The Thrown Knife...A Viable Weapon?
Written by Joseph A. Darrah
As someone who has been throwing knives for almost 45 years and employed as a professional knife thrower with a traveling circus as well as a knife maker for over 30 years and am currently employed as a private driver/bodyguard my opinions and views may be of interest to anyone who might consider a thrown knife as a viable weapon of defense.
The old school of thought on throwing a knife for self defense is that you should not throw away your weapon unless there are extreme circumstances that would indicate you should. There is certainly some wisdom in that old idiom as well as a modicum of common sense especially if it is your only weapon. But I carry several.
There are also in Tod’s World Laws that prohibit the use and or possession of many various types of knives and it’s just as likely that if you stop a rapist, burglar or car jacker with a knife whether it be thrown or held in your hand it’s likely that you and not the criminal will be facing charges as well
as some other form of litigation.
So right there we have more laws protecting the assailant/criminal than the person protecting his/her life or property or someone else’s. Personally I would have a tendency of doing what I felt right. Am I going to stand idly by and watch a woman be raped if I can do something about it? Certainly not, and I doubt if any of you are either!
So if I was willing to face possible legal repercussions and go ahead and use a thrown knife to save another person or myself how feasible is it to do that? The question of distance from a target and rotation of the thrown weapon is usually the most critical factor. That is the reason that the throw known is the Military Throw. No matter how far away the target is you are only using a half spin or half rotation is probably the most effective.
The knife which is being thrown by the blade and only travels that half rotation before striking the target is more likely to hit point first than the 3 or 4 spin throw as you remove more room for error by limiting the number of times the knife rotates.
Distance is quite another matter, for you to become proficient enough to throw a knife in the half spin Military Throw from any distance between 4ft and 24ft it is going to take some practice. I have a sort of challenge I put students through. I make the students stand with their back to the target and as they start to walk away turn and throw from anywhere between 4ft and 24ft from the target, this prepares them to learn to throw instinctually rather than holding the knife and aiming as with a gun.
Just as I feel the person who trains for hours and days on end with a Bow that has sights and stabilizers will never be a great instinictive bow shooter : the person who throws only at tournament distances and styles will not be as good an instinctive knife thrower.
The key to this throw is that the thumb on the flat of the blade moves closer to the tip for the closer throws and closer to the cross guard or center of the knife for the longer throws, it is also important to close the knuckles when throwing a sharp edged knife (leaving the sharp side facing away from the palm).
In closing I suppose I hope that no one ever needs to use this for self defense and yet knowing that about one out of every three people will be involved in a violent crime whether as the victim or the one who defends themselves is up to the individual. If I have a choice, I will use whatever means at my disposal not to be the victim.
There are many things to think about when choosing to defend yourself or someone else and each of us must weigh the choices we make. Right, wrong, or indifferent, if you don’t make the choice a violent assailant will quickly help you make up your mind
