I'm just saying "Look at the lines for a moment!" That's the closest thing to meditation I've come to today. If you don't see that this is a great knife, I recommend a visit to your nearest optician. I fell head over heels in love with the lines and mostly hoped that it would be half as good at throwing as I hoped. I know a little about that now, but less than I wanted. I'll come back to why.
The knife is of course Le primitif rotation from the excellent Zitoon Knives. It is a small company located in Normandy and behind it is Olivier Feret. He is also the one who designed the knives. I write "knives" in the plural because there are two versions of this model. One for No Spin and then this larger model for rotational/classic throwing. It can be revealed in advance that I have both versions.
Zitoon Le primitif rotation
Larger in this case means a length of about 33 cm or 13", which is a measurement that partly affects how the knife behaves but also means that it can be used in all competition contexts*. The thickness is 6 mm, which is quite sturdy for a rotational knife. This means that despite the slim shape, the knife weighs 410 g. An excellent weight. It has a good impact, especially from longer distances. At short distances, even very light knives can be accurate. Once you have passed five meters and up, I, and most experienced throwers, prefer heavier knives. They also fly better.
The finish is brushed and the Zitoon logo is laser etched on one side. The steel is, as usual with knives from this company, Swedish Hardox 450. I have written about it before but for those who don't know, it is a so-called wear steel. It is found not least in heavy-duty applications such as dump truck bodies, excavator buckets, dozer blades, and the like. There are probably more industrial applications that I am not aware of. As a throwing knife material, it is excellent because it is tough and impact-resistant.
This means that the knife is unlikely to break and that it tends to dent rather than chip if you hit the wrong spot. But you should be aware that it tends to rust. So wiping the knives and oiling them occasionally is recommended.
Now all that remains is to throw them for real. The weather is getting in the way. But for now, at least the targets have thawed. It's raining outside and it's very windy.
That's it for now. The online competition Aim Games K21 Caverns of Mars is officially over.
It resulted in 992 entries from 296 participants, who represented sixteen countries, including the USA, Indonesia, Scotland, Lithuania, Italy, Ukraine, Canada, and, of course, Sweden.
I have noted that the most participants definitely came from Indonesia, including the overall winner.
For a long time, I was in the top ten but somehow I was knocked out of there with a day or so left in the competition.
The wait towards the end of this competition was a bit nervous. I submitted three entries. The first was just to get on the results lists as the concept includes raffles of nice prizes as long as you have submitted an approved video. The points were extremely mediocre.
Entry number two was better and sent me to 31st place, something I was very happy with at the time. However, the downward trend began fairly immediately as more and more good results were noted, and I eventually found myself in fortieth place or so. At that point, the Swedish flag was held aloft by the eminent Astrid Sundlöf who was found in 7th place. For me, it felt like an unattainable position.
My best result was 20266 points which was enough for 11th place.
There are several reasons for that feeling, the absence of an indoor venue being one. In my case, it is the weather that largely determines how much can be thrown. Luckily, there was a gap with mild winter weather. Then I pulled out my best result, 20266p*, which brought me all the way up to sixth place at the time of submission. Considering the names participating in the competition and who I had behind me on the list, that was a dizzying feeling.
But then I slowly started to slide down. For quite some time, I was in eighth place. It wasn't that easy to beat my points after all. Then a couple of big names slipped by and pushed me down to 10th place. There was no chance to try to defend my position by improving my own points. The targets were frozen solid. There was one name in particular I "feared" and that was Paul "Big Mac" Maccarone and sure enough, with two days left, he pushed me out of the top ten.
The knives used are WL Custom Blade Spinning Butcher by Throwingzone
However, eleventh place is a position I am extremely happy with. After all, I have only practiced knife throwing for four seasons, even though I started in my teens. In addition, I lack the opportunity to practice as often as I want. I can't be indoors or close to my home, but have to travel for a while to get to my training ground.
I must take this opportunity to thank Rick "The Rocket" Lemberg for the chance to participate in this competition. It is completely free of charge, although there are prizes to be won. Very kind!
Now it's time to change my sights to no spin and the UKAT World Championships in the Czech Republic next summer. Although before that, there is actually another competition in this series called K22 Seven Seas. Something tells me I'll be participating in that one too.
/ J - a k a "The Swedish Chef", in these contexts
* I also have a clip with a score over 17,000 points which is not submitted as it is a lower result. But when it was relevant it would have been enough for a decent placement.
