Hawk Throwing

[KCSO]

I will start this and if anyone is interested I will post additions from time to time. Most of this is from a draft of a booklet I was writing when I was doing this on a regular basis. I will give just a little background so you will realize that I know where of I speak. In 1980 my partner and I started throwing knife and hawk in competition together and we practiced and tried to one up each other all the time. We started giving living history demonstrations and were later hired by Allied Bus Tours to put on shows. We did Knife and Hawk throwing and trick shooting with flintlock muzzleloaders till Uncle Aurther-itis slowed me down in about 2010. We also taught the stars to throw in Dances With Wolves. And managed to insult Kevin Costner and spend an afternoon with his parents teaching them to throw.

Next up Choosing the Hawk???

[Alstep]

Sounds interesting, have no idea about the skills & techniques involved. Anybody here handle a bull whip??? Would be another interesting topic.

[johniv]

Interesting stuff. I never could throw a hatchet or a hawk as a kid. I did as well as my peers with a knife.Fast forward 50 years or more and someone gave me a hawk, and I find I can throw it and occasionally stick something with it. I am anxious to learn anything I can .
John

[Maven]

Always interested in 'hawk throwing, Jim!

[MT Gianni]

Few things are as fun as heavy knife and hawk tossing. I would feel more confidant in a do or die situation with a sharpened shovel, but it is fun.

[crowbuster]

I love to throw both as well. Im no expert but love it. I would like to hear what you have to share. A nd thanks.

[jcwit]

Used to watch Harry McEvoy throw the hawk down at the Nationals in Friendship In. Back in the day when Don somebody had a store just as you turned the curve going into town.

[Finster101]

I never could throw a knife and still can't. I would love to learn so I'm following anxiously.

[JWT]

You have my attention.

[merlin101]

I'm in too! Never got serious about throwing knives but..

[slim1836]

I have competed in both hawk and knife throwing competitions over the years at voos I attended. It is a lot of fun but can be difficult at times. Many variations are done including a compass throw where the handle has to point north, south, east, and west. Sometimes it's a waltz across Texas where every throw has to be right of the previous one. High/ low targets, etc.

Knife throws have to have one revolution minimum to count and they have many variations also.

Slim

[Fishman]

Interested, always have been.

[PerpetualStudent]

Definitely interested in info, I've fooled with it once or twice and plan to do so again.

Also be interested in hearing what kind of trick shots you did.

[jcwit]

Used to be a gun store here that carried trunk slabs of cotton wood to be used as the tomahawk/knife back target.

No idea where to get any anymore.

[HABCAN]

I'll be watching and trying to learn..............

[fiberoptik]

Just picked up a Cold Steel hawk. Would love to learn. Used to slice those white cabbage butterflies with a whip as a kid. PooF!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[corbinace]

[crowbuster]

crazy crow has some cheap throwin hawks. Oh, and better get some extra handles to !

[Blackwater]

It's been a long time, except for an impromptu event with some friends in a deer camp, but I once was passable at it when a kid growing up. I just used the old hatchet we had, and with some practice, and some advice (finally got some GOOD advice!) I began to be able to stick it at most any reasonable distance. Got fair to middlin' with the knife as well. The bullwhip took longer to learn via trial and error. Most of us back then were mostly self taught, and that's doing it the hard way, and probably limited the skill level we were able to achieve. I remember being disappointed that Dad didn't react more positively than he did when I showed him what I could do. Makes me laugh today. He had a lot bigger fish to fry than watching a young one show off. I still miss him, and like you, KCSO, arthritis and some neuropathy have kind'a put my knife and hawk tossing on the far back burner. Some years back, I took one of my std. hatchets I got from Ace Hdwr., I believe it was, and took a belt grinder to it and thinned the blade some, and recontoured the handle taking most of the hook out of the base of the handle, and that's my favorite hatchet now. It does well at most anything, and penetrates when chopping a bit deeper than it did originally. Took the polishing wheels and polished it bright, and stained the handle a mahogany color. It's not much, but I like it. Don't have an honest hawk, but have been eyeing them for quite a while. For utility, I think I want the type with a hammer head on back for driving spikes into ground, or whatever. VERY handy thing to have in the truck or the woods and on the water. I'm always choosing between a good machete and a hatchet, and go back and forth between them as my current "favorites." Bears and other nasties have been dispatched with them, but that's WAY too close for me! It's amazing what a good, sharp hatchet can do when wielded by someone who knows how to use it, and has some perseverance.

[Alstep]

Looks like quite a bit of interest here. When do we start???