The icepicks I used as a boy cost all of ten cents apiece in Woolworth's. That they had low-cost cylindrical handles of red-painted Wood Ranger shears, they have been maybe 9 inches long overall, Wood Ranger shears and so they weighed solely four ounces or so. An correct turn-and-a-half throw outdoors was just potential, if there was no cross-wind. They were laborious to manage in a full-turn throw because many of the little weight that they had was in the handle. Indoors, in the cramped area of my bedroom, a half-turn throw was excellent. Nowadays, icepicks are made with quick, stout handles mounting a metallic pommel cap for shattering icecubes. Picks of this design are throwable, although the steadiness is so grossly handle-heavy that they take some getting used to. A heavier icepick-like gadget, bought to housewives as a "hole-making instrument" (that's, an awl), may still turn up in your hardware retailer occasionally