I am not an expert by any means and I haven't thrown anything for years. But, when I was a kid, I bought a hand full of specialty (cheap) throwing knives and proceded to throw a lot for a while and did a lot of destruction and damage to fences and garages around my parents house.
** Guyon, I had typed a lot of what I consider worthy advice in this post that is not meant to be condescending and maybe not even for you as I know you have LOTS of knife experience and I assume you take proper precautions and care. But, just in case some youngsters read this or anybody who may even have had reasonable knife experience short of throwing knives and thinking through some things that can happen.... So, I felt I should add some cautionary advice and disclaimers as best I could.
My first advice is to make a more disposable and suitable target that is large enough to hit and placed where your knife or other property won't be damaged if you miss or ricochet off the target.
Also, with most throwing knives and similar objects a missed hit (non-stick) could ricochet quite far when thrown hard. I usually tried to throw from far enough away from the target to be able to dodge random ricochet knives. But, consider this for if others especially kids and pets are around and also other things and property that could be damaged by a fast flying throwing knife, axe or other throwing object. The assumption is it will stick, but ricochets happen a lot.
I used to throw fairly shiny satin knives. They are reasonably easy to see with decent lighting if they come back at you. I never had coated blades until about 5 years ago with Swamp Rat. I would imagine a flat gray coated blade and bad lighting could be potentially hard to see and dangerous if it ricochets. - Just a thought.
Also, I don't like throwing my nice knives. Tough or not, I just don't want to throw my good stuff. Swamp Rat knives and Busse are very tough and can handle being thrown. Micarta is tough, but still the handles and rivots can take a severe beating from being thrown hard - much more stress and potential damage than if used for chopping hard.
If you are only around sod, dirt and wood, your knives will be much better off. But, if you are around cement, rocks, bricks or similar, your knives will likely get beat up over time. Sometimes it just takes one bad miss of the target or ricochet.
Cheap throwing spikes and knives can be had for $5 - $20, will hold up to throwing very well and are just as fun to throw (IMO). You don't have to have premium INFI or SR-101 to make a good throwing knife. I consider throwing something for fun and sport - like darts...... I don't personally consider it an "Art" to learn for the purpose of self defense or survival. I will argue the benefits of keep a good knife in the hand for survival or self defense. For defense or survival, make spears with knife and keep knife.
Also, many of the knives meant to be used as "knives" are not as well designed for throwing as throwing knives. So, I just don't see throwing my good stuff. But, to each their own. Yes, most any knife can be thrown and many will stick quite well.
However, I have to admit, the Crash Rat is actually more suited for throwing than probably any other Swamp Rat knife. And probably about as good an axe as I have seen for throwing. I wouldn't be worried about the steel. But, the handle and rivets could still get beat up. Help yourself by staying away from rocks, concrete, bricks and similar. Your handle will thank you.
In regards to fences, some of the throwing knives I had did not have handles and I I tried to throw where the blade stayed flat. This could could cause these knives to go right between fence pickets on occassion - not usually good.
From what I remember, I would say it comes down to:
- Consistancy in release (feet, body, arm and wrist) - reducing wrist flip and trying to keep it consistant can probably help as wrist flip is probably harder to keep consistent. I didn't flip my wrist much, but there was some. I am not sure I could remove wrist flip completely. But, ideally the wrist flip is consistent. Consistancy and experimenting with hold and release - and distance from target. I can't offer much more particulars on hold and release. Seems to vary per object for me. Small knives are different than axes and so forth. Sometimes I held the handle and sometimes the blade tip on some knives. I have some particular ways I hold and release, but too hard for me to describe. Just think it through a little (????). I usually try to throw in such a way that the rotation stays vertical and flat - not twisting as it spins. I have to hold and release in such a way as to produce this affect. More twisting seems to reduce consistancy and decrease liklihood of it sticking.
- Different sizes, lengths weights and different balanced objects will rotate at different speeds, so this has to be taken into account with each different throwing object.
- Distance is always a factor (for me). It is too hard to try to throw differently each time to "make" rotation speeds vary to account for varying distances. It is better (for me) to have consistancy in release and consistant rotation and account for the rotation by specific distances. I seem to recall that throwing it regular vs. hard didn't change the rotation per distance much - In other words: A given knife or throwing object might rotate one full rotation over "X" distance. Other objects might rotate one full rotation at more or less than "X". I can't recommend holding a knife by the blade to throw. But, I did have some blades I felt comfortable holding and throwing that way. The advantage is filling in the half distance gaps and using half a full rotation. Throwing knives don't really have to be real sharp - mostly just have a good point. I wouldn't recommend throwing a knife with a sharp blade - Especially knives with a heavy handle. If you throw a sharp bladed knife by holding the handle and it has a heavy handle, the handle is prone to flip the blade into your hand and could very likely result in a nasty cut.
* Likewise, be mindfull of a Crash Rat if the handle spike is sharpened!
So, try to use common sense with sharp objects.
- Lots of practice. If you are throwing with a consistante technique and not sticking, move forward or back until you are sticking it. Then, with practice, fine tune your sticks with "feel" for distance - keeping in mind different objects often require different distances.
If using a knife without a handle, the blades can make noisy vibration sounds - especially if they ricochet. Tape around the handle helps dampen the vibration noise.
That is about all I can think of for now.
Good luck.
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