End-grain my friend. Much less destructive on your tips. Also splinters A LOT LESS! My old "backstop" was a foot-thick piece of red gum 2 1/2 feet in diameter, but it went away when we moved 7 years ago to an apartment.I tried no-spin before... and frankly, I sucked at it. You still need to get on the big Gil Hibben knives. Those things are top-shelf thrower, and good general utility knives, as they take an edge.And I'm still waiting for ya to get a tomahawk. Though I've also been eyeballing this little piece of Joy.Tall ya what, when you decide to order a hawk, lemme know. I'll get one too and we can compare notes.
the way you have the 4x4 chunks stacked for the target you're looking into the grain from "top" or "bottom" of the lumber. Basically seeing the annular rings like a bullseye, which makes it endgrain. Sort of like cutting a tree and turning the trunk on it's side.When the lumber is like plywood or perhaps 2x4 along the long sides, you are looking at side-grain, like the side of a tree trunk.End grain is much easier to get the blades to stick. Plus you are a lot less likely to get a "bouncer" coming back at you.BTW, those new blades you got have the same profile as the Gil Hibben knives. Believe it or not, large blades are way easier to throw.
You got the target set up just perfect. I used spray paint and a powderburner silhouette to make a "human" target on my old one.
Still wanna make a new atlatl. Dunno if you ever tried using one, but they are lots of fun to learn (and can be infuriatingly hard to get accurate with!)
I was thinking spray painting a tic-tac-toe grid. I think this would be a blast to play with another knife thrower.Quote from: anti-squirrel on September 15, 2017, 10:37:50 AMYou got the target set up just perfect. I used spray paint and a powderburner silhouette to make a "human" target on my old one. Quote from: anti-squirrel on September 15, 2017, 10:37:50 AMStill wanna make a new atlatl. Dunno if you ever tried using one, but they are lots of fun to learn (and can be infuriatingly hard to get accurate with!)Never got a chance at trying a atlatl. Instinctive stick bow shooting and knife throwing is challenging enough for me.
You got the target set up just perfect. I used spray paint and a powderburner silhouette to make a "human" target on my old one. Quote from: anti-squirrel on September 15, 2017, 10:37:50 AMStill wanna make a new atlatl. Dunno if you ever tried using one, but they are lots of fun to learn (and can be infuriatingly hard to get accurate with!)
If I could join this group's spear throwing club, I might try to get back into it again. To heck with the tennis elbow!
I have some handy scraps hanging around and I keep telling myself to build another atlatl.
I actually got paid to throw a spear... sort of... it paid for my college.Finished fifth and then second in the WAC. They let me keep the javelins...More stuff that I don't know what to do with...But imagine 800 grams at 100 fps - it carries some fpe downrange. Accuracy, however, is problematic Wyo
Hit the tree stump (at the end of the practice field) 4 times in a row from 100 feet. But distance was the game...245-10"Wyo