New thrower with a target question

B

BadKarma62

Joined
Nov 19, 2013
Messages
7
Just getting started and need some advice. I live in SW Missouri and am surrounded by hardwood timber. Can Oak be used for log rounds? Got tons of it around here, but finding softwood logs is a bunch more difficult.
 
I'm new to throwing as well, but I would believe those would be a great target.
The question is what type of knives will you be throwing? If you're into the larger (thicker/longer/heavier) better built knives, no problem. If you have the lighter thinner knives you'll be possibly bending them and having to straighten from time to time. I also find I have to throw the lighter knives a little harder at hard wood targets, thus the possibility of bending increases and of course bounce backs. You could also put cardboard on it until you get consistent throw/stick accuracy.
At least that's been my experience so far.
 
Be sure to let the rounds get rained on. They are so much softer when they are wet. After a good rain my stick in rate goes up 50% particularly at longer ranges. And be sure to throw at the end of the grain if you want to preserve your knives. They will stick into posts or upright logs as well from time to time but your knives will bend or break. You might want to look at my little (shooting gallery) posted on the "what kind of Targets do you use" thread. Those are about 1/2 soft and 1/2 hardwood. Once the oak starts to get soft it works better that pine with any sap in it!
 
I throw into box elder (a kind of maple) and it is difficult. Some rain is good but a lot of rain actually makes the grain swell and tighten up. A foam or carpet overlay can help hold your sticks.
 
P.Brewster said:
I throw into box elder (a kind of maple) and it is difficult. Some rain is good but a lot of rain actually makes the grain swell and tighten up. A foam or carpet overlay can help hold your sticks.
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Thanks for the info. My two (old pic when I started below) log targets are also box elder, (so I was told by my buddy who cut the tree down years ago) near the tree trunk base and I noticed how 'seemingly difficult' is it to stick medium to lighter weight knives without putting some extra 'oomph' into my throws. And after a light rain they are a bit softer, but a heavy soaking and also when dried, yep harder than before..
This is especially more noticeable as we are getting rain and then freezing temps... Like ice logs.. lol :)
I'll just try to buy stronger knives.. ;)




Speaking of which, I recently picked up some Flying Steel limiteds and will be posting my experience sticking them into my harder log targets.


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I wonder if the whole target wet or dry thing is partly related to humidity and temp. No log here would ever freeze for more than a day or two. Even in the coldest months daytime temps tend to be in the 50's and 60's. It is also quite humid here more than half the year. Pine sap definitely gets like rock in some of these rounds but it takes many days of serious heat to harden the log faces and most of my logs stick best when water oozes out if they are hit. We have no box elder here that I know of. There are a few cottonwood trees that are good but most of us wind up with pine and oak.
 
There have got to be cedar, pine or spruce (ie conifers) trees around; they're all softwoods and what about poplars (including cottonwood) and basswoods?
 
300Six said:
There have got to be cedar, pine or spruce (ie conifers) trees around; they're all softwoods and what about poplars (including cottonwood) and basswoods?
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As I said, we have plenty of three or four types of pine (yellow, lob-lolly, white, long needle). Cedars here are generally tiny, no more than 12" diameter max and that is rare since most are less than 6". Almost all of our hemlocks have died out with the recent blight that has effected the whole East Coast Appalachian area. I've spent many $ trying to save mine to little avail. Plenty of tulip poplar and I do use them. We cut them often and they fall all the time as well so I am always sawing them up for firewood. My target at my cabin is a black walnut round about 36" in diameter. Otherwise maples, sweet gum, wild black cherry, hickory, buckeye, locust (black and honey) and oaks (pin, water, white, red, black). Anyway, I try everything I cut and that leads to lots of target faces.
 
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I have a target suggestion I've debated posting but...

When I use log ends, if I don't paint some kind of spot in the center of each one, I tend to throw left and often miss the log end altogether, particularly on the smaller ones 12" or so wide. If I put a 3" bulls eye on the end of the target I miss less than 5% of the log ends and hit the spot about 1 of three times. I have tested this. I think the eye has to focus on one specific point to give the arm a horizontal and vertical orientation as well as a distance for the release. This happens without any thought on the thrower's part.

Last week we were throwing at my nephew's house and none of the targets had any type of spot or bulls eye. We were all missing all over the place till a can of paint appeared and a few spots were put on the logs. Then we found we hit the spotted ones most of the time but couldn't hit the others very well. This confirms what I have found at home and incidentally what I found to be true during my rifle and pistol match days in the 1970's. Even in pistol matches, a silhouette had a bulls eye that was about 2"X5" and that is a large aiming point allowing much room for error. When one goes up to check targets the first time, regardless where the holes are, a piece of tape in the center of that large bulls eye gives the shooter a very small point of aim and vastly improves score from that point on. Many of the log targets I see people using with knives have no marked center points of aim at all. I truly believe the score would improve immensely with a good yellow, red or black dot applied about 2" across. I remember in "The Patriot" when Gibson tells his son "aim small, miss small" True so true.
 
By the way, its been raining for two days and is 67 degrees outside. Targets are wet, soft and everything is sticking even in the oak!
 
Windwhistler said:
By the way, its been raining for two days and is 67 degrees outside. Targets are wet, soft and everything is sticking even in the oak!
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I'll see that bet and raise you one... :) Darned if it hasn't been raining and snowing here (MN) for the last three days, temps in the 20's to 30's, so my target(s) are soaking wet and snow covered. That's not as bad as what's to come as tomorrow thru the weekend as temps are dropping to single digit highs and below zero lows overnight(s). Yuk, my soaking wet targets will be ice. May try to throw my heavy duty knives, but then again, we'll see...


About the bulls eye aiming for point of impact, I did put several 6" black ones on my large log rounds to give me a picture of multiple targets to aim for (see pic below,... ah summer time). But after I got the hang of just throwing and releasing at a target with no bulls eye or other marking, my hits were almost always pretty centered and about neck to head height (4" or less) apart. So having multiple bulls eyes, has saved me from beating my knives up too badly hitting each other when just throwing at not real POA other than straight in front at a blank target.


This was just after I built it 4 months ago in the summer. Now it's pretty cut up and beat up, but still GTG aside from being wet and frozen...



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Okay, so I had to go out and shovel just after my last post, and decided to try out my wet, frozen log slice targets for something fun to do in the new wintery cold weather. And it was still snowing as I was throwing..

Not as attractive a target as it was new and in the summer, but it still works. Also, I have never thrown with cold wet hands at a hard cold surface. I used my Hibben Black Pro Throwers (8.6" long) for the bottom as they are stout little blades and pointy, and on the top are my brand new Flying Steel Russian Style. They are a hair over 11" and very stout. I just threw them for the first time for this pic, and they are excellent throwers even in the worst of conditions... Hard frozen logs and all.. Oak would seemingly not be a problem for me ... :)


A view from the back of the house... man that's kinda ugly compared to it's glory day when it was new, and dry...





A little closer looks a bit nicer with some solid sticks in both upper and lower. Yep it was still snowing as I was throwing. Not a big deal, just never threw in the winter til now.





And there are my new Flying Steel Russian Style. First time I've thrown them, just got them Mon. I was happy I could stick them deep and accurately. I know they are angled, but my hands were wet and cold..lol. Really super nice knives. Don't think I'd have an issue with oak rounds with these knives..




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I love the knives, particularly the ones from Flying Steel. But the first shot of your target with it new and one knife in each bull is so amazing for me! If I ever threw them all in a row and got a target like that I'd probably quit forever while I was ahead!

How do you guys put up with the long term cold weather? My NY buddies always claim the heat and humidity here are killing them but to me it doesn't compare to the months of cold, wet and generally depressing weather up there. We had sunshine yesterday at 67 degrees. We are expecting rain again today but it is 7:00 AM and the outside temp is 64. So if I get a break between job one and job two I'll be out throwing in the rain. I'll try to get a few pictures of my targets when I'm out there later. They are far from new now too.
 
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I just looked again and saw the (MN) in your note. No wonder you can stand the cold/dark/snow probably a bunch of Viking DNA going on there?
 
Windwhistler said:
I love the knives, particularly the ones from Flying Steel. But the first shot of your target with it new and one knife in each bull is so amazing for me! If I ever threw them all in a row and got a target like that I'd probably quit forever while I was ahead!
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Oh man Ww, I have to be honest here and not mislead. Those throws in all the bullseyes in the first 'summer target' pic were not all one try. IIRC it was like 3 or so. I was really new to throwing so no chance all in one try back then. Now I can do that in a couple tries, maybe one if I'm lucky... :)

I owe that to Bobby Branton and a few others others on here on the forum when I asked a question in a thread about "targets at varying heights". After I got dead center throwing pretty much down, I went to that multi bullseye pattern. It's helped my POA to POI a lot. (Gun shooting term for 'point of aim' to 'point of impact'). Seems to hold true with knife throwing as well...


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Windwhistler said:
I just looked again and saw the (MN) in your note. No wonder you can stand the cold/dark/snow probably a bunch of Viking DNA going on there?
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Yep, pretty much all Norwegian, with a smidgen of Swede, German maybe... I guess maybe a bit Viking in nature as well, as multiple shoulder surgeries, blown Achilles tendon, and most recently a hernia surgery in Sept, at almost 53 I'm still in pretty good fighting shape. Albeit, most everything hurts from time to time, but the cold numbs the pain... :)

We get about 6-7 months of this weather, so you just get used to it.. There are worse places I'm sure... lol


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Here are a few from yesterday’s practice. Raining before and after so all the targets were fairly soft. My little range is about 30’ long. If I throw further I am in the woods one way and poking holes in my shop the other. If I stand in the middle I can throw up to 25 feet length one way and then on pulling the knives, throw the same distance back toward the other end. I can of course move in closer either way and do underhand stuff at about 12 feet or less. If I am in the middle of this, I have targets about 10 feet to my left and right as well that I can throw at.


One of my post targets here with hits on the various bulls to keep my knives from striking each other. these were at about 15 feet.



These above are into a target at 22 feet. I have one a bit farther at 25 feet to the right and low. My best throws were into it later in the session right before I went inside. It was a balmy 75 degrees and 100% humidity.



my other post target at 16 feet


a side target at 10 feet made of an old bench (the bottom bull beat to pieces because I flipped it recently after months of destruction.



The other side target at about 12 feet, made from another old bench. The POA really important here since there are a few nail heads I make a point to miss
 
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Another thing I have tried is painting dots on small bits of 2X4 that I can move around to make small POA spots wherever. Of course I rarely hit them but my having them there makes my throw go where I want them to go. Two of these are sitting on my large central target round. Notice I missed both.



Here was my best of the day at 25 feet.

 
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