h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

...is a hobby of mine.

On the other hand, the type of knife I juggle is not really the type talked about in the article. The sole purpose of a juggling knife is to look as much as possible like the type of knife mentioned, without actually being one.

They are, however, fairly heavy chunks of metal which aren't as blunt as all that, as the colour of my left thumb-nail illustrates.

Interesting article - perhaps a link to the juggling page?

26199

I enjoy juggling with clubs but have never taken the plunge with knives (so to speak). What put me off was being told to practise with heavily taped up sets of my own kitchen knives. Please tell me that was a wicked lie. I'm sure juggling knives will need to be nicely balanced for comfortable throwing, not to mention considerably blunter than the ones I keep in my drawers!

Hmmmm. I've never heard that advice, but I'd think 'heavily taped up' would have to mean ten or so layers of that heavy black tape... probably not worth the effort.

Juggling knives are probably better balanced than most clubs... they're a little heavier, so they're nicer to throw. The biggest problem, really, is that they tend to have hard wooden handles and they're not light, so catching them *properly* can cause some discomfort until you get used to it.

And, of course, hitting yourself with the blades isn't pleasant either. It's actually possible to juggle 'em by the blades without any real problems, they're that blunt... but if they hit you at speed, they hurt.

So... why do it? For one thing, it does look very impressive. I often take my knives to college and juggle there, and the looks I get make it all worthwhile

If you're not interested in showing off - and I'm not, *really* - there's another reason. Being able to stick your hands into several kg of spinning metal and wood without causing yourself severe injury is a *great* feeling... it's probably as close as you'll get to feeling invincible. As for juggling knives to music...

Clubs really can't compare - I don't bother with 'em, these days. It took me a while to build up the confidence to really get into knife juggling, though... it was perhaps nine months since I got the knives, when I really started using 'em a lot. I could pick them up and juggle them straight away with six months' club juggling experience, though.

The only disadvantage to knife juggling, apart from the occasional minor injury, is the cost. Decent juggling knives will set you back thirty quid each, and cheaper ones are less impressive and might well be less safe. Personally, I had t' persuade my parents to let me get the money out of my savings account

Fire juggling, now... that's something I have yet to get into. I'm willing to try, though

26199

So my juggling pals were just teasing then, I AM pleased to hear that.
I now know what I want for my next birthday! I'll have to stock up on thick-sleeved wooly jumpers for my first attempts though, I can still remember all the bruised forearms and knuckles from learning the clubs. The black-and-blueist bruises didn't start till I got into juggling with other people and we were trying to get the action right for throwing out rather than up. It really is a great feeling when the clubs are flying everywhere and it's all under control. Knives sound even better

Yep, knife passing is great fun

In fact, some of my non-juggling friends join in throwing the knives about... one at a time, of course, but 's still pretty cool...

Juggling knives are a fair bit more vicious than clubs... but, if you've got the hang of clubs, you should find accidents are fairly rare. And a few battle scars can be quite useful

D'you juggle balls much? Recently, I've been having a go at seven balls... that's good fun... my record's about two and a half seconds

26199

Is that a 7 ball cascade or shower? Either way I'm impressed. I've never got beyond 4 balls. I got into 3 ball tricks and then it took ages learning a 3 ball shower, which I can still only manage anti-clockwise. I got to the stage with 5 where I could throw them and they'd land on the floor in 2 neat clusters when I failed to catch them. Trouble was I moved then and lost touch with all my juggling pals so I stopped learning new tricks. You've inspired me to start practising again.

Seven ball cascade... 's good fun.

I found that a couple of months' attempts were needed to get the hang of the five ball cascade... it was worth it, though!

26199

Oooops, looks like I'm a bit late for this conversation. Shan't let it stop me though.

Am thinking of writing an article about the use of tools, specifically knives and was doing some research.

But then I found this little juggling thread and felt compelled to add my two penn'th......

Scariest thing I ever juggled: three differently-sized ice axes, with trailing hand loops. Technically quite difficult, but the scary part was that I was wearing flip-flops at the time. Yikes. Not something I'm in a hurry to do again.

Now, must go and find a proper juggling thread. (And write that article)

tiptop

Grin, that sounds fun...

Hmmm, my knives aren't all that scary any more... scariest thing I've juggled, probably is my MP3 player and two juggling balls. Not that it could've hurt me, but I'd've been considerably out of pocket if I'd dropped it

I also have a tendency to nick calculators from people in my maths group and juggle a set of three

All good fun...

26199

's funny but nobody's ever trusted me to juggle anything dangerous. I get passed handfuls of pork pies and things at parties which isn't scary at all but does make a nice mess on the floor by the end

I'm currently trying to start a juggling club at work having found four of us in the same office had the secret habit. I even had a financial director come up to me yesterday for his first lesson. His eyes all bright and excited like a child, it's made my Christmas. Health and Safety will be after us if they pick up on this thread though!

Good luck! My efforts to encourage juggling at the 6th form college where I'm incarcerated have been well worth the effort... oddest thing is, nobody's ever bothered about me juggling knives there... you'd think, exactly, health and safety regulations...

But apparently not

Anyway. Every organisation should have a juggling club, I reckon

26199

Dunno if you've got into fire yet, but if not I really would. I've juggled fire lots, but I really wouldn't go for the knives. They're far more dangerous than fire, and not much more impressive IMO. Whereas fire at night is, well, your own fireworks display
And I dunno about you, but I dont try anything new with torches (and certainly not knives) until I'm very very confident at it with clubs. I'm not sure I'd ever feel confident catching a tripled knife :-p