first throwing knives

Chocula

Chocula

Joined
Sep 8, 2005
Messages
743
hello, i want to buy some throwing knives for fun. i have thrown other stuff before (mostly pencils, which i have fun sticking into cielings and the ground) but am definitly no expert and want your opinions on a throwing knife for me. i would prefer a knife that i can throw by the blade or the handle that can also be used as a utility knife.
right now im looking at some gil hibben gen 2 knives but am not sure if they are good for me (rather expensive too).
also if it is simple and easy, could i make my own out of aluminum or some everyday household metal?
thanks for help and ideas
-Dan
 
A good throwing knife does not make a good utility knife. You can throw any knife, but the abuse and impacts will definately take their toll. Try taking a cheap Kabar copy out and throw it at trees for a few hours and see how that knife turns out. Those Gil Hibben throwers will be just about useless for utility, but work just fine for chucking into wood.

Don't make a thrower out of aluminum-- way too light and soft a material. Go find a bar of steel somewhere (Say 1-2 inches wide, at least 6-7 inches long). Get a hacksaw and cut a point on one end. There, you got a throwing knife. If you want to get fancy, you can file or grind an edge onto it.

The best way to approach the throwing knife/utility knife problem is to have multiple knives.
 
But a big honking thrower can be a good campknife/chopper. Because of gravity and wind resistance the best throwers should weigh around a pound. Around, give or take a couple ounces. A good length is around a foot as it makes it easy to calculate distance. A 1' x 2" 1/4" thick piece of steel weighs about a pound. There are easy ways to make one yourself for under 20 bucks. Ask me how.
 
I'm more curious as to how gravity and wind resistance--which act independently of weight--suggest a pound of steel. How did you arrive at this relationship?
 
I see them as all related. If your knife is too light it will have a tendancy to "Float" ie: wind resistance and "Plane" on the air. Also to light a knife will tend to run out of inertia and drop quicker on the way to the target and not hit the target with enough force to stick. Now I am not Isaac Newton so bear with me. Maybe you can see what I mean and add the right terms. Thanks for the response. Lets discuss it
 
I understand now... and hope my post didn't seem too critical. I was puzzled.

I agree with you--to an extent--on the wind resistance issue. But you'd need a strong wind to "float" (I like that word; perfectly useful!) a knife off course. Windage shouldn't be a problem on most throws unless you're throwing in a gale. I think even a quarter pound of steel should overcome windage 90+% of the time.

As for running out of inertia, here's where Newton does come in (good prediction, by the way, that I'd be going here). A knife weighing two ounces will drop just as fast as a knife of five pounds or more. Gravity's "speed" on earth is nicely constant. A knife's weight will have nothing to do with it--except a heavier knife will be harder to throw somewhat.

Hitting with enough force to stick is a separate concept--one of energy. Here's where I completely agree with you: the heavier the knife, the deeper the impact (and why all the 'hawk throwers chuckle at knife throwers). A knife weighing a pound will have far more energy than a lighter knife thrown at the same speed.

Of course, a possible tradeoff (to a slight extent, as you'll immediately see) is that a lighter knife tends to be easier to throw faster. With a little bit of math and knowing the weights of two different knives, we could easily work out how much faster I'd need to throw the lighter knife to produce just as much kinetic energy as the heavier blade. I say "slight" extent because in the grand scheme of things, there won't be a whole lot of difference, and without question a heavier knife will probably be just as easy to throw as a slightly lighter knife.

Great insights.
 
Hello, this is Hammerdownnow. I had some problems with my subsription and desided to start fresh with my real name.I see where I screwed up my terms. Not really wind resistance, I meant air resistance. If you take a flat board and swing it sideways with the broad side pushing against the air you will feel resistance. Turn it on its edge and swing it, it will "slice" thru the air with much less resistance. To illustrate, if you take an oak board and throw it, like a knife it will tumble and twist and evenually run out of steam and fall to the ground. If you take a balsa wood board and do the same thing it will go a couple feet, lose steam, cut weird didos, float and flutter to the ground. Or, think baseball vrs whiffle ball. Knives are affected by this to a much greater degree than you might think. When a knife flys thu the air, it twists and tumbles alternating sliceing and pushing air. Too light a knife magnifies the affect of the "Butterfy Effect". How light is too light? I am not sure.

I have not experimented with what would be the minimum weight to use to negate the phenom, but only go by the recomendations what has been written on the subject by experts like Charles McEvoy. And by memory of what I have read and personal experience. I guess I could look it up, but I am pretty sure 1lb. is standard.

Some beginners lose interest by starting out with to light and to short knives. Knife throwing is a complex hand, eye cooordination, learned skill, dependant on repeatable and predictable motions. The less revolutions one has to keep track in ones head, the shorter the learning curve. Couple a short knife, 4"-6" with to light of weight leads to frustration. If the floating effect was more predictable it might be easier to control. These are beginner problems and an expert can throw about any size or weight by making allowances that only practice can teach. Now I am starting to ramble. thanks again for allowing me to muse. :thumbup:
 
My first throwers were 7" blade Old Hickory butcher kinves. I still use them. I did remove about a 1/2" of handle off the end so they wouldn't split when hit and wrapped them with duct tape. I also ground off the sharp edge for safety. They were cheap and my 9 year old throws them easily. Since then he has developed "the touch". He has stuck a garden trowel, a small spade blade the we hammered flat, a weed digging tool, screw drivers, large nails and most anything with a point!

The carbon steel is soft and flexible and we haven't busted one yet.
 
Old Hickory's were my first knives and my first love. I still collect them today. Here is one you might like. It was made before Shapleigh sold the name to Ontario in 1939.
Shapleigh_sticker2.jpg
 
sort of looks like a true-flight thrower...that might be a good throwing/utility knife.
 
I would not thro that one fur love nor money....but, brandnew ones can be had from Ontario for just a couple bucks. Just finding a dealer that carries them is the B#$%h! If you can find a dealer that has them, please post it.

bf_1.JPG
 
Here is a link to someone, unlike me, who can string a sentence together and explain things better about what I was trying to say.. Happy throwing to all and here is to a better understanding of the sport.
Choosing a throwing knife
 
I just got into throwing with the "experts" at carolina blade slingers. I used their much heavier 14 and 16 inch Koch custom throwers, and they were more easy to "feel" where I was hitting. I don't know how else to put it, but it seems I knew more when they were going to stick and when they weren't.

That being said, I have some small cheap tiny throwers from pakistan that are also pretty accurate.

In testing today I found that my heaviest thrower right now (my true flight thrower) and these cheap ones seem to be my most accurate. I have to throw the tiny ones by the blade or some modification there of, not the traditional Mcevoy style I like so much.

I just got into tournament throwing so I'll be trying to work on these larger blades once my 5 cold steel pro flight throwers come in. I can't afford anything else :cool: but if anyone wants to give me their old Koch or Darrah throwers donations are accepted :p
 
Quote "I just got into throwing with the "experts" at carolina blade slingers"


Good for you. It is always nice to be around a bunch of like minded people to share and practice with. :thumbup: Using longer heavier blades seems to be something you just gravitate to over time. It also seems to be something you have to discover for yourself. I think I have been guilty of insisting upon them, rather than just letting people progress at their own rate. I am not a pro, just a 40+year hobby thrower.
 
hammerdownnow said:
Now I am not Isaac Newton so bear with me.
Click to expand...

I study Physics in University, so if any of you have a clear question I can always try an answer.

As long as noone talks about centrifugal force...
 
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