What kind of knife?

I learned to throw a knife with a craftsman screwdriver. It was a flat head about a foot long and I became very good at it. The problem is, I am better at throwing a screwdriver then any throwing knife. Go figure.
 
Ok so here is what i'm looking at. Cold Steel perfect balance and Cold Steel pro balance. Which one would be better for no spin?
 
I can't speak for its balance, but I'd say the bumps just past the handle on the Pro would limit no spin throwing somewhat. On the Perfect, I sometimes start with my finger much further up the back of the knife than the Pro would allow.

*For my next thrower, I'm thinking about a Stanley 12" Cold Chisel (hex shaft, not flat).
 
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Everyone says for no spin it should be heavier on the handle side. The Perfect Balance looks like it is light in the handle. Will that be a problem? By the way I got some 10" nails today and I was wondering if you wrapped the ends of those tent stakes with anything?
 
The Perfect is pretty close to dead center on the balance point. I haven't had trouble with it, but then I shifted to it after learning on the nails first. Keep in mind the balance point being at the mid point of the knife doesn't mean it's at the start of the handle, which in this case is not at the mid point. That's why I often hold it with my finger further up the spine as I mentioned before - also why I wasn't too keen on the Pro from looking at it.

Yes, I did wrap the nails with a few different things, all of which worked well enough: cord, duck tape, and tennis racket grip tape, which is my favorite for the fell, but not very durable. I've got some pics on another post in this forum. I'll look for it.
 
I wrapped the nails with tape and threw them for awhile. A few of them stuck but only up close. Im sure I hit the point a few more times than that but I think I need to grind them down a bit thinner around the tip. If I back up past 6' they start to rotate.
 
Yep, like I said, the further out you go the more technique there is to do to make it not spin. But first, work on adding 6 or 12 inches at a time getting it out to more like 9-12 feet with what you've got. Also, something else that helped me at first. I used a soft target to start out with. For me that was a 4" thick cushion from an old IKEA mattress about 4'x4'. It's more forgiving when it comes to sticking which is important for starting in no spin. The reason is that with no-spin there's more roll (versus pitch or yaw) in the throw so that it's got to hit harder and straighter than a spin throw in order for it to stick in a wood target. Starting with a soft target allows you see exactly what angle the knife/nail is hitting the target, even when it doesn't stick because it slows it down so much. This helps both to fine-tune your spin control and to add power gradually. Eventually, once I was getting the nails to drive almost their entire length into the cushion and later even flying out the back of two layers of cushion, then there was no problem sticking them in the end grain of a log.
 
I put themon the grinder and made them like arrow points but now I need to temper them a bit. I'm getting them to stick pretty good.
 
It may not be the knife. It could be you're technique. I know mine is still off because no-spin styles are quite different from throwing most spin styles or really any kind of sport involving a ball.
 
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