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New Knife Throwing Guide

I have finished writing a new guide to knife throwing techniques. Heres the link to it on our website:
Knife Throwing Techniques. You can download this as a PDF or Word Document so you can read it later or Print it off.

 Basics of Knife Throwing

Here you should learn all you need to get you throwing knives like a pro in no time. You can Download this article in PDF or Word Format: Basics of Knife Throwing PDF.  Basics of Knife Throwing Word Doc.

     

Introduction:

Knife throwing is an art. It is also a sport, a combat skill and can be a form of entertainment.

Knife throwing has of course been used for entertainment in circuses for a long time. Knife throwing was popularised in the late 19^th century by travelling acts. The knife thrower demonstrating his/her skills with the help of an assistant sometimes on a spinning board and sometimes with the knife thrower blind folded. Please, please, please do not try this at home (for all those that own a spinning board).

The skill of knife throwing dates back much further than the circus acts. The art was first used in martial arts in Japan such as Ninjutsu (Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu). Some African tribes also used knife throwing as a combat technique however it is considered high risk as if you miss you may be disarming yourself and supplying your attacker with a weapon. Although many warriors would carry more than one knife. The Ninja would carry four throwing knives plus a combat knife.

Knife throwing is also a competitive sport with societies in the USA and in Europe holding events and competing against other knife throwers. UK Knife Throwing Club: http://knifethrowing.co.uk/

Knife throwing in all the above applications has the same basic principle and objective, to stick the point of the knife into a target with enough force for it to hold.  There are several knife throwing techniques and styles a knife thrower may employ to adjust for throwing whilst running, throwing off centre or throwing around corners. In this article we will go through the basic knife throwing technique for beginners throwing straight on at a fixed target.

Knife Types:

Most hunting knives, fixed blade knives or pocket knives are not really suitable for knife throwing. Although any knife can in theory be thrown, the balance of these knives will make it more difficult, you risk cutting yourself and the knives are unlikely to survive many throws. A proper throwing knife will have a good weight to allow it to be thrown over a distance. A lightweight knife will just wobble in flight and reduce accuracy and power.  The sides should be blunt for handling, a pointed tip will be sufficient to stick into the target.  Throwing knives are built to withstand the impact when you miss or they bounce off.

Tip: We sell single throwing knives from only £7.99 and triple throwing knife sets from as little at £9.99 so it doesn’t have to cost a fortune to try out your skills.

The Grip:

There are three basic types of grip in knife throwing. For full turn throws the basic grip is known as the hammer grip. Called the Hammer grip as you hold the handle of the blade as you would a hammer (figure 1) with the tip of the blade pointing up to the sky. 

The modified hammer grip is the same but with the thumb along the side of the knife and the tip pointed forward (figure 2).

The third grip type is the horizontal blade grip (figure 3). Only use this grip if your knife has blunt edges otherwise there is a very good chance of cutting yourself at some point. This grip is generally used for shorter range throwing with half turns.

Try all three grips and see what feels the most comfortable for you.

Tip: The blade grip (3) will cause the knife to stick parallel to the ground creating more strain on your knife tip  and it will not last as long as if you used the hammer grips where the point of the blade drops into the target.

Distance & Trajectory:

In films, when watching someone throw a knife it often appears as the knife travels in a straight line with the point always facing forward, like a dart in flight. Like a lot of Hollywood ideas this is a myth. When a knife is thrown it begins a rotation, turning around its centre of gravity, with the blade tip and the handle end taking turns at facing the target. The skill of knife throwing is getting the distance and trajectory right so when the knife hits the target on its final rotation the point is facing the target allowing it to stick in. A very satisfying feeling once mastered.

The key to this is your throwing distances. A general rule of thumb is three metres for one full rotation of the knife to allow a ‘stick’. Your style, your knife and the force with which you throw means the distance will vary for each person, this is why it not an exact science but an art.

If at first the handle hits first, with the blade tip pointing up, then move back about a 30cm (around a foot). If the handle hits with the blade tip pointing down then try moving forward about 30cm, and you will soon establish your throwing distance.

With practise and some trial and error it won’t take long to get your distance right and you will have mastered the one rotation throw and will be reasonably consistent at this distance.

Next step back to the 2 rotation distance and master this throw. Once you are consistently ‘sticking’ you can work on your accuracy using targets or games.

Below is a table showing the approximate distance from the target you need to be for each rotation of the blade. The distances get a little shorter per rotation to allow for the natural trajectory of the knife in motion. You will need to experiment to determine your own exact distance. Distance is always measured from the tip of your rear front.

Rotations of Knife	Distance from Target
1	3m (approx. 10ft)
2	5.5m (approx. 18ft)
3	7.6m (approx. 25ft)
4	9.7m (approx. 32ft)

Tip: At first try to keep everything the same on each throw - same body and arm movements, same force applied, same grip and stance. This will make it easier to be consistent. Just adjust your distance and get this established first.

The Throw:

The throw of the knife can be broken down into these steps: the stance, the wind up, the throw and the follow through.

Like with most target sports, golf, darts, snooker, good technique all begins will a good stance.  For a right handed thrower put your left foot in front with the toe on your distance mark. Your right foot will be back and on its toes. Your feet should form a 45 degree angle. The weight should be on the dominant foot (the back one – right for right handers) mostly on the ball of this foot.  Flex the knees slightly to allow your body weight to shift with greater ease; the front leg should be slightly more bent than the back leg. (Figure 1).

Your throwing knife should be held in your dominant hand in front of you and around chest height. Your left hand should be out stretched, supporting your throwing hand. Do not rest your elbows on your stomach; they should be out in front of you and less than a shoulder width apart (Figure 2).

Use the tip of the knife to sight your shot, aim the knife and concentrate on your target.

Now for the wind up, bring your throwing arm back beside your head (not too close as you want to keep those ears). When pulled fully back your elbow should be above your ear and the knife tip pointing down towards the ground in a 45 degree angle (Figure 3) this is the ‘cocked’ position.

Your body will rock back slightly while your weight remains on the ball of your back foot, your left arm will still be outstretched pointing towards your target.

The throw: Once cocked now begin your throwing arm's forward motion, lunging forward with your body weight shifting onto your front foot (Figure 5) Allow your left arm to swing down and behind your body and your back foot to lift slightly off the ground. At the apex of your throwing arm's forward motion release the knife.

Follow through is another essential part of golf swings, snooker shots and more importantly knife throwing. It needs to be a smooth continuous motion. Your left arm will continue its flow to counter balance your body’s forward motion while your throwing arm will come to a stop as if you were reaching for the floor (Figure 6).

Keep your balance and allow your back foot to come to rest near your front foot and your throw will be complete (Figure 8). Fingers crossed it all went smoothly and you have a solid ‘stick’ in your target.

Tips: Keep your wrist stiff. Stretch a little before practise to avoid straining muscles. Protect your arm joints by not stretching out arms all the way; stop the motion with your muscles instead.

Remember to clean your knife after use. Oils from your hands may eventually damage the metal. Knock out any dents to your blade also.

Targets:

We will be getting throwing knife targets on Knifewarehouse.co.uk soon so you will be able to buy direct from us. In the meantime you can use thick cork boards, logs, or planks of wood for targets. Try to use softwoods such as Cottonwood which after it has soaked up some rainwater will act like a self-healing dart board leaving very little marks from many throws. Avoid plywoods as knives bounce easily off these, it is rather noisy too. The same applies to chipboard which will crack away. Hardwoods will be much more likely to damage the blade tips and bounce off.

Tips: Soak your target with water before throwing knives at it. This softens it slightly and reduces the risk of damaging or snapping your throwing knives.

Games: Throwing Knives Snooker Game: How to Play

This game is played like real snooker but instead of potting balls into pockets you hit them with your throwing knife or axe. The game is played over four rounds. As in real snooker you need to hit a red and then a colour, red then a colour and so on counting up your points for the break as you go. Points are scored for clean hits and you need to nominate your colour after you hit a red.

Your break (or turn) ends when you miss your ball. As the value of the balls increases, the size of the targets decrease. If you are not familiar with snooker the points are at the bottom of the page. On the last round the red is taken out of the equation and you are on the colours trying to hit yellow, green, brown, blue, pink then black in sequence. If you miss a colour on this round the other player picks up where you left off like in the real game. Any colour that has been hit in this round is gone (potted). The player with the most points after the four rounds are up is the winner.

To play the game print off our Throwing Knives Snooker Game PDF and arrange the targets as shown on the cover page of this document.

Keep Practising! Like any skill or art you need to keep at it, try out some of the tips in this guide and keep going until you are a proper knife throwing Ninja.

By Joseph Wheeler

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