Hows my little thrower?

This past Christmas Laura and I went to my Dad's annual office christmas party and I spent the majority of the time throwing hatchets and throwing knives in the basement. Of course this was while enjoying several whiskey and cokes, a fantastic combination...right? Sharp things flying through the air fueled by booze? Perfect.

So of course after I sort of got the hang of it I couldn't shake the idea that I needed to do this at home. Just in time for BockFest 2012 I decided it was high time I build myself a throwing target!

Armed with some sturdy strap hinges and 4x4's I got my construction underway. We have a small house and not much storage so having it fold up was as important as it being sturdy.

Here are some different shots of the construction. I used some burly 6" hex screws to fasten everything together. The main posts are 5' long and its around 24" wide. After the initial construction I realized I needed a center support beam to hold up smaller sized stumps. I think (and hope!) the 4x4's will hold up to abuse but I've already stuck a hatchet into one of the 2x4 arms holding up the stump and now I'm not sure how long those will last. Perhaps I will add some metal on the ends for protection? 

This project taught me about the wonder of a carriage bolt, turns when you countersink one you should use a square hole (still not sure how to make one of those) not a round one or you'll have the hell of a time I did trying to get your lock nut even remotely tight.

Laura and I are starting to get the hang of hatchet throwing and I'm having a great time trying to get them to stick from various distances. This weekend a guy told me that anything that sticks from over 50 feet away is sheer luck, so I'm out to eventually prove him wrong. Throwing from around 40 feet away is really hard because controlling how many rotations is tricky not to mention I feel like I'm aiming about six feet above the target just to get a hit.

 Right now I'm still working on consistency at 15ish feet but I'm getting there!

After just a few takes, this is an un-photoshopped view from the target!

There is something incredibly satisfying about throwing something into a big hunk of wood and having it stick. I would say it makes me feel pretty manly but Laura seems to enjoy it too, and I'm not sure manly is what she feels. I think it will be a fun way to burn some time (while being active!) as well as another way to have fun with friends when they come over.

Thanks for getting me hooked Al! I got my target idea from this site!