There's nothing new under the sun...
except INFI.
What about NiTiNOL?
There's nothing new under the sun...
except INFI.
...
Does anybody have a copy of the movie to look at?
Thanx
I have an old copy in VCR so still images aren't sharp but in the scene after the river tussle with Bronson where Mifune is drying his blades it's obvious that the knife has a "tanto" tip
I believe the Cold Steel Tanto was originally imported from Seki City Japan by Taylor Cutlery and Cold Steel somehow took over the knife.
Bob told me that Lynn bought one of his customs at a California show and used it as the model for his first CS tanto. Bob really never had any hard feelings about it, it was just business to him. His wife, on the other hand, was not so forgiving. I tended to agree with her.
IMO just blade industry drama propogated by on-line pundits. :jerkit:
Bob Lum may well have been one of the first to combine tanto styling and modern knife materials and design. However, there was a wide varity of exitant blade and point profiles to be found in traditional Japanese bladed weapons. I don't see how anyone can claim that CS "stole" Bob Lum's design, when that design itself was derived from a long line of historical blade designs.
All that aside, if you look at two examples from each (in this case a Spyderco Bob Lum fixed blade tanto, and a Cold Steel Master Tanto), other than the fact that they are both tantos, they are not particularly similar in design, profile or point.
Bob Lum
Cold Steel
Term of "American tanto" blade appear to me very absurd, as Tanto have its origins solely in Japanese culture. Tanto was part of Samurai set, the shortest blade used in close quarter battle for stabbing,or slashing mainly. Tanto shaped blade is still a Tanto, shape that comes from old Japan, doesn't matter that style was adapted by many manufacturers arround the globe,we now can not identify differences between tanto blade from Italy, Germany, USA, or Russia,because it's still a Tanto shaped blade, that have only one origin - Japan. Same nonsense would be calling Jim Bowie knife made with some minor differences in Sweden, making up new term - "Swedish Bowie" ,because it would be still Bowie, knife with the typical American style blade. I d say, Tanto is a Tanto (no such a thing as "American" Tanto) and Bowie is a Bowie (no such a thing as Swedish Bowie) - speaking of terms.In my opinion.
.Tale of Two Tantos
Stacking them up! When tested against a double-edged dagger and
by Tactical-Life.com
Stacking them up! When tested against a double-edged dagger and a traditional Japanese aikuchi, the Americanized tanto had the shallowest penetration. Its real advantage is the strength of its point, not its penetration, as many believe.
Attending tactical trade shows is a fun and educational way to interface with the end users of tactical knives. Its also a great way to get a feel for the preferences and beliefs of those end users, both right and wrong. One request that I hear a lot is for tanto-style knives because, the users claim, they are stronger and penetrate better than other designs. To ensure that Im on the same page with them, I usually ask these customers to sketch an outline of what they consider a tanto to be. Invariably, they identify what has become widely known as an Americanized tanto with a sword-style point, rather than the classic Japanese-style blade. Enter the myth of the tanto.
Tanto Roots
The popularity of the tanto in the U.S. can be traced back to two basic sources: the late custom knifemaker Bob Lum and Cold Steel founder Lynn Thompson. Lum, a supremely talented custom maker, was the first to marry the distinctive kissaki (the faceted tip of a Samurai sword) with smaller Japanese-style blades to create a distinctive hybrid. Although not true tantos by Japanese standards, they were very striking blades and planted the seeds of the tanto craze. Lynn Thompson watered (some might say fertilized) those seeds with his original Cold Steel tanto, which featured an even more pronounced katana-style point. Designed from the ground up as a production knife that would meet the demanding standards of ABS (American Bladesmith Society) testing, Thompsons tanto needed a stout point to survive the ABS test that required the tip to be pounded into a piece of seasoned maple and twisted out sideways without breaking. A sword point did this very well, truly launching the tanto era and establishing Cold Steel as a major player in the knife industry.
For the record, traditional Japanese tanto are knives with a tsuba (disk-shaped crossguard) that typically measure about 12 inches long. Their kissaki are usually more rounded and taper more gradually than sword points. There are also other closely related patterns like aikuchi and hamidashi that differ from tantos in very specific ways.
Japanese vs. American
The true benefit of the Americanized tanto design is the strength of its armor-piercing point. When thrust into a protective layer, its strength allows it to penetrate and its shape allows it to achieve the full cross-sectional dimension of the blade very quickly, allowing the rest of the blade to slide in easily behind it. Thats why it performs so well on car hoods and other extreme penetration demonstrations. However, when thrust into a homogenous material (one with a uniform consistency), the American tanto does not penetrate as well as other blade designs because its point profile generates more drag.
Term of "American tanto" blade appear to me very absurd, ...
But reasoning by false analogy is the genius of politics.