Throwing knife

A throwing knife is a knife that is specially designed and weighted so that it can be thrown effectively. They are a distinct category from ordinary knives.

Throwing knives are used by many cultures around the world, and as such different tactics for throwing them have been developed, as have different shapes and forms of throwing knife.

Central Africa

Throwing knives saw use in central Africa. The wide area they were used over means that they were referred to by a number of names such as Kulbeda, Pinga and Trombash. These weapons had multiple iron blades and were used for warfare and hunting. A maximum effective range of about 50 yards (around 45m) has been suggested. The weapon appears to have originated in central Sudan somewhere around 1000 CE from where it spread south. It has however been suggested that the same weapon is depicted in Libyan wall sculptures dating around 1350 BCE.

The throwing knives were extensively collected by Europeans with the result that many European and American museums have extensive collections. However the collectors generally failed to record the origin of the blades or their use. As a result the history and use of the throwing knives is poorly understood. A further complication is that the label "throwing knife" was attached by ethnographers to various objects that didn't fit into other weapon categories even though they may not have been thrown.

Knife throwing

Knife throwing is an art, sport, combat skill, or variously an entertainment technique, involving an artist skilled in the art of throwing knives, the weapons thrown, and a target.

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.

If the thrower uses a spin technique, the knife will rotate during flight. This means that the thrower, assuming they are throwing the same way every time, must either choose a specific distance for each type of throw or, more practically, make slight adjustments to the placement of the knife in the hand or to the throwing movement. Another adjustment that can be made is the way the knife is held. If it is held at the blade when it is thrown, this makes it spin half, whereas if it is held by the handle, this makes a full spin. So if the thrower estimates he needs one and a half spins for the point to hit the target, he would hold the knife from the blade when it is thrown. If he feels he needs two full spins for it to hit the target point-first, then it would be held by the handle.