Thornflight Hand Forged 1095 Steel Viking Throwing Knife Set of Three with Cord Wrapped Handles & Leather Roll Sheath | Target Sport Gift | RK-1554

Three matched throwing knives in 1095 carbon steel, ground to a symmetrical spear point, coated matte black and finished with a bright satin bevel down each edge. The handles are wrapped in black cord over a skeletonised tang, there is a lanyard hole through the pommel of every one, and a Thor hammer is acid etched into the flat above the grip. They come in a rolled leather sheath that keeps the three of them together and stops them rattling loose in a bag.

Here is the part most first time throwers get wrong: a throwing knife is deliberately soft. A hunting blade is hardened to hold an edge, but a knife that is going to hit a wooden target several hundred times a season, and miss the target and hit concrete some of those times, needs to bend rather than snap. That is why these are drawn back to the low end of the range for 1095 rather than the high end. A hard blade shatters. A softer one takes a set that you can straighten and keeps flying. They are forged, ground, coated and wrapped in Memphis, Tennessee.

Specifications

Why these three are identical, and why that matters

Throwing is a distance problem before it is anything else. A knife thrown with rotation makes roughly one turn every foot and a half to two feet of travel depending on how you hold it, so the distance at which the point arrives first is fixed by the weight, the length and the balance of the blade. Change any of those and your distance changes with them.

That is the argument for a matched set rather than three knives that happen to be similar. These three are forged and ground to the same profile and the same weight so that all three fly the same. You find your distance once, you mark it, and then you can throw all three in a row without recalibrating between them. A mismatched set teaches you nothing, because every miss has two possible explanations.

The balance is set very slightly forward of the wrap, which suits a blade grip and a half spin at short range as well as a handle grip at longer range. The lanyard hole through the pommel is genuinely useful: run a cord loop through all three and you can carry the set on a belt without the roll.

1095, hardness and the coating

1095 is a simple high carbon steel, roughly one percent carbon and very little else. It has been the default for hard use American blades for a century because it is predictable in the heat treat, it grinds cleanly and it is tough. For a throwing knife the whole game is the temper. Drawn back to 54 to 56 HRC these will flex and take a permanent bend before they will break, and a bend can be straightened in a vice.

The black is a coating over the steel, and the bright line down each edge is the ground bevel showing through it. That is worth saying plainly because it gets asked: the Thor hammer on the flat is acid etched, not inlaid, and it is not Damascus. There is no pattern welding in these blades at all. They are monosteel 1095, and the mark is a surface etch that will slowly wear at the contact points over years of throwing, which is normal.

Bare 1095 rusts if you look at it wrong. The coating is what keeps these serviceable outdoors, but the exposed bevels are bare steel and they need oil.

Engraving, runes and your own design

Use the rune converter on this page to turn a name, a date or a short phrase into Elder Futhark and we will cut it into the steel or the leather. If you would rather have a Viking pattern than a rune line, choose your own design in the engraving option above the add to cart button and tell us where it goes. Where a piece already carries an engraved design, your chosen engraving replaces it rather than sitting alongside it. On this set that means the Thor hammer on the flats gives way to your mark, or we can cut your line into the leather roll instead and leave the blades as they are. Details on the engraving page.

Target setup and safe use

Throw into end grain. A target built from rounds of soft wood standing on end, or a stack of poplar or pine end blocks in a frame, will swallow a point and let it out again without chipping it. Plywood, pallet board and hardwood face grain are what destroy throwing knives, and so is a backstop of stone or concrete behind a miss. Set your target at chest height, clear a lane of at least fifteen feet behind you and to each side, and never let anyone stand forward of the throwing line while knives are in the air.

Start at about twelve feet, throw with a blade grip and a half turn, and move a foot at a time until they land point first consistently. Mark that spot on the ground. That is your distance, and it will be within a few inches for all three because the set is matched.

Care

Pull each knife straight out of the target rather than levering it side to side, which is what bends points. Wipe them down after a session and put a drop of light oil on the bare bevels, especially if you have been throwing outdoors or in a humid shop. If a point rolls over, dress it back with a fine stone rather than a grinder, because heat is what ruins a temper. If a blade takes a bend, straighten it cold in a vice with wooden jaws. Store them in the leather roll, and do not store the roll damp against the steel. More on protecting carbon steel is on the steel care page.

Forged in Memphis

These are forged, ground, heat treated, coated, etched and wrapped in our shop in Memphis, Tennessee, and the leather roll is cut and stitched here too. Nothing in this set is drop shipped from an importer catalogue with our name printed on the box. The lifetime warranty covers defects in the forging, the grind, the heat treat and the fittings, with no end date and no receipt needed. Bending a knife by throwing it at a brick wall is not a defect, and we will still be straight with you about the difference.

A note on handmade variation

These knives are hand made, not machine made or bulk produced. What arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph. The grind lines catch the light slightly differently on each blade, the cord wrap tension and the spacing of the turns vary because a person wrapped them, and the etched hammer sits a fraction higher or lower on one flat than another. The steel, the dimensions and the balance are the same every time. The character is not.

Frequently asked questions

Are these sharp?

Utility sharp, not razor sharp, and that is deliberate. A throwing knife with a fine edge chips on the first hard hit and is dangerous to catch or to carry loose. You can put a keener edge on them if you want one, but you will be sharpening constantly.

Will they break if I miss?

They are tempered soft enough to bend rather than snap, so a miss onto concrete usually means a rolled point or a slight bend rather than a broken blade. Both are fixable. No throwing knife survives being thrown at stone indefinitely.

What distance do I throw from?

Start around twelve feet with a half turn and adjust a foot at a time until the point lands square. Once you find it, all three will land at the same distance because the set is matched.

Is the pattern on the blade Damascus?

No. These are monosteel 1095. The Thor hammer is an acid etch on the surface, not pattern welded steel and not an inlay. We would rather be clear about that than let the photograph suggest otherwise.

Can I carry these on a belt?

The rolled leather sheath is designed to be carried by hand or in a bag rather than worn. Check your state and local law on carrying fixed blades before you take them anywhere but a range or your own property.

How long does it take to ship?

Processing is one to two weeks because each set is forged and matched to order. Shipping inside the United States is free and returns are accepted within seven days.

What is in the box

• Three matched 1095 throwing knives, black coated with bright edge bevels
• Cord wrapped skeletonised handles with lanyard holes
• Acid etched Thor hammer on each blade
• Rolled leather sheath for the set
• Care and warranty card
• Forged and finished in Memphis, Tennessee

Explore the range

See the rest of the throwing knives, the hunting knives, the Viking weapons, and the guides.