I hate American tantos

I cant find a use for a tanto to begin with. I had one for a year and carried it everyday but I never could find a good purpose for it.
 
mruprisng said:
I cant find a use for a tanto to begin with. I had one for a year and carried it everyday but I never could find a good purpose for it.
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The main design of the blade is for
Piercing and strength. If you do a lot of everyday stuff (opening mail, packaging, slicing an apple) it's not going to be very useful at all. I do a lot of work with heavy duty vinyl flooring materials and opening gallon buckets of contact cement. I've snapped the tip off of two sheep foot blades and one spear point in less than a year, but ever since I got this Barrage with a tanto straight edge, I haven't had to use another knife at all other than my Victorinox classic.
There's a purpose for everything.
 
My companion since 2005. Took it to Iraq and back. Never once failed at its job.
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mruprisng said:
I cant find a use for a tanto to begin with. I had one for a year and carried it everyday but I never could find a good purpose for it.
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What did you find it incapable of during that year and why exactly? Or just didn't feel it excelled in anything specific? Or what? I don't get what the issue is outside of subjective fashion.
 
APilgrim said:
What did you find it incapable of during that year and why exactly? Or just didn't feel it excelled in anything specific? Or what? I don't get what the issue is outside of subjective fashion.
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They were a great outdoors knife but I just found the grinds and the tanto edge to be not the best slicer. I had a SOG trident tanto. Now I just carry a delica, fits my need perfectly
 
Most of what is being referred to as Tantos are more Kwaiken like in size

A Kwaiken is traditionally more of a utility knife

I can tell you this a well made and properly heat treated chisel ground Kwaiken is one of the most practical and convenient utility knives in my stable

I have used this one from PH for well over 20 years on 3 continents and it has always served me exceedingly well

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I have a tanto Umnumzaan and it is my favorite folding knife. I've never had a problem cutting with it over the years. I don't have enough energy or time to actually hate the way a knife is ground...
 
o4tg said:
Based on your posts you seem very emotionally invested in discrediting people who like them, so why don't you tell us what tantos can't do.
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Not at all. I was trying to find out if he was using it for utility or as a weapon.

Do you claim to be psychic? You do seem to be making a guess at what I'm emotionally invested in. :p
 
while i kinda like the shape, it sucks for my edc use, as i tend to use the point where the 2 grinds meet as sweet spot to cut open things , and this dulls very easy and fast , the same reason in don't like skinner grinds ( very round belly )
 
I don't care for them either. I prefer the traditional Japanese design. It's also much easier to maintain.
 
o4tg said:
Only a Rambo wannabe would own anything but an Opinel. Knives should only be used for skinning apples, shaving armhair, and being set gently down in the wooded area on a jogging trail for iphone pictures.
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LOL! Good stuff.
 
I like tantos in some knives really well, they have their niche and for some things they are my preferred blade style, that sub tip like on a cold steel is very useful for cutting hoses, pizza (gets through the crust like no other) and other hard material. Its not my favorite blade style but I try to have a well rounded variety of blade styles and use them when they do the job better, and some tantos look really cool like any microtech with a tanto blade.
 
hard to maintain, sharpen, less practical, plain ugly
no tantos for me
I can tolerate spanto but that is about where I draw the line
 
ridnovir said:
hard to maintain, sharpen, less practical, plain ugly
no tantos for me
I can tolerate spanto but that is about where I draw the line
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I'm a bit surprised that you would categorize them as more difficult to maintain or sharpen. Many, if not most, American tantos have no belly, just two straight edges, meaning all you have to do is find the correct angle and maintain that down the length of the blade. With greater curvature comes more adjustments in how you hold the blade and the stone.
 
Officer's Match said:
Must say I respectfully disagree on all three of your assertions.
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I agree with this disagreement. :D

The sharpening is fairly easy because instead of having a huge belly to work around (if you freehand) it's just two almost straight segments. Much easier to keep a consistent angle.
 
I prefer a clip point, but I like the diamond shaped tantos like the utilitac, but I can't stand those straight flat tantos they use on Cold Steel folders.

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I like tanto' s. I have quite a few of them and have no problem with them in daily use. (Boxes, cardboard)

And I find them easier to sharpen than a lot of other shapes.
 
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