Ratchet Die

Ratchet Die

Knife throwing

A throwing knife

Knife throwing show

The desirable properties for a throwing knife differ from those of a common pocket knife. Knives used are almost always one-piece, rather than the traditional knives that have a handle manufactured separately from the blade. The purpose of this design is to create a durable knife with a balanced distribution of weight. Additionally, some throwing knives are double-edged, although the edges of throwing knives are almost always dull (to prevent the knife from cutting the thrower's hands in some grips). The knife sticks by penetration of the sharpened point into the target, hence sharpened edges are unnecessary. As the knife's sharpness and its ability to hold an edge are of little importance, other factors such as weight distribution, overall weight and especially durability become important. Compared to pocket knives, the steel used to manufacture a throwing knife should be more malleable and less prone to breakage.

Basic principles

Knife throwing, whether in a martial or sport application, involves the same basic principles of mechanics. The objective in each case is for the point to stick into the target with a sufficient amount of force. For this to be successful, accuracy, distance, number of rotations and placement of the body all must be taken into account. A knife rotates during flight. This means that the thrower, assuming s/he is throwing the same way every time, must either choose a specific distance for each type of throw or - more practically - make slight adjustments to placement of the knife in the hand as well as angle of release and rotation of the wrist. Variations in throw technique can be combined to allow the thrower to stick the knife into a target up to 60 feet away. Throwers may additionally make use of these adjustments while throwing off-center, around corners, and while running.

Spear or arrow style

"Spear" or "arrow style" or "combat style" knife throwing is an alternative throwing style practiced by a majority of knife throwers in the army. The principal difference between this style and standard knife throwing is that in spear style, the knives are thrown so that they fly straight into the target with little or no rotation, in the manner of an arrow or a thrown spear. This is usually accomplished by a throw that resembles a shot put, accompanied by a slight downward flick of the wrist as the knife is released, in order to cancel out momentum accumulated in accelerating the knife. Spear style is considered more difficult than standard knife throwing, and is somewhat less accurate, but has the advantage that the thrower does not need to gauge the distance to the target or choose a number of rotations. Thus, in theory, it is more useful as a martial art. Spear style throwers usually use smaller knives - between 5 and 10 inches in length - than typical knife throwers do. They also tend to use knives balanced with more weight towards the handle.

Sport

In the USA and in Europe, there are communities of people pursuing knife throwing as a sport, similar to archery. Groups such as IKTHOF (International Knife Throwers Hall of Fame, USA), AKTA (American Knife Throwers Alliance, USA) and Eurothrowers (European Throwing Club "Flying Blades", EU) sponsor events, demonstrations and competitions. Those are an opportunity for the throwers to exchange knowledge, compare their performances, and enjoy the amiable atmosphere common to those events.

The competition itself consists, in the most common form, of a series of straight throws aimed at a set of standard wooden targets. Similar to an archery target, competition knife throwing targets have a bullseye surrounded by one or more rings. A sticking knife scores points. The thrower must be standing at least a set distance away from the target, with higher distances for more challenging events.

IKTHOF, based in Austin, Texas, keeps a ranking of its members based on their performance during these sponsored competitions. The scores achieved at Eurothrowers events can be examined at the meetings' reports.

Martial arts

Although it was popularized in America in the late 19th century by traveling acts such as the Barnum & Bailey Circus, the history of knife throwing dates much further back. The art of knife throwing was first used in martial arts or hunting applications. It has been incorporated into the martial disciplines of the Japanese as well as some African and Native American tribes. In such cases, throwing a weapon when fighting is generally thought of as a risk. If unsuccessful it can leave the thrower without a weapon. However, many warriors traditionally carried two or more weapons at the same time.

Military

Military personnel (typically special forces operators) seldom use "normal" knives for throwing, because lack of repeatability makes training and certification difficult. The French GIGN's knife has a liquid mercury vial hidden inside to help automatically orient the blade forward when thrown[citation needed]. The Soviet Spetznaz (special forces) throwing knife is actually a ballistic knife, which uses a very strong coil spring hidden in the handle to propel the blade forward on the press of a button. The holster carries extra blades, because hitting a tree or other wooden object embeds the blade so much, removal by human strength may be impossible.

Entertainment

Knife throwing as entertainment is part of a group of performance arts sometimes known as the impalement arts.

Representations

Knife throwing has made many appearances in film, most prominently in action movies such as Kill Bill, Gangs of New York, and V for Vendetta. Many films, with the above-mentioned as notable exceptions, depict the act of throwing a knife in an unrealistic manner. Compared to the standard Hollywood throw (holding the knife by the tip, between thumb and forefinger), competition knife throwers usually hold the knife either along the length of the blade close to the center of gravity or by the handle. Additionally, the number of rotations within a distance of five to thirty feet should be no more than two.

Steven Millhauser wrote a story called "The Knife Thrower." It was published in the March 1997 issue of Harper's and collected in The Knife Thrower and Other Stories.

While nowhere near as popular as the use of guns and swords in video games, a few games have successfully adopted knife throwing into their gameplay, such as in XIII (2003), which used realistic single-piece knives, Conker's Bad Fur Day (2001), which used kitchen knives that when used without targeting would travel straight towards where an opponent's head was at the time of throwing, and perhaps most notably GoldenEye 007 (1997), which could be configured in multiplayer to only allow throwing knives in an arena, and featured a single player mission that involved breaking out of a jail cell unarmed. In Assassin's Creed (2007), the protagonist, Altar ibn La-Ahad, is very adept at throwing knives, and any targets hit will die instantly. Knife throwing is also prominent in the tenth game of the Fire Emblem series. Tactical strategy games (such as Jagged Alliance 2 and Silent Storm) portray knife throwing as a silent and sometimes instantly lethal ranged attack. The new and hugely popular Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 also features throwing knives as a one-hit kill.

Willie Garvin, the main supporting character in the Modesty Blaise series of books by Peter O'Donnell, is depicted as an expert knife thrower. He can draw and throw in a fraction of a second and accurately strike targets up to 90 feet away with the blade or hilt of his custom-made knives.

In the best selling young adults book series, The Ranger's Apprentice, rangers carry a set of throwing knives that they are trained expertly with to use.

External links

Knife throwing technique

International Knife Throwers Hall of Fame (USA)

American Knife Throwers Alliance (USA)

European Throwing Club "Flying Blades" (EU)

Categories: Circus skills | Precision sports | Throwing weaponsHidden categories: Articles lacking sources from July 2007 | All articles lacking sources | All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements from September 2009
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