throwing knives

[Quasimorte]

Got a couple of questions.

1. what kind of steel can you buy at home depot? they have rods and bars. I was just wondering what kind of steel it is.

2. what is the easiest way to put a point on a bar of metal? I am working with both round and square bar and wanted to point it for throwing what can i do?

3. Has anybody ever heard of a swallow-tail blade? It looks something like an ancient arrow head a V shaped blade with a V shaped cutout at the base. was looking for pics, scales, dimensions, or place to purchase.

4. Ok here's the joke. I am trying to make a knife only using a dremel . being for throwing i Don't think it will be that big of a deal but. does anybody have suggestions on method and process that will make this easier?

5. Is it possible to only heat treat the tip of a knife? and if so can i do it with a propane torch and a bucket of olive oil? Do i need to do anything else to the knife so it isn't fragile and prone to breaking?

Thanks all have loved reading the forums for quite a while but never had reason to post untill now.

 

[Peter_E_Ryt]

1. I'm not sure on this one

2. The easiest way is with a grinder in my experience. Though I have made myself a set of six 10" throwing spikes from the large spike style nails at Home Depot, sandpaper, a file, and a hack saw. They came out looking very nice too.

3. Where did you see the swallowtail throwing knife?

4. If you drill out the outline, saw of the excess parts, and sand down the edges, it can be done. I beleive that there is tutorial somewhere about doing it this way.

 

[Quasimorte]

thanks here is the link for the swallow tail
http://www.secrets-of-shuriken.com.au/index1.htm
it is about a third down the page under the schools link. it is from the Iga Ryu school. all that is there is a very basic pic and no other description. I wanted something a little more detailed.

 

[Kevin the grey]

Unless you have experience in throwing I would stay away from light throwers . I tend to find that it is easier to throw something that has weight to it . This may be because I can feel the eccentricities of the blade and correct for them or that It takes more effort on my part to impart an error to the throw . That having been said something along the lines of a spike thrower can be made from large spike / nails . Don,t make the target too hard as the nails wopn,t stick that easily in harder targets .Good quality bbq skewers can make good throwers as well . Those swallow tail darts look thin and may take more effort to produce than it looks . I am sure you could hack some out of a reasonably durable metal if you want an approximation for practice purposes .They may be harder to throw than you think . As for hardware store metal ? One of our bargain basement gurus is sure to have a good response for you .

 

[john warren]

i think all the stock at home depot is hot or cold rolled mild steel. not the stuff for knives of any sort. you could get heavy banding stock, the type used for palet loads of stuff. you can get it in 1 inch wide. butit night be too light for throwing knives.
or good old leaf spring steel. that would be fine for your use.
the dremel with grinding stones is pretty light for this type of work, you'd be better to use a bench grinder. or at least an angle grinder and a vise.
using spring steel you may not even have to heat treat as long as your tip has some thickness, your not concerned with edge holding on a throwing knife.you would need to aneal the spring steel, to make it workable. a cutting torch would be better .or a good wood fire or charcoal fire in a grill with a hair dryer blowing on it to heat it up.

 

[Quasimorte]

How can i get a hold of leaf spring (one of the books i read said it might be a good idea as well.) Can i find it at like a junk yard or do you know of a cheap supplier?
thaks for the indepth responses.