A unique hobby

Remember the movie Crocodile Dundee? He pulled out that gigantic knife when faced with attacks by people armed with guns. Okay, maybe you don’t remember that. How about one of the four Rambo movies when Sylvester Stallone, the Vietnam combatant, unsheathed his weapon during a confrontation? Okay, this is my last attempt to see if you have ever seen a big knife. I went to one of those Japanese restaurants, in the Bronx, that chop up and cook the food right in front of you. It is entertainment of sorts. What is called? I got it, Hibachi.

I’m writing about this because I met a young man who does knife throwing for a hobby. He is my good friend, Angelo’s son, Luke. He lives in California and came here for a few weeks to visit. During pizza last night, I asked him what he does for leisure. I often find that hobbies and leisure activities tell you more about people than what they do for work.

I was somewhat startled when he said, “Knife throwing.” Initially, all I could think about was some lady in a circus risking her life as a bunch of ultra-sharp blades were tossed all around her. Luke doesn’t do any of that. Here is his explanation.

“Knife throwing is not actually as dangerous an activity as people generally think. I have only cut myself bad enough to go to the hospital a handful of times. Seriously though it wasn’t until I started juggling, i.e. catching the flying knives, where I actually got hurt. I don’t advise catching knives; it isn’t as satisfying when the point sticks into your hand as it is when it sticks into a target. Throwing knives is as safe as throwing darts while drinking at the bar. Don’t put anything valuable or breakable near the target and for sure don’t let anyone 20 or younger hang around in the way of the action.

With the obvious out of the way, the second most frequent question people want to know is, “How do you learn to throw knives?” I taught myself at the age of 12 by throwing at my bedroom wall. I was living with a group of traveling gypsies and my room was one corner of a covered wagon. Mom was cool with it as long as I didn’t miss too much; it makes a lot of noise when a knife fails to stick into your target. Back then I didn’t know there were tournaments or anything; I just always wanted to be a ninja.

I tried to throw the knife from the blade at first because it seemed more dangerous. Not coincidentally, I discovered that throwing from the blade took half a rotation and around 2 yards of distance for the knife to hit at the pointy end. Throw it hard enough and you’ve found success. Holding a knife by the handle requires a full rotation and since it takes more time to rotate, a little more distance is needed. Follow this pattern and the thrower alternates throwing from the blade and from the handle in increments of ½. So ½ spin, 1 spin, 1 and ½ spins, 2 spins, etc. Each extra half spin adds another yard or so distance. The general sentiment is it takes a year of practice for each additional yard of distance.

Today I practice frequently and travel to tournaments around the country. My current max distance is tough to measure as I throw at my neighbor’s garage out the back door over my fence and eventually finding a target right next to my fire pit. I’m over 20 years in the game and living in a regular house, so do the math; I’d need a day job to afford my own full lane. I should mention here that having an ‘open-minded’ neighbor is going to help; sometimes bouncing knives happen to end up in their yard, car, or slowmoving pet.”

What is your hobby? Is it as interesting as Luke’s?