I think I may have seen an article on some crossed stakes tied together and sharpened on all four points in a magazine some years ago.  I think that it was some kind of martial arts, or mountain survival mag of some sort, and was probably back sometime around the late eighties or early nineties when the "survivalist" mountain man back-to-nature idea was still popular, before it got mutated into the camo-clad freak criminal image, and lost popularity.  I think I recall recall them being called "throwing crosses", or something like that at the time.

I know that I have read some articles claiming that certain Western American Indian tribes had the equivalent of East Asian "Martial Arts" systems, but have my doubts as to the accuracy of such statements.  I think that such claims may merely be offshoots of some widespread, well-intentioned romanticism, and an understandable attempt by modern people to try to make the necessary survival and fighting skills which may WELL have been taught within, and traded among groups of tribes of Indians and white soldiers (or more likely, pirates and sailors) fit into the forms and concepts familiar to us in the age and aftermath of the post WWII, and 1970's-80's East Asian martial arts boom.

I think it more likely that if any such analogous systems had actually existed, they would have been heard of and recorder prior to said boom.  As a Native American, I hope I can be proven wrong regarding this notion, but before the wonderful POST-Bruce Lee-era film, "The Last of the Mohicans" (The 1980's version starring Daniel Day Lewis and Madeline Stowe), the only Indian I ever heard of or saw depicted using Asian-type "martial arts" techniques was in the horrible Indian/biker/war vet/karate exploitation film "Billie Jack", and its thankfully few sequels.  I just thank God that all of this happend in the 70's and not the 80's, or there most certainly would have been a T.V. series or film called something like, "Geronimo: Indian Medicine Ninja versus Wild Kung Fu Bill"!

These kinds of popular culture trends may have influenced the source for the claim that the tribes had these ingenius, if superfluous alleged supplements to their already effective trade rifles, hatchets, knives, clubs, (rarely) slings, bows and arrows, horse riding (post Spanish invasion), blowpipes, wrestling and fist fighting skills.  I just think that the needs of most of the people back then were so basic and critical that they didn't have time to fiddle around with fancy fighting systems and concepts that we have the luxury of studying and developing today, or in relatively affuent and highly systematic East Asian cultures who could support a class of scientific healer-killers and warrior monks with sufficient time on their hands to become masters-at-arms and doctors of both black, and white medicine in their spare time.

I've just never seen the evidence that these types of "throwing stars" ever existed in ancient times, but I could very well be wrong.  It would sure be neat if they actually did.

Dear English,

Great post!  I was hoping you or someone else could provide more information and insight regarding this question.  Like I said, I hope there does prove to be some sort of interesting sophisticated elements to the way our old American Indian ancestors used to fight, and you make many thoughtful and good points, with which I have to concur.

Also, the famous plains tribes' legendary horsemanship skills were by definition, post-Columbian, but they were great and inovative, nonetheless!  The parts of the "Last of the Mohicans techniques" which I found "suspect" h9istorically were mainly the back spinning techniques which are reminiscent of the Korean and northern Chinese flying and spinning kicks, backfists, etc. and the way that they employed the weapons a la filipino Kali, escrime and its close ancestor Silat/Bersilat, all of which were becoming popular on the west coast/Holywood area around the time the film was made. noithing wrong with that, however, since it WAS, as you point out, done in a brilliant manner in which the actual techniques were toned down and used in a believable manner to effectively showcase what inventive and seasoned veterans of the bloody frontier "French and Indian" conflicts could have developed on their own, in response to the needs of the time.

It did NOT look like some Chinese opera "clowning" kung fu (where it makes even bad professional wrestling "stomping punches" seem real by comparison), or an attempt to imitate kung fu, or other martial arts films.  The overall economy of the techniques depicted was certainly impressive and believable.  It was certainly not cartoonish, or like that French werewolf flick, etc.

I also think that your taking the initiative to bring up such a thought-provoking topic and to experiment with the possibility of such tools being at least mechanically plausible, and to keep an open mind either way, is completely commendable!  I think that someone like you will have the best chance of being ultimately responsible for either supporting or refuting the question of their actual existence in pre- or post-Columbian North American tribal warfare or hunting cultures, and more importantly, the development and assessment of the potential value, usefulness and limitations of these weapons for primitive weapons students/researchers and modern-day martial artists in the future.

If they are practical and potentially useful, they should be studied regardless of whether they were used by "x" group at "y" time and place in history.  Thank you for so adeptly answering my offered points and opinions.  As you know, that's what makes any discussion interesting and worthwhile.

(P.S. I STILL hope they DID actually exist in at least SOME ancient culture, and that if so, this may be prtoven someday, despite my having own, admittedly merely intuitively-based doubts.)

Sounds like a pretty good weapon.  English-I'm interested in how you made yours, could you share your secrets?  Thanks much!

Sounds like a good weekend project.  Though, I might try experiment with different lengths.  I'll let you know how it turns out.  Thanks for the great info!!

How do you think the natives stuck the sharpened sticks together.  I know they didn't go to Wal-mart and buy some glue.

They would carve a little out of the center. I don't know how better how to explain this but linking logs from when we were kids. I am sure you could put the 2 stick together any way you want but a grove in the center of both sticks sounds the best way to me.

I wonder about the practicality of  these throwing sticks: although I haven't made one (yet) it sounds like they would be pretty light and would not stick very deeply, or mortally, into a man or beast.  Where they perhaps poisoned?  Or maybe larger, say 1-2 ft.?