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Cleavers, Kukris &
Similar Toys
by K.E. Sackett

CLEAVERS
My father built highways for a living, and his work took him out into the empty places of Wyoming. Now and then he found interesting things on the prairie: fossils of all kinds, a .45 Peacemaker which he restored to shooting shape, and once a rusty old butcher's cleaver that must have fallen off some long-ago chuckwagon.

It was too far gone in corrosion to be of use in the kitchen, so naturally I put it to work for throwing. Since my old man took a pretty conservative view of the way our hatchets lost their handles down on the throwing range, this solution pleased everybody.

I got a lot of fun and instruction out of that beat-up old cleaver. As time went on, I modified it in small ways to increase its versatility. This started me thinking about specialized designs for throwing implements.

The illustration below shows a couple of variations on the basic cleaver form. Note that these have edges on the toe and on the upper corner (or peak) of the blades. That edge on the toe improves sticking, especially at certain angles, as it does with a hatchet. The edges on the peak enable you to stick your cleaver in a way not possible with a tomahawk.

Although you can modify a store-bought cleaver for throwing, an expensive and hard-tempered kitchen or butcher's implement is not the best thing to use. Try making your own throwing cleavers. Cold-rolled steel will do the trick, but heat-treated steels will give more satisfying results.

Steel as thin as 3/16" will work for a cleaver, but quarter-inch will give more strength at the crucial spot where the tang joins the blade. Note that the illustrations emphasize a generous radius at this point, to discourage flexing and cracking.

Handles on a throwing cleaver are like handles on a throwing knife: not altogether necessary, but sometimes desirable. Try rubber or leather scales, with or without rivets.

Sharp edges on a throwing cleaver are unwise, just as they are on a throwing knife or tomahawk. In fact, due to the weight of most cleavers, sharp edges are a positive hazard. You don’t need ‘em; don’t use ‘em.

Because you have plenty of steel to play around with, play around with it. You can can have a lot of fun adding decorative piercing, jimping, polishing, rings, bells, whistles, tassels, and other truck to glamorize your throwing equipment. Don't worry, nobody's going to call you a sissy.

CLEAVER THROWING
You throw a cleaver the same way you throw a tomahawk: by handle. Controlling the spin of a cleaver is a bit more difficult than controlling the spin of a tomahawk, probably because a cleaver is shorter and lighter, but it's still easier than controlling a knife.

Besides using the handle, you can also grip and throw a cleaver by the peak of the blade. The object here is for the cleaver to make a little less than one-half turn on its way to the target. Multiples of this partial turn can also be thrown, but because with this grip the majority of the cleaver's weight is in the throwing hand, control at longer distances will be difficult.

If your cleaver has edges on the peak as shown in the illustration, you can use the peak for sticking, either handle up or handle down. For sticking by the peak handle up, throw in the normal way, either from a bit farther from the target or with a slightly increased spin. For sticking by the peak handle down, reverse the cleaver so that the main edge is uppermost and throw from your usual mark in the usual way.

RELATIVES OF THE CLEAVER
Two kinds of cleaver-like throwing weapons can be mentioned here: the kukri and the Congolese hooked axe. The illustration shows the basic layout of these two blades.

The kukri is one of the most famous knives in the world. It's an almost universal cutting tool in northern India, Nepal, and the regions nearby. Everyone is familiar with the deadly reputation of the kukri in the hands of the Gurkhas.

Although it's not ordinarily used as a missile in its homeland, the basic kukri design can be easily modified for throwing. Because most of its weight is in the blade, and because the point is curved strongly downward, throwing a kukri is very similar to throwing a tomahawk.

The Congolese hooked axe is even more sharply curved than the kukri. It looks very much like a giant linoleum knife. It probably started its career as a pruning bill or brush hook, and can easily serve as one. Again, throwing techniques and the general feel of the weapon are similar to those of a tomahawk. Show up for a competition with a pair of these, and watch the judges scratch their heads!

There are two good reasons for taking up cleavers and cleaver-like throwing weapons. First, they represent a midway point in difficulty between knives and tomahawks, and practice with them will deepen your skills with both of these weapons.

Second, because cleavers and their relatives can be so easily custom-made, they offer a ripe field for experimenting and inventing. Try out your own ideas; you'll soon come up with some.

Well, yes, I guess there is a third reason: Tossing big-bladed choppers is a whale uva lotta FUN!






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