Knife throwing

Darren Stone asked:

Can anyone recommend a book or a good way to get into knife throwing as a sport/pasttime? I've seen some nifty throwing knives in local knife shops and the Edge catalog. Kinda makes me wanna give it a try.

Knife Throwing and Throwing Knives by Matthew Rapaport is a good place to start

In addition, Steve Salberg offers:

The "standard" text for sport and performance knife throwing is:

KNIFE THROWING by Harry K. McEvoy.
A practical guide to the art and sport of knife throwing. This book nstructs on all aspects of selection, care and throwing.
With photographs. 106 pp. Paper.

It is available in many libraries and from Dubé.

Make sure you check out your local library as there are other books out there as well.

It *is* important to get good knives. Cheap ones can bend easily and cause you to learn bad habits if they are off-balance. A general rule of thumb for weight is ONE OUNCE PER INCH OF LENGTH. The Tru-Balance Knife (probably the easiest to find sold) is very heavy and gives you a very consistent throw. It is somewhere around 15 inches long and can be thrown from either the blade or the handle.

A truly great knife is the Viper. It is expensive (somewhere around $65 per knife) but it has an incredible feel. Sort of the Silicone Ball of the Knife world.

I actually learned using an old Navy K-Bar (sp?) knife. You can only throw it accurately from the blade so that's my favored delivery now. It's pretty impressive when *that* baby plunks into the wood, but nothing's like the Tru-Bal for sheer destructive power. Those babies'll go through a tree truck!

You can buy some knives from Mark Allen Productions. I can't find his address right now, but the phone is (702) 873-1100. If you look back to one of my posts about Western Arts stuff, I think I put the address in there. Tell him Dr. Steve sent you (if you want to give him a laugh!).

Good luck finding a place to throw them ;-)

Steve (still looking for an assistant to stand against the wall) Salberg
.sig backing warily out of the room...