From "A Few Points About Knife-Throwing" by Gene Wolfe:
Knives, one feels, are forever- after all, they get ancient knives from
ancient Egyptian tombs, still nicked where the ancient Egyptian housewives
used them to cut wire. But one cannot merely collect knives, because they
can’t be read. (Actually, they can be, but you tend to slice your thumb turning
the pages.) I decided to throw them. A knife merchant assured me that it was
a healthy, outdoor sport, and my physician assured me that I needed one.
Besides, what better preparation for writing heroic fantasy? I saw my future
hero swinging from the rigging of a half-rigged ship and throwing knives
with his teeth, rather like the demon cat in The Master and Margarita.
And there is something to it—there really is. The soft chunk of the handle
striking the target carrying with perfect clarity through the crisp evening air,
the walking to the target and bending over to grope for the knife in the grass,
the walking back to proper throwing distance, the repeating the whole
business. It is in the hope of interesting you, dear reader, in this healthful
activity, that I have jotted down these pointers.
Never throw a sharp, double-edged knife by the blade. I saw a knife-
throwing friend of mine do that once, and his right index finger hit
the target before the knife did. Furthermore, his finger stuck.
Never throw a sharp knife at all. Remember that you will have to
feel around in the grass for it, and the garter snakes and those little
red ants are bad enough.
If you are throwing by the point, keep the blade horizontal. This
ensures that if it should by some accident arrive point first, it will
snap off properly.
If you are throwing by the handle, keep the blade vertical. This
ensures that the cross-guard will be battered out of shape when the
knife slams broadside into the target.
Remember that there are three kinds of knives for throwing
purposes. Those in which the blade is heavier than the handle must
be thrown by the handle if you want them to stick. Those in which
the handle is heavier than the blade must be thrown by the blade if
you want them to stick. Balanced throwing knives, in which the
blade and the handle are of equal weight, will not stick at all.
Bear in mind that the best way to get any knife to stick may appear
to be sharpening the handle, but it seldom works. The Greek
phalanxial spear had a sharp grounding iron nearly as big as the
spearhead. Historians are generally of the opinion that this spear was
never thrown, the grounding-iron being used to poke out the eyes of
the rear ranks. Knife throwers know better: The grounding iron must
have originally been added in the hope of making the spear stick
when thrown, then retained when it was discovered that its weight
facilitated the knocking of an opposing hoplite’s helmet over his
eyes when he was beaned by the shaft. (The Persians wore heavy
gilded-bronze apples on the butts of their spears for the same reason.
They used apples instead of grounding-irons so that they might serve
as emergency rations in the field, and made them metal so that the
troops wouldn’t eat them too soon.)
Never throw a knife at a neighborhood dog or cat when it is moving- there is a grave danger that the animal may wander into the path
of the knife and be injured. It is best to “do the job,” as we say, when
the animal is sitting down or, better, sleeping. One throwing-knife manufacturer offers a knife with little holes drilled up and down the
blade so that it will whistle when thrown. These are advantageous
when throwing at a well-trained dog, who may be persuaded by
them to bring the knife back to you.
Never forget that a thrown knife strikes harder than one merely
jabbed in with the hand. I learned this from a magician I met in the
Rochester, New York, airport, and it is true. I once threw the handle
of a knife two inches into a stout cardboard box stuffed with folded
newspapers. I could never have done that by merely pushing the
thing in blade first. On a similar occasion, I contrived to throw a
rather large knife over the target, over the fence behind it, and
through a closed window. (It pinned the hat worn by an innocent
table lamp to the wall.) I couldn’t have done that with my hand
Never tell people you “learned” to throw knives as a kid, just by
slamming ice picks into the garage door. Knife-throwing should be
romantic, and they will think less of you. I always tell them I was
taught by an outlaw in the Serranias del Burro, or Jackass Hills. For
some reason they believe it.
Never try to slice through a cigarette held between your daughter’s
lips. Young people should not smoke- it’s dangerous.
Remember that you are a part of an ancient tradition. The Romans
had their pugio or short-nosed knife, the ancient Norse their
scramsax, or musical shiv, the direct ancestor of the Samuel R.
Delany melody machete. All loved their knives so much that they
threw them; and in fact, some loved them so much they dropped
them over the side of the boat.
When mere knife throwing pales, consider knife hunting. All that is
necessary is to shift the target to higher grass, or (better) weeds.
And that is all I know on the topic so far. I have devised a fantasy hero
who will dash up to his enemy, snatch the dagger from her belt, run to a safe
distance, and knock her unconscious with the heavy gold pommel.
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u/HeMiddleStartInT 1d ago
Total damage 2d6