Photography by Kevin A. Roberts
Master of the impalement arts Terry Bates teaches knife-throwing classes through Dabble.
• I learned to throw a knife from my grandfather. He was a veteran and just kind of an all-around badass. One day, we were in his back yard working on lawnmowers. All of a sudden, he takes this old World War II military Ka-Bar knife and throws it into a tree. That was just the coolest thing I’d ever seen.
• As a kid, I was really into knife throwing—different knives, different styles, different competitions. I competed until I was about 18; then I let it go by the wayside until around five years ago.
• Some friends of mine had gotten very into the circus arts. For some reason, I really wanted to learn performance whip cracking. I started practicing in my back yard, just scaring the hell out of my neighbors, like, “What is this guy doing!?” One day I realized, people are interested in this, watching from their windows. So I go inside and grab a few of my old throwing knifes. I started throwing them at a piece of wood, and the heads just multiplied. People were freaking out. I went with it.
• I started performing at the Beggar’s Carnivale in the Cherokee Street area. I’ve produced as well as performed in sideshow events all over St. Louis. I also performed in circuses from Kentucky to here.
• As far as I know, I’m the only person in St. Louis that performs a knife-throwing act. There aren’t very many impalement artists in the country. Whip cracking, tomahawk and hatchet throwing, knife throwing—in the circus world, those are referred to as the impalement arts.
• I wouldn’t suggest throwing knives for self-defense purposes.
• I make all my own throwing knives for my act, using old lumber mill saw blades. The ones I use are about a foot long and weigh a pound. I’d say about 95 percent of the commercially made throwing knives are just junk.
• The “basic ladder” is where I throw knives on either side of someone. I have a spinning wheel, where the assistant gets on, and I throw the knives around her as she’s spinning. I’ll also light the knives on fire and throw them while wearing a blindfold.
• Throwing by the blade or handle depends on distance. Most stages allow for a half-rotation throw, about 9 feet. The full would be about 15 feet. The count of rotations is the most important thing.
• It would be irresponsible of me to throw at somebody if I weren’t confident enough in my ability to know I wouldn’t hit the person.
