Knife Throwing Concepts

Introduction

Just like many others, knives and swords have always fascinated me. I watched all the adventure flicks on TV where the hero would fling his knife half a football field away and it would stick perfectly in the bad guy. I kept trying to throw like the hero did, but never was able to get my knife that far, much less get it to even go straight and stick. I saw some of the traditional throwers (often referred to as "hobbyists") throwing from long distances with great results.  However, after looking into it and trying for awhile, I found I could stand at a premeasured distance, get a certain knife to rotate a certain way, then get the stick I was looking for.  The problem was, I had to stand at these certain distances and throw the same knife(s) the same way in order to get a reliable stick.  This was fun to play with, but my intrests in it didn't last long.

Years later, I say my father standing back about 15' and throw a handful of different knives sticking them.  He moved some, threw again, and again stuck.  What I found fascinating was that each time, the knives only turned 1/2 turn before sticking.  My father explained what he was doing with the throw, but that’s as far as it went. He was intuitively doing the details after training so much with it. I tried for weeks with unpredictable results. One time I would stick it fine. The next it would spin different and smack on it’s side. I got sick of hearing the “clang” of failure and not understanding how I needed to train to make it better. This was frustrating because he was doing what I wanted to learn and didn’t understand.  Though I like the traditional hobbyist throwing, I really wanted something combat functional.  The main distances I was concerned with were only about 5’ to 20’.  Much past that and a knife would be easier to dodge.  I was looking for something I could fast pitch a knife or other object and stick into something or someone reliably from whatever distance I was at (within 20').  I also needed to be able to pick up something new and not spend all day getting used to it.  I needed to be able to understand in order to adapt and make it functional.

I have been lucky in that I’ve trained in the martial arts for several years, during most of which I was trained to think and discover exactly why things work. I was encouraged to break things down and see how they could work better for me according to my body type and abilities. I though that to train this skill with the most benefit, I needed to understand exactly what was going on, break it down, and train things right. So, I decided to start my venture into the mechanics of this monster.

I soon found what a monster it was. This was much more complicated then I first thought. There was very little literature out there on anything but the standard paced, many spin, hobbiest throw. These looked nice, but not what I was looking for. I was able to find some techniques from an article out of “Real Mountain Men” titled “A Basic Manual On Knife Throwing” by J.B. Wood as well as some vague information on Asian shuriken and some physics from traditional throwing sites.  There is a link to Wood's article below.  In case you check it out, I think he was onto something.  However, he didn't seem to understand why things worked the way they did.

After thousands of throws, some broken knives, several holes worn in targets, and bent spikes, I found three basic principles in effect: Arc, choke, and angle of release. These three variables can be adjusted to manipulate the rotation of the knife. Before we get into the actual throwing, check each one out in turn to better understand the dynamics.

Arc
Choke
Angle Of Release (AOR)

Hints, Tips, & Things I Learned
Training
Spear Type Throws
Which Is Best?
Conclusion And Reality Check

Links
Another great article on the physics of knife throwing can be found here:
http://www.knifethrowing.info/physics_of_knife_throwing.html
http://www.knifethrowing.info/index.html

Some good info on 1/2 and no turn knife throwing:
http://www.throwzini.com/half-spin-technique.html
http://www.throwzini.com/no-spin-technique.html

A good page on shuriken can be found here:
http://www.secrets-of-shuriken.com.au/

The basic knife throwing manual mentioned in the introduction:
http://roxen.xmission.com/~drudy/amm/skills/knife/knife.htm

Author: Aaron Dee Roberts
ezraa123@yahoo.com