Greetings Amigos -
"The perfect design for a throwing knife" is a topic of much heated debate amongst this variety of Knife affecianados. As amazing as it may seem, there are Naysayers with only booklearning who often contend that "the knife, being an unaerodynamic shape, and tumbling uncontrollably, cannot be thrown effectively or consistantly." These individuals it would seem have never been to a circus, carnival, Rondesvous, or watched Ed Sullivan and Johny Carson. The identical comment by the way was made in a scholarly tome devoted to Daniel Boone, claiming that the tomahawk cannot be accurately thrown. If I recall correctly the *only* thing that author got correct was Boone's political career, which had been well documented.
There are a variety of "proven" patterns about which mostly have a tendencay to be a tad more "tip heavy" whilst some attempt to achieve the elusive so-called "perfect balance". Typically these are not at all traditional, rather 20th century design of a somewhat point heavy triangular pattern, or a "leaf pattern" such as those seen here:
http://tinyurl.com/bljyzmThis one was the old standard of Rondyvoo'ers for many many years, originally only available through Dixie:
http://tinyurl.com/bckkdgMany of the Rondy crowd prefer an 8-12" butcher pattern. Thrown by either the tip or the handle, I have won a few "blanket throws" with these. Once your are used to it, your hold on the knife, force of throw, amount of spin, etc will change at will depending upon the target, distance, and type of knife. One fellow even prefers the cheap Steakhouse Knives.
I recall sitting in the shop of a friend who made knives of any size, shape, or purpose. A young man came in wanting him to quote a price to make a set of "perfectly balanced throwing knives". The Knife Smith asked "OK, what shape, what kind of handle, and what do you want them to look like?"
The Kid said "what are you talking about, there's only one design for perfectly balanced throwers!!!"
The Smith grabbed a handful of screwdrivers, woodchisels, files, and carving knives from his bench and sunk them all, pointy end first, in a target on the wall across the room. Then he said " So what do ya want em to look like?"
yhs
Prof Marvel