Americanized Tanto is Weird

E

EpicHam

Joined
Feb 4, 2014
Messages
73
After nearly boiling my brain pondering over this.
I have to ask ....
Why does the Americanized tanto's spine have a blade edge?
Kabar%20P8.jpg907944e2-0371-4e16-9d66-48cab18919d9Larger.jpg


Now you can't baton it , cos if you do , you risk chipping it.
You can't really grind it , cos if you do , its no longer a tanto . It'll be a bastard.

When we look at the original japanese tanto , it doesn't have that spine grind.
fig-2.jpg



So just... why???
 
Both of those are variations on the American tanto. I suspect the false edge on the top model is a purely aesthetic choice, though they may justify by arguing that it save weight.
 
EpicHam said:
When we look at the original japanese tanto , it doesn't have that spine grind.
fig-2.jpg



So just... why???
Click to expand...

Umm, hate to break it to you mate, but this is an American tanto, not the original Japanese. That top design is just weird, and has nothing to do with being an "Americanized tanto". Someone just took an American tanto and added a grind to the top for reasons unknown.

This is a Japanese style tanto blade:
338px-Tanto_Kunimitsu.jpg
 
Japanese tanto (old style) certainly came with false edges on top. Some were fully double edged, some were diamond shaped in cross section, and I've seen one style with a bayonet tip, with a half length sharpened edge on the spine.
 
The "American" ste tanto showed up in Japan long before it was popularized by Western makers.
 
EpicHam said:
so...... does that mean we should grind the secondary edge on the knife's spine?
Click to expand...

It could be useful if the blade is buried in someone's guts, and you like to rip it up and down before you withdraw the knife. But other than that little tidbit for the mall ninjas, it would make the knife illegal in some states.
 
Why not try a reverse tanto?

 
I've started to like the Tanto design more and more since I saw Bob Lum's fixed blade Spyderco Tanto
 
There was a whole thread about this not too long ago where someone had done a lot of research and showed that the "American" tanto is actually almost identical to some of the very first Japanese tanto points.

Also, different blade smiths in Japan had different styles. Some went with the flat two-tip, there were some spanto-like grinds, elongated tanto grinds, upswept, et cetera. I wouldn't say there's a definitive original tanto design that has been bastardized or deviated from.
 
Every blade shape has it's strengths and weaknesses. I own a few tantos and find them to be just as useful as my other blades. Granted, I may not be as experienced as others here but I really don't know where all the hate comes from?
 
grownstar said:
Every blade shape has it's strengths and weaknesses. I own a few tantos and find them to be just as useful as my other blades. Granted, I may not be as experienced as others here but I really don't know where all the hate comes from?
Click to expand...

I used to think they looked too aggressive and mall-ninja-esque. I have since re-evaluated them as they are almost unmatched for utility tasks.
 
Comeuppance said:
There was a whole thread about this not too long ago where someone had done a lot of research and showed that the "American" tanto is actually almost identical to some of the very first Japanese tanto points.

Also, different blade smiths in Japan had different styles. Some went with the flat two-tip, there were some spanto-like grinds, elongated tanto grinds, upswept, et cetera. I wouldn't say there's a definitive original tanto design that has been bastardized or deviated from.
Click to expand...

This is correct, the first tanto was straight-bladed with an angular tip called the jokoto. They started making those around the year 800, give or take a few.

The curved blade and curved/ridgeline tip started in the late 1100's.
 
Years ago a guy posted scans from an old book with the "American" tanto (triangular shaped tip) shape. These were really old blades of Japanese origin. That's it, Cold Steel or Bob Lum didn't invent this shape, it's been around for a long time. I've tried in vain searching for these here on BF but had no luck.
 
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