Cold Steel G.I. Tanto.

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Napoleon

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Do you reccomend it? Ill be using it for everyday stuff, you know what I mean. Its cheap...worth buying?
 
The G.I. TANTO is a decent overall knife. It's got the natural limitations and strengths of a tanto, but it's a strong tactical/outdoor knife that will do most of what needs done. Cold Steel is offering the older model (Carbon V) during its Christmas sale. I'd get that one.
 
If you can look past the fact that design was taken by CS from Strider, then you find that it is a good knife for the money.

Long time ago, when I was just getting back into the knives, gi tanto was the first fixed blade that I bought. GI tanto is not really a good cutter. Edge is thick and 1055 doesn't stay very sharp for long, but it still usable. It is not a very good chopper, because it is a bit too light, but can the used as such. I found this knife to be a good back-up knife. If you have transportation and don't care too much about weight (GI is not very heavy) and extra stuff, then this knife is great to have. For me, the best feature is that at the price of the knife (I paid around $20 on clearance), I don't care about it. It is a good knife to give to your friend/girl/kids to trash and abuse and it can also do some prying, light copping and other things. I left this knife outside of my house for about 4 months, because I didn't care to go look for it. Sun burned top layer of cordura sheath and paracord. Thing became white on one side. When I found it, I didn't care. It was still very usable, I didn't feel sorry. On one trip my drunk buddy threw this knife in the fire, because he thought it was a log (it was stuck in the piece of wood we were sitting on), I didn't care. I fished the knife out. Paracord has burned off, but was easily replaced/re-wrapped later on (thing that I wanted to to ever since I got it).
Overall I think it is a good knife considering the price, but if you plan to have only one knife with you, I would rather have something else.

Here some pics for you:

P1050185.jpg

P1050190.jpg
 
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I have one I like it ,I don`t use it much but it got sharp as hell and it was pretty easy to sharpen .I put some wood scales on it. It sits in a box but so do a bunch of other pretty sweet knives I just don`t use much.I would say tough,thin,strong tip,ok sheath,kinda cool looking,good thrower best of all cheap. Think of it like I do it will cost you about half the price of a kershaw folder or about a third of a spyderco.
 
Cold Steel popularized the tanto design, and I believe Lynn Thompson was put off by Strider's capitalizing on it. He essentially offered
Strider's expensive knife for about twenty bucks. It was intended to be a slap in the face to Strider, whom Thompson believed to be of questionable character. In my view it would not have been difficult for Thompson to have vastly improved on Strider's design, but I think Thompson was trying to make a point (no pun intended).
 
Thanks guys..is it too thick to sharpen effectively or will it take a good edge from a sharpmaker??
 
I'd get a Becker instead.
First off it's made in the U.S. at a very reasonable price (not $30 reasonable, but for what you get it's a steal). Secondly, the out of box performance is probably going to be better. My Becker 9 has very nice edge geometry, and I like the overall design much more than a chunk of metal with some string around it. The sheath works pretty well too.

If you want something to throw around and hammer into random objects, the G.I. Tanto would be better for that.
 
Confederate said:
Cold Steel popularized the tanto design, and I believe Lynn Thompson was put off by Strider's capitalizing on it. He essentially offered
Strider's expensive knife for about twenty bucks. It was intended to be a slap in the face to Strider, whom Thompson believed to be of questionable character. In my view it would not have been difficult for Thompson to have vastly improved on Strider's design, but I think Thompson was trying to make a point (no pun intended).
Click to expand...

Wow...:jerkit:
 
The newer ones have scales on them. I can't think of a better knife to throw in a Truck or 4X4. Excellent emergency back up knife. It should sharpen up fine on the SharpMaker.

I don't get into the politics thing on this, there is no new designs since the flintstones. Someone somewhere has fashioned every shape of cutting tool that one can imagine.
 
It is indeed one tough knife which you can use and abuse without giving a second thought. Also, if your uses are more towards hacking, you can get the CS Khukuri Machete for under $20 which is also great for hard use.
 
I removed the top guard on mine and after that it became a more versatile knife. I also prefer its lighter weight to my Becker BK2 during dayhiking.

gi_tanto%20028k.jpg
 
Looks good with that brown tiger stripe pattern. Looks like this is the knife for me. Thanks for the help and the pics.
 
Oh, I know what Lynn Thompson says about the knife. Hes full of shit. To call the GI tanto comparable to a Strider is ludicrous, at best.
 
liliysdad said:
Oh, I know what Lynn Thompson says about the knife. Hes full of *****. To call the GI tanto comparable to a Strider is ludicrous, at best.
Click to expand...

They both scored the same on knifetests.com

Strider BT and the GI Tanto both got a 4.

so its inferior?
Click to expand...

Depends on what you want, Stainless S30V or Carbon 1095.

It's your money, either knife is good.

Striders S30V is very tough to say the least.
 
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