All International Axe Throwing League targets require a subframe layer at least 1½ inches deep behind the rebound. The goal is to install it on a concrete wall or A-frame. The recommended thickness is 4½ inches, equivalent to the thickness of three 2 × 10 planks.

One target I made is a single target made up of 15 end-grain blocks arranged three across and five down. The other is a double target with 18 blocks in two three. Digital PDF Plans This is an easy to follow set of plans on how to build an end grain throwing knife target. Included in these plans: Materials List Cut List Step by step directions and dimensions To support the building process I have a video tutorial HERE. End Grain Can't Take Axe Hits With hundreds of hours of experimentation, we designed a proprietory system for making end grain axe targets that makes them sturdy enough to take axe hits, yet in a matter of minutes they can be disassembled and you can replace. Building Your Axe Throwing Target. Step 1: Screw the front and back spreaders to the ends of the bottom lengths. Step 2: Screw a spreader approximately in the center of the bottom lengths. Step 3: Screw one of the upright vertical length spreaders to the top of the vertical lengths. It should be flush with the front of the vertical lengths. Step 4: Screw the other upright vertical length.

see also Sticking Point, Axtwerfen.de, Thrower, or Throwzini (many pictures)

Trees are not a target! You would wound and eventually kill them.
Take care that you have a clear view of your surroundings. You should be able to see freely at least 10m in each direction, so that you notice immediately if someone enters the dangerous throwing area. If you throw in front of walls, you have to know who is behind them (no one!). Sometime, a knife will fly over any wall. Corners are dangerous.
If the grass is higher than 10cm, you will loose your knife someday. It will dig itself in the ground, and will be in an area different from the one you are expecting it to be. (You could try using a metal detector, dowsing rod, or magnets to find it.)
To make for an easy stick, the grain of the wood should be running vertically (not from left to right), since the knives spin vertically. Thus, the wood opens up for the knife.

Planks make the best target, the thicker the better. 4 centimetres are the minimum, or else you will have to replace the target constantly, and will not be able to turn it round to (ab)use the unbattered side. The wood used for the construction of railway tracks will make the best target you can think of. Simply mount the planks on some (wooden) rack and rest them against a tree or a pole. (Take some rope to make sure it wont fall on the impact of the knives.) The target should stretch from the ground to about 25cm above your eye level and be at least 1m wide. You may use cheaper and thinner wood for the outer regions, they hopefully only have to catch stray throws. Be aware that thin planks that are not supported in the back will act as a trampoline and spring back the knives right towards yourself.

Of course you can use multiple round tree slices (mounted on a rack, again), those wont insist on the knives arriving vertically. A drawback is that your thrower may fly through the holes between the slices. Do avoid wood of leafed trees, it tends to 'throw back'. Fir is better. Leave your target out in the rain, knives do really stick better in soaked wood.

Trees do not make good targets for several reasons: They would get cuts in the process, through which diseases can enter the tree. No tree holds up to this very long. And the throwing knives will sometimes hit vertically, bending to follow the round form of the tree. No throwing knife will support this for very long, either, but brake. Due to the cylindrical surface of the targets, knives will bounce back wildly in every direction.

Some people made positive experience using targets out of multiple layers of cardboard, especially when throwing indoors. But remember that when throwing indoors, the knives bouncing back from the target are especially dangerous, as they might ricochet from the walls, and you have less room to get out of their way. The best thing here would be an empty garage completely lined with carpet.

Below there is plenty of inspiration (and instructions) on building your own target. If you'd rather buy a ready-made target, do shop at AceJet.

This rather solid target has been constructed by Rüdiger and Willi from Bavaria. They explain how they built it:

'As there are two little children in the house (4 and 6 years of age), we have chosen to mount the target in a way that nobody can get behind it unnoticed while we are throwing.

From a do-it-yourself store, we got the metal mountings and matching timbers (4 mountings and 2 timbers à 3 meters). We bought raw timbers and planed them ourselves to fit the mountings, it is much cheaper that way. Then we cut the timbers in half and installed the zinced mountings in the ground with the help of concrete.

After the concrete was solid, we could screw the timbers to the mountings. Then we added two layers of planks: one layer of level planks, 3,5 cm think, was fastened to the timbers. Then a second layer, 5 cm thick, was attached to the first, this time vertical. The screws (6cm long) went in from the back of the target to prevent the knives from hitting them.

We still ponder if and how we should paint a bullseye on the target.'

Portable targets come in rather handy. If the throwing bug bites you, just go into the garden and dangle them from something solid (not a tree, please). You even can even take them on the road in your trunk - the target here is made by AceJet and has a weight of only 8 kg. The glued blocks are not an ideal solution, but if it's not your main training target, the spruce blocks will last long enough. And of course the end grain wood means your knives just stick better.

Some advertising: Get our coupon code to order your portable target at AceJet with a discount.

Using spray paint and a template you can quickly colour your knife throwing target.

This knife and axe throwing target has been built by Holger Wycisk for the knife throwers competition in Herrischried, July 2010. The targets are tree rounds of white fir that had been cut 3 weeks before. The target holders were available in two flavours:

Extremely sturdy:

Sturdy but still transportable:

Francisco, thank you very much for the photos marked with FS.

Why just built a target when you can design one? So, when Matthew's fiancée mentioned she really would like to learn how to throw knives, he heeded the construction hints on this page, and made her a kick-ass spy knife throwing target.

His blog Spy Throwing Knife Target has closeup photos of the setup, including one of the very sturdy ceiling mount. The free-swinging construction absorbs the impact of non-sticks, reducing bouncebacks to some extend. Still missing is the backstop (wood or carpet layers) behind the target that catches the throwing knives that go wide astray, and prevents them from breaking when they hit the concrete wall.

It's a pitty that after some days of serious throwing, so many wooden chips will have been hacked out of the target that the paint on the tree slices will all but have vanished.

Diy End Grain Axe Throwing Target Dimensions

This is a target construction for knife throwing, where the wooden planks can be exchanged quickly. Jean even provided the construction blueprints including a list of parts.

Heavy knives and axes are the favourite throwing toys of Roland Zwosta. T