Throwing knives?

[EX121]

A bit of background, My wife & I do Mt. Man Rendezvous as a hobby, at most events there are knife & tomahawk throwing competitions. While they are fun I have reservations about the practaciality of use in actual combat except in certain limited cases.
You have no other weapons but for the knife & 'hawk there are 2 zombies threatening you. You throw one as a stand-off weapon and keeping 1 for the close in engagement.
My biggest concern is why throw away a weapon when I can do better (because of training) with it in my hand.
I do enjoy throwing them for fun.
My question is does anyone use throwing knives as a real tool?

[Matt In Oklahoma]

Can't see throwing it except in very limited senarios. When I was young some of us boys were horsea.. I mean in pre-adolsent undercover tactical ninja training and one of them stuck the other square in the chest with a star. It wasnt even close to lethal (till the mothers found out anyway) and all the noise he made showed me that really wasnt a viable option to the quick stealthy kills I wanted.
Only 2 zombies, shoot wouldnt even break me a sweat on that, bust me out an Austin Powers judo chop! LOL

[Swordarm4]

Here's the problem with throwing, you to have practice practice practice. You will spend more time learning to throw accurately than you will actually use it. It has to become muscle memory. That being said , it's better to know how when you need to , than to need to and not know how.

[rockriver]

sword,
you seem to "know how"
i'll buy you 2 gallons of gas if you'll come to the florida campout and give us a demo.
rr

[Swordarm4]

Yeah I throw about 50 to 100 times a day , of course that depends on the weather , and how much stress I need to let off. Got a old log in the yard that looks like trying to carve out a canoe . Some of the best throwing knives are old restaurant chef knives. Take about five paces and throw. But as for a survival situation you'll need a good blade ballanced and tempered to throw.

[Bear4570]

My wife and I also Rendezvous and it is our passion, Love to throw edged weapons and have learned alot over the years to the point of making some knives (truck leaf spring, old saw blades and files are my favorite sources), my own stick bow and arrows and an Atalatl, which is a blast to throw. That being said above all my favorite is knife throwing and I also have a chunk of log on a stand in the back yard that gets used regularly. In a tactical or self defense situation the only way I would throw a knive is I had dedicated throwing knives with me ( which I have a couple I would probably carry) and could retain my main combat knife. And I agree wholeheartidly...practice, practice and practice is the only way to become proficient and practice at different distances to determine how many rotations your going to need.

[blankstare]

so, what do you want? blade grip, handle grip, combo grip?

i always had a problem with throwing a knife (away). throw it over hand, hard....limited range...your gonna draw attention if your hunting

get some 1/2 rebar, about a foot long, grind each end, throw to your heart content....poor mans dart (cold steel)

weld 2 of them across each other, now you got a ninja star that works

i got a lot of experience with thowing ....anything with an edge or a point

most fun was with heavy gauge brass brazing rods