Which thrower is your least favorite!

[Windwhistler]

Have a few you wish you never wasted money on? It could be they are junk or that you just cant seem to make them fly. What do you wish you had never tried? I'll start.

Boker sells a knife called a bo-kri thrower. It is supposed to be made to provide a useable camp knife that throws well and has some of the cutting characteristics of a kukri. It is stainless steel that is fairly soft. It doesn't hold an edge at all for around camp work. The handle is small and does not provide much of a useful grip. But its worst feature is the deeply curved blade tip that glances off most targets when thrown and shoots left or right to injure anyone or anything nearby. Maybe if your target was a large flat barn or a nice soft cow or something. But if it is hard like a stump, is wet or full of sap and has any terrain at all these knives will glance and ricochet in every direction. I have chased these all over the woods after they flew out of my throwing range. I go out from time to time and throw them just to make myself appreciate everything else!

 

[Rat Finkenstein]

None of my current throwers are bad, but when I was a kid I had some chinese throwers that took a set with any bad throw, and I bought a cold steel thrower for my brother a while back that suffered from the same problem.

 

[halzucati]

This German-made soft as butter impossible to throw 8" bane of my throwing existance.
I've never been able to throw this thing well. I can stick it in the target... but its not pretty.

And oh look.
It came with a sheath!

This was purchased for me by my mother for Christmas when I was about 8. I'd broken several of her favorite steak knives, lost several others and moved on to the butter knives... so I was rewarded with this amazingly crappy replacement. (which was soon replaced itself... but that is another story)

No disrespect to my mother, but she purchased this at the local Excalibur Knives and was really taken for $20. Oh well. She was trying, I've got to respect that.

 

[Windwhistler]

There were a lot of those German knives made from just before the War till the 60's that were shaped like that. And most came with those little flap-tip sheaths. Lots of those were red and black leather overlays as I remember. Some were pretty good and some were as you say, pretty bad! That one looks like it might have been cast in a mold or even drop forged out of a single piece of soft stainless stock. At least it isn't likely to snap with that design. And it's good to have a sentimental attachment to these so you can pass them and the stories on. My mom never did anything to enhance my outdoor activities. In fact, she did all she could to prevent my throwing. And she still to this day fusses at me for teaching the Grand Boys outdoor skills of any kind. She says she wants them to be "gentlemen." I remind her of her upbringing in the North Florida swamps, hunting gators and fishing. She just says "those were different times." I often tell her that is true! Safer times! And I continue to teach the boys archery, throwing and shooting whenever possible.

 

[zzyzzogeton]

Just remind her, the next time she says that she wants them to be gentlemen, that gentlemen used to be trained in fencing, marksmanship and tactics, as well as knife and tomahawk fighting as gentlemen were expected to be able to defend their home, family, community and nation against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

So what you're doing is simply training them to be "old-fashioned" gentlemen, you know, those that were responsible citizens, had honor, survival skills and kept their word when it was given.