'Sup, ninjas?

Here’s another silly thing from a knife maker that’s not actually a knife. These are the Cold Steel Sure Strike throwing stars. Or, I guess shuriken, if we want to please the weeaboos. And hira shuriken if we’re really reaching for the gold, er, star. But don’t look at me; I’m not a Japanologist.

I say “these” because by international law you are not allowed to have just one shuriken:

Three is the traditional number, although I hear five are also acceptable. But four is right out.

Cold Steel bill these in their marketing blurb as “not like the cheap, shoddy throwing stars you see at flea markets, guns shows, and in martial arts magazines.” This is certainly so, mostly because the Sure Strikes are a quite hefty 77.2 grams each (2.72 ounces), and 5-5/8" across from point to point. They’re thusly significantly heavier and larger than most of the tackers you might find at your local flea market; around double the size. They also come minus the usual pseudo-mystic quasi-Oriental bullshit you typically find engraved on this type of thing. The bumf further goes on to say “as used for centuries in China and Japan” which I think is probably a much more dubious claim. Our perception of the ninja throwing star probably has a lot more to do with modern fiction and samurai movies than it does with historicity or, you know, reality.

It seems that our legislators have trouble separating fiction from reality, too, because you’ll find that throwing stars like these are on the Naughty List in several states. This is despite them actually being incredibly ineffective as weapons. But as Mark Twain said, the only way to ensure any man or boy will covet a thing is to make that thing difficult to obtain…

Here’s one with the usual scale comparison objects. Of course, there’s the obligatory Kershaw CQC-6K. And also a US quarter. Tails, this time, just for variety.

The Sure Strikes are acceptably pointy but they don’t have much of an edge. What’s here is a chisel grind that’s really no sharper than a butter knife. But the points are sufficient to get them to stick into your chosen board, log, or stump. The blunt edges mean you’re unlikely to do yourself a mischief just by handling these.

Here’s looking down the length. The points are not super sharp, either, but they’re pretty stout which is exactly what you want if you don’t want them getting bent up all the time. They’re made of 1055 carbon steel, and Cold Steel say they’ve been “spring tempered” which ought to help durability but won’t do much for holding an edge.

There is a hole in the middle of these matching the depiction you’ll usually see in media, although it’s not very big. It’s just about 1/4" so you can’t spin one of these stars around on your finger. Each is finished in a tough matte epoxy finish that makes them look a bit like they’ve been parkerized. The finish is pretty durable and has held up well to my ham-fisted throws against various objects over the years. I did manage to chip off one small portion, but that’s all.

If you suck at mumblypeg, trading out your usual throwing knives for something like this ensures that you always look like you know what you’re doing. These land with at least one point in the target every time. Their heft and point profile means that they stick pretty firmly, too. They’re a hoot to chuck at your dartboard, but don’t miss because they’ll bury themselves up to the hilt in drywall easily.

No provision for carrying these is provided. That’s probably just as well, because I’ll bet you a jū-en kōka it’s illegal to carry throwing stars about your person where you live anyway.

The Inevitable Conclusion

If for some unfathomable reason you find yourself absolutely in need of a set of quite durable and very functional throwing stars, out of all the ones I’ve handled in my life these are certainly the cream of the crop. But as usual in our little endeavors here, we rarely look at things with much of an eye towards practicality. If you and your friends can stay sober enough to actually hit the dartboard at least eight times in ten, the Sure Strikes are a fun toy for throwing around – and despite the danger inherent in fooling around with them, a toy is exactly what they are. Think of them like the lawn darts of the East.