Vikings of Bjornstad - Impalement Arts


	:: The Vikings of Bjornstad :: Impalement Arts
	On July 16th, 2011, Bjornstad joined John Labash of Impalement Arts at the Diablo Rod & Gun Club in Concord, California to learn the fine of art of throwing knives, axes and spears - and sticking them in a target. Their web site is here and John's e-mail address is me191@comcast.net. John taught us the fundamentals and then we were happily throwing his knives and axes and every weapon we had brought. We didn't leave as impalement experts, but we were all able to start sticking the target pretty consistently within a half-hour. It was a fun day and one we'll repeat.

Kay, Henrik and Jack wait for the signal to attack.	Henrik launches his axe.


John Labash's mission is to gain converts to competitive throwing. Here he tries on some Bjornstad gear.	Jack launches his third axe in this set. The trick is consistency of release, establishing a set distance from the target and controlling the number of rotations.

Kay retrieves her knives while Henrik concentrates on the next shot.	I can do this...

Bjornstad gets the axe ...
Some weapons made for better results than others. Heavier axes took much more effort.	Kay practices knife throwing.

That's half a rotation.	It's on its way.

Ray launches an axe...	... and sticks it.

The axe throwing is going well...	It's one of Henrik's old plywood shields, a test subject for the day.

Henrik uses the shield to test the penetration of thrown weapons. No, he wasn't holding it when they were thrown.	The shield provides unnerving, but effective, defense against missile weapons. The shield boss is clearly more than decoration.

Jack's having fun...	... and briefly considers throwing his sword. But doesn't.

Since it's a perfect opportunity, Henrik brought an atlatl to try out. Doesn't everyone have one?	The atlatl proves its effectiveness quickly. It definitely improves throwing accuracy and distance.

Ray decides to try out Henrik's atlatl.	The atlatl is not a Viking weapon as far as we know, but using it was an interesting experience. It gave us an oddly compelling connection to our ancestors from a far distant past. We kept imagining mammoths downrange...

The spear/arrow is on its way.	Jack demonstrates the flexing of the atlatl arrow - or perhaps just poor throwing technique.