Knife Throwing - Basic Principles

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 unless a no-spin technique is employed by the thrower (there are spin and no-spin throwing techniques). If the thrower uses a spin technique, the knife will rotate during flight. This means that the thrower, assuming 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 allow great accuracy and range. Throwers may also need to adjust for throwing off-center, around corners, and while running.