The Pacific Knife Throwers (PKT) club is a not-for-profit club that promotes the ancient art of knife throwing in a safe, defined, nationally sanctioned tournament format.

We teach, write, practice and compete with the intention of establishing knife throwing as a fun, safe, target sport. The PKT is dedicated to providing an environment in California and the Western States that is open to all novice and experienced throwers that wish to learn, compete and enjoy the many benefits of the myriad of skills involved. Any throwers that share these goals are able to join.

Rick Lemberg, President of the PKT, started the club in 1996. Encouraged by Bobby Branton, Director of the AKTA, Rick organized the PKT as the Western states regional tournament host for the AKTA and as an independent club, dedicated to preserving and organizing the sport of knife throwing in that region. The PKT has hosted the AKTA Western States Regional Championships twice now (as of 13dec97, ed.) and is looking ahead to the 3rd Annual Event in 1998. The PKT is sanctioned by the AKTA. Rick is an AKTA Certified Knife Throwing Instructor and a life member of the Wild West Arts Club in Las Vegas.

The PKT is based in Cupertino California, and has club practice once a month.

Contact: Rick Lemberg, President

Located at: c/o Pacific Knife Throwers - PO Box 371450 - Montara, CA 94037-1450 (650) 563-9450 or
Email to: knifethrwr@aol.com

Yearly membership fee: $20.00. Includes: Color Rules Guide, PKT sticker, a full color quarterly newsletter the "KNIFE THROWER NEWS" plus annual tournament photo issue, liminated ID card, official PKT score sheets, free first time tournament entry fee, and discounts from authorized knife resources.

The Knife Thrower News, included with membership fee, is a quarterly issue.

The following is an example article from the... issue, Volume 1, Issue 1 (reprinted with PKT permission). "Sticking Point" will post new articles on occasion in this section. [ed.]

Knife Throwing for Kids and Beginners

One of the things that concerns me most in our sport is the possibility that novice throwers may just pick up a knife and start throwing knives at trees in the yard without a review of range awareness and safety. It has always been my belief that any sport that can cause injury must have a defined process to illustrate and review safety concerns.

My children are 9, 8 and 4. Our boys (9 and 8) started throwing knives three years ago. I'll describe our routine we used to initiate them (and their 'parentally approved' friends) to the sport.

I require significant practice in knife handling and range awareness before kids ever get to throw. Our lessons go like this:

1) The student is given a hard rubber ball to throw at a standard log round from 10-12 feet. They get to throw the ball 100 consecutive times at the target. The throws should be hard and straight as possible. This activity develops the motion of throwing at a bulls-eye but more importantly, my students must try to move out of the way of all 100 rebounds of the ball. If they get hit by one, they should repeat the exercise from the beginning. The focus practiced while throwing these balls builds the continual awareness of the unlikely but possible event of a sudden rebound. It is crucial in the early training for any thrower that is not used to this sort of thing.

The worst rebounds usually come from hitting off the edge of a target in a way that sends the knife winging away at an unanticipated angle. If the throw was hard enough, it can head back towards the thrower. The vast majority of such rebounds slide harmlessly on the ground. Bounced knives rarely come back above the knee, but 1/4000 or so do when I throw, so I'm ALWAYS AWARE.

2) We then have a lesson about general knife safety. This includes: How to hand knives to others (handle first). How to pick up knives from the ground. How to correctly pull them from the targets (firm grip, slide with the direction of the blade... don't yank!).

3) These session can be completed in a day or a month depending on the age, confidence and coordination of the student. When completed, a novice student will be able to:

A) throw a ball 100 time against a target without a rebound striking any part of their self.
B) Safely pick up 5 knives strewn across the range and hand them off properly to others.
C) Pull a series of knives from targets with the proper control.
D) Hold the knives in an appropriate grip, and be able to move from hand to hand with ease.

Of course the less sharp the knife edges are, the less likely an injury can occur. Throwing knives vary greatly in size and design. Our contests require a minimum length of 12 inches and a maximum width of 3 inches. The smaller knives carry, in my experience, a much greater risk from errant rebounds. They are more often sharpended on the edged and less likely to be balanced optimally for target throwing.

I do not allow my kids to throw without 100% adult supervision.

Combining these methods with proper targets and range safety will create the best environment for kids and other beginners to learn knife throwing with the appropriate focus and rountine.

Official PKT competition rules.

The PKT hosts the AKTA Western States Regional Championships each year. We follow in these events, and winners are encouraged to travel to South Carolina to compete in the US Nationals (three PKT members competed in 97).

All participants in PKT events must be PKT members.

The PKT also holds its own contest for distance. These distance contests are not official AKTA events, although the same safety and range rules are applied.

The distance contest rules are as follows:

1) Each thrower must hit a standard 16 inch target with a minimum of one of three attempts, to qualify, from beyond a 19 foot line.
2) There is no warm up period.
3) The qualifying throwers then alternate throwing 5 more throws each.
4) The throwers may throw from any distance they wish.
5) The single furthest throw to hit in the target wins.

The PKT publishes its own safety guide that is an authorized reprint of the AKTA rules with additional notes and guidelines directed to novice and younger throwers.

Bobby Branton, Pro-Flyte, Inc. offers a 10% discount to PKT members.
Contact him at profly001@aol.com or write to
4976 Seewee Rd Awendaw, SC 29429

Lee Fugatt offers a 10% discount to PKT members.
Contact him at tonkasila@aol.com or write to
c/o PKT
PO Box 2126
Cupertino, CA 95015-2126 or phone
(650) 965-8257

Tru-Balance Knife Company offers10% discount to PKT members.
write to
Tru-Balance Knife Company
PO Box 140555
Grand Rapids, MI 49514-0555

Bob Karp, the "Master of the Blade" offers a $10.00 discount to PKT members.
Contact him at:
1-(800) THE-BLADE

We are currently verifying other discount sources... stay tuned as we update this section. [ed.]