Throwing Knife Review:
The Smith & Wesson 10in Throwing Cleavers 3-pack arrives with the promise of quality and innovation that the brand is known for, yet, this set falls short of expectations. While the concept of a cleaver-shaped throwing knife intrigued many, including myself, the execution leaves much to be desired.
Design and Aesthetic:
While initially appealing due to their unique cleaver design, these throwing knives lack the practicality needed for serious throwers. The first issue is the blade itself. The front of the knife where a tip would normally be is completely sharpened as is the lower blade edge to the handle. Seasoned knife throwers you know that there doesn’t need to be a knife’s edge all the way to the handle. Typically all you need is a proper point on the knife. Given this is a cleaver-style knife that is something I can forgive as the front needs to be a blade to stick well since there is no point, but the edge doesn’t need to be all the way down to the handle. This just means there could be potential injury issues (particularly if you’re throwing from the blade for a half rotation. The top of the knife blade however does not have an edge so your hands have less to worry about when throwing by the blade.
There’s also a unique bottle opener design in the handle which upon testing is not something I’d like to use. The main reason is the combination of the hand needing to grip the lower area of the knife to use the bottle opener and when the blade edge goes all the way down to the handle, that makes for a very dangerous design.
Build Quality and Durability:
Smith & Wesson typically delivers high-quality products, but these throwing cleavers seem to miss the mark just slightly. The knife on the first throws seems fairly durable, but the main issue I have is the holes designed in the handle. While it is pretty clever to have a bottle opener built into a knife, this makes a large weak point in the handle that could cause one accidental miss could make the knife break at the handle making it fairly useless. That being said in initial testing they seemed to hold up to very controlled and delicate throwing.
Performance:
The overall performance is fairly standard for a mostly solid throwing knife. A bit more weight on the knife would help out with it sticking in the wood but it’s a fairly easy throw both from the handle and blade. That being said I don’t recommend this knife for throwing no-spin. The large blade instead of a point is not very good for no spin. While it’s possible the large front area isn’t as conducive for sticking easily.
Overall rating:
3/5 stars
You get what you pay for often in throwing knives but for the price (I bought this at about $35 USD) This is a fine set of knives. The bottle opener seems odd and not needed, but aside from that these are pretty fun to try out for an intermediate thrower.
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