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Axe throwing is great. It’s fun. The big thing people’ve (yeah, I made a new contraction. I don’t care) said during interviews and promo videos and thank you posts is that the axe throwing  community  is the real cherry inside the sundae. And that—as far as this humble badger has seen—is absolutely true. The axe throwing community is second-to-none. We somehow lucked into having a near cult-like support network with each other, forming intense, seemingly lifelong friendships

YES! YES! GATHER ROUND DEAR THROWKIN! IT'S TIME! CLUTCHMISS IS HERE! Now, for those of you who don't pay attention to every fakakta idea I share here , Clutchmiss is a celebration for axe throwers that allows us to come together, appreciate each other, and make offerings to Clutchy for fewer missed clutches in the coming year. I think that's what I said last time? I don't really remember. Anyway, it doesn't matter. The beautiful thing about Clutchmiss is how it doesn't have a

I think the first time I met Marcus was at Clutch Shot for a marathon league. He was quiet and very, very good. But he was also hella friendly and had one of the best stickers I'd seen in the sport. I had the chance to catch up with him at Choptober this year, and the net result is this tiny axe thrower interview: Badger: How long have you been throwing? Throwdo : Just about six years now. I started at Mazhu Axes, which was in Philly, then I transitioned over to Choppers and

HOLIDAY POST - HOLIDAY POST - GATHER ROUND ALL FOR A HOLIDAY POST! In a not-at-all-surprising move, I've written a generic "get some cheap clicks" post about how you, dear reader, can bring some axe throwing fun into your awkward, overcooked, stressed-out holiday traditions! Yes, Thanksgiving has become a minefield of conversation and appreciation, with the reason for the holiday being at best confusing and at worst a hotbed for conversations with relatives who want to apolog

The Axe Badger has gone from a tiny, little pet project where I satisfy my need to write about everything I'm doing into an internationally-read (cannot believe I'm serious about that) website. And while I'm still notching a lot of readership/getting recognized when I go places/getting awkward when I go places and get recognized, I realize that I've kinda hit...well...I've kinda hit a slump. Okay, maybe not a "slump" but a predictability. Interview, sappy post, junk advice po

The last* Choptober was more than the closing of one tradition and the beginning of the next. Yes, dear reader, I maintained my own tradition of buying an axe at the event, despite my stupid, pointless belief that I wouldn’t. The axe in question was in fact by a maker I didn’t have in my stable yet: Red Beaver Custom Axes —but I couldn’t pass it up. There was just…I dunno…something about it. So, after haggling a little bit on price (because that’s part of the joy), I went hom

Babs, even before I started talking to him, struck me as the affable sort. A friendly demeanor, happy to carry a conversation on with anyone, and just generally into being a part of the tourney we were at. It was only one the second day that I realized 1. he was the rep from the southeast, and 2. he made really nice axe sheaths. I kinda fell into this axe thrower interview after talking to him for a spell about his sheath-making process, only realizing after ten minutes that

We had the tourney finish for our Wednesday league this week, and at the end of it, before he left, Bob (our resident, objectively very best thrower) quietly announced he was done with leagues. Now, he left some room in that statement (adding a "for a while, maybe forever. We'll see." sorta cap on it), but for all purposes, it sure sounded like it was a big shift in seeing the fellow at every single league kickoff. It's a weird thing. Not that he's done with leagues (he likel

For those of you who keep track of my adventures, you likely recall (or, if you're more like me, you don't remember at all) a post I did not too long ago talking about how I started developing a new-to-me throw. This throw, perfected by Dr. Ketamine, involves resting the axe on yer sholder like a foppish dandy, and then throwing from there. It took me about a season to feel comfortable in it, and maybe a half of a season after that to commit it to the flabby muscle memory of

I've looked up to Pops since before I started throwing in a league. In fact, it'd be safe to claim that he's the reason I solidified my interest in the sport. When I first learned of axe throwing, I did the normal Millenial thing of looking up everything I could online - and there wasn't much. Sure, a lot of WATL championship videos and a few "here's how you throw" shorts, but nothing to really speak to the excitement, overall, of this goofy hobby. Then I came across a bunch

It's that time again! Here are 366 photos from the last Choptober in Cherry Hill. A few notes, as ever: If you see yourself in a picture and you don't want it to be here, reach out to me and I'll take it down, no questions asked. I am not a photographer. Well I mean, I am a photographer in as much as I took these photos. But I'm a writer - so like, don't expect brilliance. But they are here and they're free so like... To that end, I didn't do any editing to these photos. If t

There are, of course, the typical things. Eating free waffles at the Sleep Inn every morning. People whoo-ing across the venue, the sound moving like a murmuration of birds. Jell-o shots. But this was not just another Choptober. This was the last* Choptober. I didn't quite know how sentimental the whole event would become. If people would just stop, mid-throw, to hug their competitor and cry big heartwarming tears about the move to a new location. Or if the entire event woul

Choptober is a cultural waypoint. A milestone of the axe throwing year, and a whole bunch of fun to boot. It's a time to catch up with folks, get a feel for the community at large, and, you know, dress up and be goofy. It's the biggest serious-not-serious tourney I've been to, and while I've only done it once, it has a long pedigree of being an institution in the sport. Naturally, I need to come up with an over-thought plan to fight against my natural urge to not be witnesse

After owning a set of throwing knives for, like, a year and a half, I finally got the chance to use them in a league. After a very open, loosey-goosey sort of invitation, I gathered up my road dawg OtterGuy to travel due east to Cherry Hill, New Jersey, joining a lil' gang of miscreants to huck a different shaped steel at Chopper's. There was an added bonus of the marathon being a sort of celebration for my-very-best-friend-forever Mel's birthday, so my going was a shoe in. A

Earlier today, I published a post about the value in pausing before your throw (to get an actual read on your position, making for a more...

Life is full of assumptions; it needs to be for us to function. Assumptions are just things we believe without having vetted them...

As of yesterday morning, Don Caro, third of his name, became the newest tenant of a previously-used axe house in south Philly. Don has...

Dear reader, sometimes a great plan just comes together. What makes a great plan? Well, bud, that's when doing something good is both...

Dear reader: maybe a year ago, I interviewed Native. But, me being me, I actually recorded nothing at all. It's a shame, as the entire...

The last Choptober (at Cherry Hill) is coming up, and as part of that bittersweet event, the axe house is running a little contest: a...