Middle Earth Ranger Forum

I've been rereading the series of late and something has come across my mind. How big would their dual knives be? My seax machete is 18 inches long roughly and I thought it was awefully long and probably a little broad as well. I really want to make or have made a set that is nearly perfect to the RA knives. They are described as balanced for throwing and the biggest throwing knife Ive ever seen is 13 inches total! I just want to know what you all think?

There is a point in the RA series were Halt actually throws his seax and that inspired me to see if I could do the same.
It turns out that the CS seax machete (12' blade) not only can be thrown, it makes an excelent throwing knife. Yes it is large but it throws more like an axe for all that, (larger knifves are more stable at greater distance and don't tend to flutter as much with the right technique) and I have used it in many tounaments from behind the 10' and behind the 18' marks.
For me, they actually are about perfect from the 10-12' at one rotation and from the 20- 22' for the second rotation. They are also very good used with the no spin or "Thorn" method and would be excellent used this way to throw in combat as then range is not an issue of rotation. I have gone back as far as 24 feet using this method. (but still have a long way to go before mastery of it)

As for the smaller thrower it was described as a smaller leaf shaped blade. Given the assisting role of the thrower when using it with the seax in combat, I feel pretty good with any of the cold steel mini, sure or pro flight sport. ( the mini being a bit light for my taste, but it is ok for a smaller hand and arm) They are very middle of the road, affordable, durable, leaf shaped throwers that are 10", 12" and 14" respectively. Their pro series of the same sizes and shapes are a bit thicker and more expensive and are also excellent candidates for this type of blade.
When I do an Araluen Ranger Corp set, I make a seax that is a warncliff or elongated sheepsfoot blade with a stacked leather handle and brass furniture and as a companion throwing knife I will use the 12 inch or 14 inch thrower. The scabards can be either the wood with leather wrapping or an all leather sheath, the latter being a bit less expensive. I kinda like the thought of a piggyback double sheath but it seems more exccepted in the RA comunity (probobly due to the cover art) that they were two distinct scabards tied together one above the other edge to edge.

Ranger Ringulf...You need to post a picture again of you Araluen Ranger Corp knife set...always enjoy seeing your art.

Okay so, with the 12" blade being suggested, I ordered a piece of 1095 Carbon Steel and I am going to attempt to make my own custom seax, WITH a brass crossguard and pommel, and a stacked leather handle!! If this goes well, I may take of of my throwing knives and cut it apart and do the same to it!

I have everything planned out except the most important part.... the grind!!! I don't know if I should do a V grind or a Full Flat Grind! I dont have a belt grinder so it is going to have to be mostly file work. Which would be easier to do and what would the best way to do it be? I would imagine the V grind would be easier since I wouldn't be removing as much material, but I really really dont want to mess up either

V grind for a thrower, flat grind for the seax. The seax should be harder for edge retention and thinner for cutting while the thrower should be a little softer for the stress of throwing and a V grind so there is more metal behind the edge.

Okay, sounds pretty good. And for the throwing knife, I was going to use one I already have and just cut the tang and attach a leather handle. Now I know to normalize the steel I have to get it cherry red and let it cool down slowly. When I heat treat it though, what color should I aim for? Every knife tutorial says to temper it to a straw yellow color. Should I let the throwing knife get blue or will the yellow be soft enough?

If you already have the thrower, it will have been hardened, so I wouldn't do anything to it. If you're going to ground the tang down wrap the blade in a wet rag, this will keep the blade from over heating and loosing it's temper.

I'll leave the other hardening question to the smiths here.

Well I still have a long way to go, mostly metal work now, but several hours playing around with the leather squares and they are finally all cut!!! For the seax anyway... Here's a pic of my progress

http://prntscr.com/a6t2mz

Alrighty, It's been a long time since I've posted anything on here but I finished my Ranger Throwing knife!!

http://prntscr.com/g0q4ew

Took a lot of effort to make. This used to be a Cold Steel throwing knife (cant remember which) that a friend and I cut a tang on. Ordered brass barstock to make the crossguard and cut them rounded, made little leather squares that compressed waaaay more than I ever expected, they're rock hard, and peened on a brass pommel I ordered on a knifemaking website. Still have to heat treat and temper the seax but the everything else is ready for assembly once its hardened. Then comes the "fun" part of making a sheath.

Nice job, how does it throw.

I've honestly been too scared to throw it XD

.. scared to throw it because no safe place to do it, or scared to throw it for fear of damaging the knife?

(I imagine Will's knife had quite a few scars on it by the end of his first week apprenticing. )

Scared to damage it It does look a little rough on the handle from my shaping of the leather but that adds to its home made feel. Eventually I'll get the courage to give it a toss though I know for a fact that I'll probably never throw the seax once its done

Nice work! Glad to see the project come together at long last! Honestly, the design seems pretty resilient, so I feel like you don't have much to fear with using it, but I totally understand the concern. I do have to say though, I find knife throwing to be surprisingly difficult. I enjoy throwing axes - I can usually figure out the rotation after some playing - but knife throwing might as well be elven magic to me. I can never get them to stick.