Custom Throwing Knife Makers

A list of custom throwing-knife and atlatl makers

Last updated: Dec. 2001

PROFLY Throwing Knives
Attn: Bobby Branton
4976 Seewee Road
Awendaw, SC 29429 (USA)
(803) 928-3624

Bobby is also president of the A.K.T.A., the American Knife Throwers Alliance. If interested in the club and some of its resources, please contact Bobby by mail or voice phone. He is finally on the net at PROFLY001@AOL.COM Club membership is $25 for the first year (includes a nice cloth shoulder patch), and $20 for each year thereafter. There is a quarterly newsletter, a 10% discount on Lowcountry knives, Viper knives from Harald Moeller, and knives from custom knife maker Lee Fugat.

TONKASILA ENTERPRISES
(530) 275-4002
Knife maker Floyd (Lee) Fugatt
Fantastic variety of custom made throwing knives ranging from narrow spike-like (but contest legal) throwers to massive 16 inch blades, axes, and other sorts of throwing implements like forks, spoons, and other oddities. Lee specializes in the 12-14 inch bowie-like throwing blades. Very high quality, very reasonable prices. Indeed, Lee is the low price leader among this august group of custom throwing knife makers. He leaves his finishing work on the blade surface a little rough, 320 grit, and that permits him to lower his prices below those of most other makers. Lee has three or four styles, at least 2 of them AKTA regulation, of throwers at $20 or less. A great guy, Lee can make just about anything you can specify. Contact him by email at lpndolfn@c-zone.net, or by phone at the number given above.

Tru-Balance Knife Company
Attn: Steve McEvoy
Box 140555
Grand Rapids, MI 49514
...or...
1334 Derby Dr., NW
Grand Rapids, MI 49504
(616) 647-1215
This is the knife company of the late Harry McEvoy, now run by his sons. They are still making Harry's thrower models the way Harry did. Their Model #79, the "pro-thrower" is the lowest priced high-quality pro-style knife on the market at only $25. This price comes down to $22 if you buy 3 or more, and Tru-Bal pay shipping! Other models in the Tru-Bal like run $55 and up, still very good prices, competitive with Lee, Branton, and some Karp knives.

Dan D. Knives: I have not seen these knives. Never returned my call.
Attn: Dan Dennehy
Box 2-F
Del Norte, CO 81132 (USA)
(719) 657-2545
Apparantly Dan's knives can be obtained from:
ThunderRock Media Services
1741 Dallas St.
Aurora, CO 80010
Contact: Chas Clements
(303) 364-0403
(303) 739-9824

"The Blade"
Bob Karp
Box 47304
Phoenix, AZ 85068 (USA)
(602) 870-1234 (800) 843-2523
Bob Karp is arguably the foremost knife thrower in the U.S. at this time. His knife line consists of, essentially, one design rendered in 4 different lengths (11, 12, 13, and 14 inch), 2 different thicknesses (3/16 and 1/4 inch), of two different steels (carbon and stainless), with or without handles. His prices vary according to size, material, etc. Feel free to write or call for a brochure. Bob is also president of The International Knife Throwing Alliance. If you visit his web site or send him email, let him know you saw it here first!

BLADESMITHS INCORPORATED
Proprietor: Bob Kramer
1028 1st Ave.
S. Seattle, WA 98134
(206) 623-1088
Makes a 13.75 inch 3/16 thick thrower that looks like a Karp except the front end gets a little wider than do the Karp knives. A bowie styled thrower as well. Look like nice knives in the $35 range!

BEAVER BILL FORGING WORKS
Artist/Blacksmith Bill and Becky Keeler
Box 788
Oxford, OH, 45056
(513) 756-1983
Bill makes a hand forged 13.5" thrower in three different weights. These are styled like 1800's bowies with the forging hammer blows still visible on the steel. A rugged knife for $35, perfectly styled for the black powder throwing set. For the same price, Bill also makes (in three weights) the nicest hawks I've ever thrown. Good workmanship, rugged, throw great, and quality is excellent, especially at that price. Bill can be reached via email at BBFWHAWKS@AOL.COM

Here's another good throwing hawk from a company called TWO HAWKS.

Flying Cloud Trading Company
P.O. Box 636
Roseburg, OR 97470
(541) 672-8342 voice
(541) 440-9827 fax
This company distributes what may well be the most bang for the buck in a custom throwing knife I have found anywhere! Their KNF-001 thrower is a narrow bowie style, 13 inches long and weighs in at 17 ounces! Made from T-1 armor plate steel 1/4 inch thick, in that thickness makes for one really tough thrower. Each is fitted with leather handle scales fixed on by coper rivits. At $35, they just about can't be beat. I have thrown mine many dozens of times, slapped it around, and torqued it deep in my target. It remains straight as an arrow, and without chips or nicks! The proprietor's name is Jim Ellison. If you talk to him, tell him where you heard about his knives!
They make hawks too. Definately check this one out!

L & H Knife Works
5811 South Siesta Ln.
Tempe, AZ 85283
(602) 897-9120 <-- Leave a message, you will get a call back!
"throwing dirks" by D. F. "Doc" Gundersen who makes more traditional knives as well. The "dirk" is the third knife in the picture below. There is a picture of these in the November 1997 issue of "Blade". Bob Karp is said to have thrown them and commented that they were nice "light" throwers.
Specifications:
Knife Type: Throwing Dirk -- matched set of three. Each set is accompanied by a sheath that holds all three knives, and each group of three knives is simultaneously profiled to insure each set is an exact and unique match.
3/16 inch #1095 steel, sanded to 320 grit
Blade: 6 inches (15.25 centimeters)
Overall length: 10 inches (25.4 centimeters) -- full tang
Handle: 1/8 inch scales -- 4 inch by 3/4 inch
Weight: Approximately 9.5 ounces (270 grams) (varies slightly depending on handle scales)

The picture shows all 3 of Doc's thrower styles. Clicking on it will take you to Doc's site and page where these knives are displayed. The link above will take you to Doc's front page from where you can review all his knife and related products.

Options: (Please inform Doc of your choices with your order and payment.)
Knife steel: Blued or Unblued
Handle scales: Brass or Steel. These will be blued/unblued to match the blades.
Price for three dirks to your specifications: $125.00 plus $5.00 S&H.
If you are interested, click here for a review.

Newt Livesay, Knife maker!
202 Raines Rd
Siloam Springs, AR 72761
(501) 549-3356 (voice) (501) 549-3357 (fax)
URL: Livesay Knives
Newt makes some fantastic looking hunting, fighting, and survival knives. Alas, none of the pictures are of his throwers, but I hope Newt will include them soon. I spoke to Newt about a knife order and in conversation happend to mention that I throw knives. He volunteered to send me a set of his throwers for review. Do have a look at Newt's other knives though. Some of them seem a lot like Busse knives at much lower prices!

Bomboy's World Class Throwing Knives
Kenneth Bomboy
3101 Crestridge
Farmington, NM 87401-9330 (USA)
(505) 325-3360
I haven't seen these knives, but I have talked to Kenneth. He is big into the NMLRA, the National Mussle Loading Rifle Association. This group also sponsors most of the rendevouz... His knives are 11 - 14 inches long and weigh 13 to 17 oz. They are made to NMLRA spec. though which means that one edge at least must be sharpened. Kenneth's knives are designed to be thrown from the handle only.

Randy Lee throwing knives
P.O. Box 1873
St. Johns, AZ 85936 (USA)
(520) 337-2594
Randy Lee did the original fabrication work on the knives designed by Bob Karp. I own one of his bowie designs, and it is one of my better knives to be sure. Randy has recently introduced a new thrower style, sort of a bowie with a rather narrow blade. They look beautiful at $45 U.S., not bad for stainless steel!

Mike Kolisch is also known as Ironpost. Mike makes "mountain man", "black powder" style knives. A couple of his models are also large enough to qualify for AKTA style competitions.

John Schulps Knifemaker
Rt. 2 Box 2104
Orland, CA 95963
(916) 865-5721
Jon is a high-school coach, former pro-footballer, who has gotten into making throwing knives. These knives are hefty, made of 1/4 inch steel, and ground hollow, although not brought to a sharp edge. They are hardened to RC 58, very hard for a thrower, but their thickness probably saves them. Jon throws and teaches throwing at Renaissance fairs where people throw his knives thousands of times a day. They don't break, nor do they bend. From Jon's description, these knives sound like something half way between the simple flat structure of Lee, Branton, Tru-Bal, and Karp knives, and the elaborate machining of the Vipers. I will let you know more when I see them.
Magnum: 13 inches long, 1.75 inches wide, 1/4 stock, $95 U.S.
Medium: 9.5 inches long, 1.5 inches wide, 1/4 stock, $80 U.S.
AXE: 18 inches long, 1/4 stock, $140 U.S.

C. Steve Story
Iron Wolf Fyne Blades
3407 Helms Farm Rd.
Laurel Hill, FL 32567
(904) 652-2070
Steve is a custom maker of many kinds of knives. He only does two throwers on a production basis, however. One is a spike varying between 8 and 10 inches long made from 1/4 inch key stock. He will send me one to try and I will report on it in the custom knives review page.
Price is $25, or $20 if you purchase 3 or more at a time. Steve also makes an axe in the original French pre-tomahawk style, I will obtain more details.

Wade Duvall
P.O.Box 56, Dixie, WA 99329 U.S.A.
1 (509) 525-3281
Complimentary article in Aug. 1994 issue of Full Contact magazine, " Wade Duvall also makes large throwing axes. Awesome and handsomely designed throwing axes, they look like fantasy axes." Maker produces the "hurlbat" style throwing axes -- listed in the article at $125.00 apiece.

VIPER KNIVES (604) 248-0391
By Harald Moeller
#17-493 Pioneer Crescent
Parksville, B.C. V9P 1V2
CANADA
Email: moeknif@bcsupernet.com
Harald Moeller has been kind enough to send me a catalog. His knives are beautiful. In basic shape they look very much like the "Blazing Arrow" knives you will find in various off-the-rack catalogs. In fact, the Blazing Arrow is a Chinese knock-off of the Viper, but the real Vipers are much more dramatic, made of better materials, machined to finer tolerances, etc. They are also more expensive. Prices range from a low of $35 for his 6 inch "stinger" to $189 for the 12.5 inch Viper I done in mirror finish. There are various models and two finishes, the mirror being more expensive. All are made from 440C stainless. You can see my review of the Vipers I have with this link, and Harald's home page is here.

Bailey's (707) 984-6133
Highway 101, Laytonville, CA 95417 (yes the town is that small!)
Bailey's makes a 26 inch 3 pound double-bit throwing axe that is the official standard of the U.S. Lumberjack competition. Cost is $69 for the head alone, $99 for head, handle, and sheath.
You'll find more axes by following this pointer.

For beautiful, custom made, macrame or braided slings, contact Jim Burdine for prices and material availability.

Of the custom makers above, Lee Fugat, Bobby Branton, Randy Lee, and Steve Story will do real custom work. That is they will fabricate knives to YOUR specification and design. Please contact them for details.

Mail to mjr, goto Survival, or back to Thrower