How to throw a tomahawk
By
theBlademaker
For First timers
You’ll need a target made of boards nailed close together, a cross section of a log, or even hay bales, to get started. Don’t use plywood. Then make sure spectators are several paces behind the thrower.
When I teach hawk throwing I tell students to imagine they
are throwing a hammer.
Grip the hawk like you would a hammer.
Take 4 steps from the target. Stand facing the target with feet apart. Raise
your arm above and a little behind your head and throw the hawk, blade
first, toward the target. As your arm gets out in front of your nose just
relax your grip and let the hawk slide out of your hand. No pushing with
your shoulder. No flipping your wrist. As in golf, archery, or bowling, what
your want is to develop a comfortable style that is your own, then stick
with it and be consistent. You want to always throw the same way. Memorize
it. Practice until your muscles have memorized it too. If you did it right
the weight of the hawk will make it rotate one turn before sticking in the
target block.
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Jeff Nason, first place Hawk
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You’ve probably learned by now that your muscles stretch as you warm up. This translates to sticking your hawk at a shorter distance as you start a hawk trail and longer as you warm up. Remember that as you walk the trail. That’s why it’s always good to warm up with some practice throws. The best competitors carry their own hawk blocks for practice. Now that you have mastered hawk throwing you can play around with technique. You may know that you can stick a hawk at close ranges by choking up on the handle a bit and adding a wrist flip to your release. Be careful because it’s hard to be consistent. Conversely, if you have a long target you can grip down on the handle, cock your arm back farther and lob the hawk so it’ll stick with one turn from a greater distance. Don’t forget to keep a spare handle pre-fitted to your hawk and cut to your length when you go out. No use in letting a broken handle spoil your fun. Speaking of handles, unless the rules say “steel on steel” I wouldn’t throw my knife and hawk at the same time. Throw one, retrieve it, then throw the other. When you get good you invariably hit one on the other causing damage to both. Some buckskinners throw their hawk, then step forward to throw their knife because the knife rotates faster than the hawk and sticks at a closer range. This is a cause for inconsistency and inaccuracy. I prefer to find the distance from which to stick my knife, then keep throwing the hawk and shortening the handle until it rotates the same as my knife (which has a very long blade) so they both stick from the same distance. This way I’ve eliminated one variable that could cost me a point or two. I don’t have space here, I should write a book, but you might also practice throwing underhand, sidearm, one-and-a-half rotations, and two rotations. Some folks who prepare the knife and hawk courses have a perverse sense of humor, requiring you to stick in a target between two trees, under a log, swinging from a chain, or dangling in a creek. It’s all for fun, and a challenge for those who haven’t seen that kind of target before. |
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Actual ’stick’ on an overthrow
in competition with a
Large Kelley Competition Hawk.