- Joined
- Mar 25, 2003
- Messages
- 972
A conversation we had in #Busse (on IRC--you should try it!) last night inspired me to take it upon myself, in honor of my *not* being chosen for the test team, to test what knives I have and post my own brand of data under my usual forum name.
I was curious as to what percentage of "sticks" (Knife buries itself blade-first into the target and doesn't fall out) I could achieve with the Busse / Swamp Rat blades I had handy. Handy turned out to mean my Air Rescue Knife and my Rat Shaker.
First of all, let me say this--these knives aren't throwers. Maybe it seems obvious, but something a bit bigger (but not too much bigger! I could only stick my Himilayan Imports 18" Ang Khola three times--but that was just me being goofy) with more heft to it would definately be more suited toward the task.
Nonetheless, I'm a hard-headed rascal, so off I went to the target I've got set up out behind the garage. It was lightly sprinkling rain, just enough to make everything a little wet and make nice little gummy specks of wet dirt for my missed throws to fall into. Handles were slick by the end of the "experiment" so grip probably factored in as well.
My particular throwing technique is probably what you could consider traditional. Find one's distance, throw the knife so that it rotates once and then sinks into the target point first.
I'd been curious as to how well the Rat Shaker would throw for quite some time, so it was the first knife I used. I didn't expect good results, so I was rather pleasantly surprised when my second attempt netted me a stick. Beautiful stick. The knife just buried itself into the target and made me wish I had brought my digital camera, rain or no. I counted from the first stick, considering it to be the point where I had found the proper distance to throw from, and threw the shaker 50 times. 25 of those times, it stuck, with "streaks" of hits up to 4 in a row. 50% accuracy with such a little, light knife.
Next, out came the Air Rescue. I had thrown this knife before, so I was hoping for at least around 60%, particularly considering the advantages it has over the smaller Rat Shaker--namely more weight and a better point, not to mention the fact that I had thrown it before. It took me longer to find my distance with the ARK, and once I did, I was surprised. Throwing the ARK tended to be more streaky than the Rat Shaker, with as many as six sticks in a row and similar numbers of misses in a row. All in all, I stuck it 23 of 50 throws--46%.
The larger Air Rescue was out performed by a little rat. I must say that the dampness affected the ARK's grip more than it did the rat shaker, partially because of the holes in the Rat's handle which allowed me more purchase, so maybe I'll do a "dry" run later when the weather is better.
I was curious as to what percentage of "sticks" (Knife buries itself blade-first into the target and doesn't fall out) I could achieve with the Busse / Swamp Rat blades I had handy. Handy turned out to mean my Air Rescue Knife and my Rat Shaker.
First of all, let me say this--these knives aren't throwers. Maybe it seems obvious, but something a bit bigger (but not too much bigger! I could only stick my Himilayan Imports 18" Ang Khola three times--but that was just me being goofy) with more heft to it would definately be more suited toward the task.
Nonetheless, I'm a hard-headed rascal, so off I went to the target I've got set up out behind the garage. It was lightly sprinkling rain, just enough to make everything a little wet and make nice little gummy specks of wet dirt for my missed throws to fall into. Handles were slick by the end of the "experiment" so grip probably factored in as well.
My particular throwing technique is probably what you could consider traditional. Find one's distance, throw the knife so that it rotates once and then sinks into the target point first.
I'd been curious as to how well the Rat Shaker would throw for quite some time, so it was the first knife I used. I didn't expect good results, so I was rather pleasantly surprised when my second attempt netted me a stick. Beautiful stick. The knife just buried itself into the target and made me wish I had brought my digital camera, rain or no. I counted from the first stick, considering it to be the point where I had found the proper distance to throw from, and threw the shaker 50 times. 25 of those times, it stuck, with "streaks" of hits up to 4 in a row. 50% accuracy with such a little, light knife.
Next, out came the Air Rescue. I had thrown this knife before, so I was hoping for at least around 60%, particularly considering the advantages it has over the smaller Rat Shaker--namely more weight and a better point, not to mention the fact that I had thrown it before. It took me longer to find my distance with the ARK, and once I did, I was surprised. Throwing the ARK tended to be more streaky than the Rat Shaker, with as many as six sticks in a row and similar numbers of misses in a row. All in all, I stuck it 23 of 50 throws--46%.
The larger Air Rescue was out performed by a little rat. I must say that the dampness affected the ARK's grip more than it did the rat shaker, partially because of the holes in the Rat's handle which allowed me more purchase, so maybe I'll do a "dry" run later when the weather is better.
I must have done something wrong
