Dear slingers - and especially knife throwers -, today I got a book Combat knife throwing and DVD Martial arts knife throwing by Ralph Thorn. I throw knives for seven years, but this non-rotating "spear style" rocks! It just seems... natural. It has plenty of power, too* - a knife thrown overhand or sidehand can penetrate over 4 centimeters into a pine log round! I was throwing with more power and accuracy within three hours than in last seven years . It is for short distances, about 3-5 meters (I can do that, after three hours. I have no doubt that after some training, it can be used for targets much farther away - on the DVD is shown a non-rotating throw at 9 meters or maybe even more... ), but in combat/self defence, who needs more range than that? Unless you are chucking these nasty, large blades at sleeping ducks (that is not combat, in case you were wondering ), longer distance only spells losing time and weapon...
It may not be the best way to throw knives - but to me, it looks so!
Ask away .

*With plenty of power come rebounds that scream as they fly at sensitive parts of your anatomy, so take care. I got the nastiest rebound ever today, too...

It doesn't spin at all. Well, you can give it a long-axis spin, but it loses power a bit then. The grip is hard to describe, it uses index finger laid on spine of the knife and light flick of the frist to propel the blade into the target(with overhand throw - underhand uses a bit different grip and stiff wrist). Maybe if you go to www.combatknifethrowing.com and take a look at video clips there, you may understand the style better.

Edit: I don't call it "spear style", Ralph Thorn does. Personally, I cannot see any resemblance to spear other than they both fly through the air straight, without tumbling. True "spear style" throw is taught in Systema - the knife is thrown from icepick grip and doesn't rotate either, but it's useful only for extremely short ranges - like 1,5 meter or so.

Interesting! But there is no picture, so it's hard to understand. I'm interested. I'll try.

You can even throw nails  or straight sharp sticks with that style.

With this skill, you will become a dangerous person.

You can even throw katana with this style, Ralph shown it on the DVD. Can you imagine how much kinetic energy that would have?? Even pieces of flat iron, tanto pointed and sharpened, can stick deep...
I cannot take pictures now (my Mavica seems dead), but the grip is like that: take a knife(or marker or whatever thick enough), lay your index finger along the spine and your thumb on the side of the handle. Then you must do something so the knife won't fall out of your hand, and that's gripping it on the underside with your middle, index and pinky finger. Congrats, unless you were lost somewhere through this description, you should hold the knife in something closely resembling the overhand grip! For underhand grip, turn the blade 90 degrees sideways(on long axis, of course), so the index finger is on the flat of the blade and the edge is pointing away from thumb side of your hand. That's it. I will try to revive my camera and take some pictures.
CanDo: No, as atlatl is powering the dart from the very end. The index finger is there mainly as a guide - the overhand throw is a bit similar to pointing your finger on somebody using an overhand motion... try to remember if you have a knife in your hand if you like fancy gesticulation - otherwise you may easily impale someone.
loh_kah_hoe: Yes, you can throw anything long and heavy enough, the sidearm throw is best for that. Big nails with heads cut off are pretty good for it - they glide smoothly from your hand.
Taiki: Well, PDF isn't going to be made - at least not by me. Ralph Thorn was kind enough to send me the book and DVD for free(I promised him that I will review it for a Czech e-zine about unconventional warriorship and I kept that promise), so I would feel ungrateful if I would use that favour for making a PDF out of it. I have nothing against PDF'ing books from companies like Paladin Press and such, but this is a different thing. Sorry.

40 dollars amazon.com wants for it is daylight robbery. This amount of money can buy you both the book and the DVD, including postage and all, directly from Ralph Thorn. 14 dollars for the book, 25 for the DVD. Reasonable. I reccomend both, though, as figuring out the proper wrist motion without the DVD is a major pain in the posterior.

Stenny, you're doing it right!(about PDF'ing)

This technique can really be used to attack. 8)

loh_kah_hoe: With the underhand throw, where it is easy to hide the knife behind thigh, the only tip-off you will get before large, heavy, razor-sharp piece of steel will come in direction of your liver is a minor rocking motion (weight-shift) used for making the throw even harder. Am I graphic enough?
CanDo: It can be used with practically anything pointy, given enough practice. I can manage it with headless nails and with normal throwers, if they are heavy enough(I don't have enough feel yet to use light knives for these throws). On the DVD, it was demonstrated with: screwdriver, file, scissors, garden shears, normal throwing knife, broken throwing knife, pocket knife, balisong, bo shuriken, something looking like a small jackhammer bit, bayonet, katana and some medieval-style sword.  Maybe there were more things, I wrote this list from top of my head.
I wish you luck with the book.

Quote:


Look at the video clips on the website Stenny gave us.

Stenny,
Sounds great, I'll be experimenting as soon as I finish my current thrower