will get beat up. You can get 550/Para cord to wrap the handles. Older files, saw mill blades, lawn mower blades, chainsaw bars all good sources for thrower steel.
 
Hehe, cool.

My dad doesn't really have the tools to do a decent job of metalworking some blades to a high standard, my college does, but I think they have some issues against making weapons in class :D

Hopefully the image below will work, of the target I sue from just over 12 feet, with the knives stuck in, about 3 days after I started throwing...

target.jpg
 
Well done Mr. Moody. You'll find with larger heavier knives you'll have less "flyers" like the one off to the top left.
You don't need a bunch of tools was my point. Some decent steel, a way to cut it, then a way to sharpen it. It will take a few hours, but then you have exactly what you want cuz you made it.
I just really got bit by the knifemaking bug recently so I try to ecourage people to start making their own knives, especially throwers.
Here are some links to sites that sell good throwers.
http://www.geocities.com/leefugatt/knifepage.html
http://www.commonlogic.com/knife/index.htm
http://www.sonic.net/~quine/thrower.html
http://www.throwingknives.com/
http://www.throwzini.com
Have fun.
 
Hehe, thanks. It took me long enough to get a decent looking group of "sticks" that was worth taking a pic of ;)

I think I'll look into making knives etc later on. i'm planning on Changing my courses next year from D&T:Resistant materials to D&T:Graphics design which is more on grpahics, but as far as I know you still have to make something for the coursework, in which case I could try a knife :D
 
I don't know about in Britain, but over here there is kind of a glut in the graphic design field. I know 3 graphic designers and only one is actually working in that field. Now are you talking about computer graphics, or doing things like print ads, logos, that sort of thing? They are 2 distinctly different fields. I don't know if you have "advisors" or "counselors" at your school, but I would definitely run you idea by them first. I know it is an extreme rarity to find an educational institution that doesn't have a violently negative knee jerk reaction to weapons of any kind. Kids are being expelled over toy guns in this country. Course the guy that is teaching me knifemaking exclusively made knives for all his college art projects, so who knows.
 
I honestly don't know what I want to do with my future, which bugs me big time, as I'm paranoid of not ever getting work, or a decent job :(

All I know is that I want a job to do with computers, in a field I'm good at and/or like. This isn't too good for me as I always put myself down and critisize my work all the time, therefore I don't reckon I can draw, and am hopeless at 3d graphics program, though I'm going to do a basic lunchtime course in a simple 3d program at college.

I like grpahics though, and love 3d stuff completely. Hopefully what people say about how you've got to learn sometime will be true and I will. I honestly don't think I'd mind whatever field in computer grpahics I get into, as long as my works appreciated, and I know it is.

Backing that up is my knowledge of hardware, which isn't the best, but it enabled me to put my current PC together from components, and so I might be a tech-support guy or something :D

So basically, I don't care about my future job as long as I enjoy it, it's to do with computers, and pays enough for me to live off, pay my bills, and support my computer addiction to a standard (And not to mention knives)

A drawing which I thought up on a throwing knife design can be found here http://www.100megsfree2.com/zpyder/wallpaper.jpg it isn't properly linkable because of the hoster though :( That was a basic 2d pic I made by drawing, and then went and spent time with Paint shop Pro 7 (Can't afford photoshop) and so if I can get away with it, I might exapnd on this and design it for a Technology project :D

(And yes, I know the design isn't exactly unique, but It was something I thought up whilst I was bored, and I like it and reckon it might work, any thoughts on it?)
 
I recently started knife thowing again, so this was a very helpful thread. Especially the part about how to change spins.

Hoplophile, do you go the school in the Republic (Chapel Hill)? I lived there for a couple years while my wife was in school. I've only been gone about 6 months, and still live near by, since she has about 8 more hours to take.

One final newbie hint (learned the hard way, naturally). If its pointy, try to throw it at something. If it bounces off, DONT TRY TO CATCH IT!
 
"DONT TRY TO CATCH IT!" You been watchin "Big Trouble in Little China" again?
Ghana, huh? (Isn't that how the natives pronounce it?)
The tire place still have those wacky signs?
Yeah I went to UNC for 2 years. I finally got too alienated by the left wing fascist crap. I grew up here, so you'd think I'd a gotten used to it. But nothing prepared me for professors that made statements like "white people have no sense of complex rythm" with impunity. I'll eventually go back and finish, but I need to learn how to brush crap like that off.
Chris, you're on the right track. I didn't know what I wanted to do until this year. I'm now 32, poor and bitter. Course I've always been bitter. With this "global economy" thing being pushed from every corner you might want to try a foreign language or 2. I'm pretty sure MOD will be needing Arabic speakers for a long time to come. Stick with the computer related fields though. You are at least thinking about your future which is a step in the right direction. Don't be so hard on yourself. There are enough people out there that will try to tear you down, no sense in helping them. Learn how to analyze yourself/your work with out beating yourself up. Look at it as problems that need to be corrected, not crap that can't be helped.
I hate to sound all Straight Edge, but a positive mental attitude will help you go a lot farther in life than almost any other factor. Chicks really dig it too. ;) Read some of the books written by guys who were in the SAS. They're not "Manly" macho nimrods, their just normal average guys with postive attitudes and problem solving skills.
I need more caffiene, I'm starting to sound like an after school special.
 
Actually, I've only seen BTLC once. I made an off hand throw at a target of opportunity (telephone pole) while my step brother was too near. It bounced back and, were it not for my hand, would have hit him. Fortunately, I had not decided that the knives I throw should have edges, so I didnt get cut. You know how it is, throw all day and have trouble making the point stick, then it bounces off and lands point first in your leg when you didnt even have any control of it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top