Awhile back some in here commented on my axe throwing thread. Well ... I finally got my target up where I want it by my campfire near my cabin. It's not 100% on the official side of rules, but so far it is lots of fun throwing a few hatchets or small axes. Knives are a little harder to master... or so it seems. I plan on putting up a second target a few feet off to the side of this one if enough of my buddies stop by in the evenings. Next "target" I am making will me some hanging targets for shooting a .22 rifle that are moving left to right or vice versa attached to a cable stretched tight between to pulleys or wheels driven by a variable speed motor with a gear box. Stay tuned !! rig

I think the metal support arms are likely to get hit by the handles of the axes, when they are thrown at the two lower targets. I would not put any metal where it could possibly be hit.

We use cottonwood for the butts. Harder wood increases the risk of bounce backs, especially with light knives.

Keith

Hey Keith.... thanks for pointing out the metal support brackets. They were salvaged from a project and thrown on the iron pile. I grabbed them and used them like shown. But now I will take off one at a time and shorten them up so they are no longer (or less) than the width of the slab. The slab is of cottonwood. I suspect it will get softer with some age.

Sold some cookies to a medieval jousting club a few years ago. They wanted cottonwood or aspen.

You're welcome. Another way to hang the butt would be to drill holes through the support posts and put large lag bolts through them into the back of the butt. You would want the bolts to go in enough to get a good grip, but not so deep that the axes could go through the cottonwood and hit them.

If the butt is just sitting loosely on the supports, it could fall off when someone trys to pull out a deeply stuck axe.

Keith

Looks good

Just a thought friend, would elm be a good choice for the cookie?
I know in splitting logs for firewood, that cottonwood or ash split very well with their straight grain. But you guys know that twisty stringy elm crap can be a bear to split by hand. Like to eat the axe head and not split just absorbs the point like a sponge sometimes.
Thought maybe elm would be a good target and your cookie might last longer instead of splitting into pieces?
Jim

A lashed a frame is what I use
Only grass twine/ bailing is needed

Nice target though

Keith... I have the target lag screwed and bolted to the posts at the top of the slab. I think if I make these brackets the slab sits on a little shorter it should be cool. The slabs were from a big cottonwood tree my buddy cut down so there was no cost other than my time , alittle gas, and some effort loading and unloading and then hanging them, but we keep a loader on our 4010 JD tractor year round so it was easy handling. The slabs are 8" to 10" thick. Maybe on the next target I put up I'll probably use a cut in half RR tie for the posts but instead of setting the slab on steel brackets I'll bolt a 8" post across from post to post and set the target on it. That way there is no steel.

Jim, elm maybe a wood to use as it gets soft pretty fast too and is stringy ... maybe it would hold together better with age. But if the cottonwood dosen't last I aint out much. Thanks for the comments guys !!

While it might not matter, and I could even be wrong, but, my cottonwood firewood seems to get much harder with age.