Combat Knife Throwing: A New Approach to Knife Throwing and Knife Fighting (This Book Could Save Your Life!)
Ralph Thorn | 1900-01-01 00:00:00 | Loompanics Unlimited | 114 | Martial Arts
Reviews
... and very well-practiced. I don't personally think of a throwing knife as a good weapon, because I don't have the time or inclination to develop the degree of skill that would make it truly effective. I've seen Ralph throw, and wouldn't put myself up against him if I were carrying a pistol, but then again he's put an enormous amount of time and effort into mastering knife throwing. For the reviewers remarking on the similarity to shuriken throwing; I'm sure you're right, but I wanted to mention that Ralph did develop his style independently (we met in high school, and I got to see some of the early days of his obsession :) ).
Reviews
I ran across this book while doing research about knife throwing in movies. As a teenager I had spent countless hours in the back yard throwing every type of knife I could buy or make. Although I became proficient at distances under 15 ft I never discovered the holy grail of knife throwing: throwing a knife like a spear.
Later when I studied physics I learned why. An object can be thrown without rotation by applying the throwing force through the object's center of mass, easily done with a spear but not with a knife. A 6 foot spear also has at least 36 times more rotational inertia than a one foot long knife, making the spear over 36 times more resistant to rotation.
I was naturally intrigued to find a book claiming a knife could be thrown like a spear. Had I looked at the book's cover I would probably have immediately dismissed the notion. It shows a knife rotating into position and flying straight a short distance after leaving the thrower's hand, a physical impossibility. The illustrations and instructions inside the book were not much better.
I eventually tracked down a web site for the author and bought one of his DVD's. While stop action video shots were often too blurry to analyze, it looks like he does have a throwing style that minimizes rotation although it does not completely prevent it. The book's author, Ralph Thorn was shown at one point juggling several knives and is obviously a dexterous guy with a powerful throwing arm and a lot of skill. Even so, his low rotation throws in the DVD were typically at distances of less than 15 ft.
My advice: Ralph Thorn is a sincere guy who does have something to offer would-be knife throwers. However, I'd recommend buying one of his DVDs rather than his book. I'd also recommend not taking his explanations literally.
Reviews
I have used some of these "combat throwing" techniques for years. They are not revolutionary, they originate from ninjutsu spike shuriken throwing techniques. A few things regarding their use,
1) Only effective really within nine feet.
2) You actually can get enough power for serious penetration. I can stick an unbalanced knif an inch and a half into an oak door.
3) Knife throwing in any form is not for killing, in a fight, its a distraction. Since you are ditching your weapon, you would be using the distraction to run.
It is the best way I know of to throw knives though, and if you would be a proficient knife fighter I would recommend reading this book, but with skepticism.
Reviews
There are some good "combat" techniques for knife throwing, but "life-saving material" as the title indicates, I kinda doubt it. The author does seem to know his stuff and the illustrations, while basic, are pretty clear and helpful. The quality of the writing, on the other hand, is a bit below par. Topics covered include an introduction to spear-style throwing, basics of combat knife throwing, balancing a knife for throwing, targeting, psychological/physical conditioning, hunting/recreation skills, and a bit of interesting historical/context stuff as well. There is also a fairly in-depth chapter for spear-style throwing as well as one for combat throwing techniques, insomuch as you can go in-depth in about a 100 total pages.
It's an interesting tome but not really a groundbreaking one. It also has some iffy ideas. The challenge as I see it is that the focus of the book is primarily on techniques without looking at the larger picture. I've frankly got a philosophical problem with throwing a knife in combat, even if you are in the military. First off, only weapons balanced for throwing will work properly for that application in the first place so you must be carrying a specialty device in order to be able to execute the techniques. Once you do throw your knife not only do you potentially lose your weapon, but you are also operating at some distance from your opponent. Unless you are in an active war zone, that probably won't play too well in court. After all, if you've got distance you'll have to explain to a jury why you couldn't run away avoiding the confrontation before it became violent in the first place as well as why you were carrying an offensive weapon (throwing knives just aren't defensive devices no matter how you spin it... and knives in general are hard enough to justify in court as it is).
I'm not all that great at knife throwing but I did learn some new stuff and improve a bit from this book. All in all, if you take it as an academic instruction book to develop throwing skills for fun or possibly even for survival/hunting it's a pretty decent reference. From a self-defense perspective, on the other hand, I think it is a bit off target.
Lawrence Kane
Author of Surviving Armed Assaults, The Way of Kata, and Martial Arts Instruction
Reviews
Poorly written, run on sentences and endless babbling. I could not get past his constant knocking of end over end knife throwing. He spent too much time on the short comings of end over end throwing and not enough time on the technique of his style. I guess he wanted to fill his book with pages so he ran on and on about irrelevant things. What was valuable in the book could have been written on 5 pages max.
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