Is a Tanto Blade Worthless?

[Josh K]

I would say it's fairly worthless as most commonly implemented. While some makers will say it strengthens the tip to aid when stabbing, I find that the majority of tanto (and derivatives thereof) have tips far to thick to stab with.

If you want belly get a drop point, if you want tip get a clip point. If you want a prybar go get one.

Of course, some people take Tanto's to an almost art level (Bob Lum, CRK). Some people also prefer it for whatever reason.

 

[jkarp_53]

On one hand I've read the drop point penetrates better and agree with that, but I'm a retired house painter not a fighter, and my old 970SBT was my daily user for years - easy to sharpen, quick to open the occasional gallon can if my 5-in-one wasn't around, and excellent for cutting tape, rope, paper, whatever. Great utility blade and strong as hell.

 

[Josh K]

On one hand I've read the drop point penetrates better and agree with that, but I'm a retired house painter not a fighter, and my old 970SBT was my daily user for years - easy to sharpen, quick to open the occasional gallon can if my 5-in-one wasn't around, and excellent for cutting tape, rope, paper, whatever. Great utility blade and strong as hell.

Any tanto's I have have a dull "scrapper" front edge. Useful beater but that's about it.

 

[SOLEIL]

All my Tanto's are great users. All you got to do is sharpen the front as a separate blade and keep it just as sharp as the rest of the blade.

 

[flashlife]

Can't American Tantos work like a wharncliffe a lot of the time?
T

Any straight, sharp edge will cut like a wharncliffe...a tanto, a razor blade, a #11 X-acto blade, etc. And a tanto is probably more useful than some of the mall-ninja, double recurve, half serrated monstrosities we see nowadays.

 

[RyanMM]

I don't think it's fair to compare a tanto to a wharncliffe. They both have flat cutting surfaces, but the wharncliffe has an unobtrusive tip. A sheepsfoot blade would have a more rounded tip, then a tanto would have an inwardly angled tip with a sharpened swedge. Even the angle on the second tip is relatively obtuse compared to a wharncliffe.

Katana had that particular tip, the second edge or boshi, because the primary cutting edge couldn't be tapered like a knife's tip since it needed strength and weight at the end of it. It was really just sharpened to give it a finished look. I've never heard of a tanto that had that tip intentionally and was built from the ground up. I was always under the impression that if a tanto had a katana look it was just a recycled broken sword, like a dirk---more economical than purposeful.

I haven't tried it yet, but the "spanto" on the Hinderer XM-18 looks about the closest to a tanto knife I would like for non-display purposes. The whole belly is like one big single uni-serration that puts more edge in less length, and I see little point in doing away with that without a trade-off like a finer tip. I will say that it has the benefit of easy sharpening with its flat edge, though.

 

[SaMX]

Granted, a straight edge tanto is not good at some things, such as skinning game. However, when someone says tantos are not good utility blades when every utility knife I've seen has straight edges, i just have to laugh.

I'd say most utility knives have a wharncliff blade, not a tanto. The wharcliff is pretty useful because the tip is usually very sharp and low, where it's easy to control and use. The thicker second edge on an americanized tanto is a lot different.

 

[nozh2002]

I always had the impression that the Tanto blade is all looks and absolutely worthless in terms of utility. Is this true?

Even in a tactical/defensive role, is the Tanto blade good?

Traditional tanto blade did not differ too much from normal western straight blade. For more you may see this site:

http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/styles.html

What is known as tanto or americanized tanto very rare and can be found on old tantoes.

http://www.swordforum.com/sfu/japanese/americanized.html

Tan-to is short sword not knife and if those shape are good for tactical application - why then it was forgottent and most tantoes (short swords used only for fight) have normal shape?

However this shape of blade tip in deed are in use in Japanese knives - special unagibu (???) knives used for preparing eels. This "Tanto blade" very well suited to cut eel with one long move from head to tail by professional chef. In this terms those invention of American marketing - "tanto" blade is very useful.

Same story for single bevel - in Japan traditional grind for utility is convex, but here "everybody knows" that Japanese blade should be chisel ground. In Japan some kitchen knives has this grind - Yanagiba, Deba...

Thanks, Vassili.

 

[nozh2002]

I'd say most utility knives have a wharncliff blade, not a tanto. The wharcliff is pretty useful because the tip is usually very sharp and low, where it's easy to control and use. The thicker second edge on an americanized tanto is a lot different.

From my collection - knives I brought from Japan:

 

[WongKonPow]

If you think about simple physics then the tanto is not good for stabbing, straight on anyway. The shallow and abrupt tip of a tanto does not slide into things as well as a dagger, clip point, or even drop point tip. It's just physics.
It's also debatable as to whether or not it's really stronger, seems to me that a lot of drop point tips would be just as strong.

Want a utility knife? Get a wharncliff. Want to stab things? Get a dagger.

Granted, I like the "reverse tanto" which is really just a modified wharncliff, so it's good for utility.

 

[Trout Tamer]

I carried an Americanized tanto folder - a Cold Steel medium Voyager - for a year and was able to cut anything and everything I needed to with it. In fact, I had no problem prying open paint cans with its tip, holding the blade an inch back from the tip. No, I'd not recommend doing that in lieu of having a can opener, but I found the beefy tip to be useful in more roles than simply cutting.
Carry whatcha like and what suits your purposes; as an around-town EDC, I think the Americanized tanto is a great blade shape.

 

[LorenzoL]

I have a couple, not my everyday knife, but nothing wrong about the design itself:

from the master himself, Bob Lum

this one much longer, from Chris Reeve

 

[SaMX]

The lum tanto is different because it actually has a different grind for the tip. the main part of the blade is hollow ground, and the tip has a flat saber grind. But if you look at the Cold Steel GI tanto on the previous page, it uses the same flat saber grind for the tip and the rest of the knife. Having the edge at an angle wouldn't be any stronger than if they had a smooth curve up to the tip.

 

[Buffalohump]

Tantos! Although I am not a huge fan of this profile, I keep accumulating the things nevertheless.

Doesn't stab well? Maybe you're not using enough force there, kemo sabe. Tantos are made for penetration!

My bedside blade is a CS Magnum Tanto II. I believe these are CS's finest blades! Mine is sweet and it is 100% pure weapon. Believe it grasshopper...

A tanto will slice and dice as well as anything else you care to try. But my personal preference is for something that has one flowing line from tip to ricasso.

For example, see avatar!

 

[C.S. Graves]

Provided the geometry/edge profile isn't overly thick, I don't see why they couldn't be useful for general tasks. Sure, more specialized forms will perform certain tasks better, but it doesn't seem to affect the number of "all-purpose" designs available out there.

 

[hardheart]

can you ID this one, I like the looks of it

 

[mdauben]

Tan-to is short sword not knife and if those shape are good for tactical application - why then it was forgottent and most tantoes (short swords used only for fight) have normal shape?

Its really rather arbitrary where you chose to put the line between short swords and long knives, but the tanto was the shortest of the three blades typicaly associated with the warriors of feudal era Japan (tanto-wakizashi-katana) and was normally seen in lenghts up to one shaku (about 12 inches) that most people would consider knives.

Same story for single bevel - in Japan traditional grind for utility is convex, but here "everybody knows" that Japanese blade should be chisel ground.

While the chisel grind is indeed common on a lot of "American-style" tanto's and some Japanese kitchen cutlery, I don't think I have ever heard anyone claim that they were common on Japanese bladed weapons.

 

[Kaizen1]

I don't see how people can say that an American tanto is "worthless." Does that mean that you would throw it away rather than keep it? Does that mean that you literally cannot cut what you normally cut? Or does it just mean that you are more comfortable using a different blade shape?

"Worthless" to me are the Frost knives sold on the shop at home programs. Those are literally worthless. I would throw those away. I couldn't use them for normal EDC and feel safe about it.

The question isn't "Are drop points more convenient to use than Americanized tantos?" Is anyone here actually saying that if they had the option to buy a $300 quality made custom tanto, that they wouldn't buy it for a dollar, assuming they couldn't resell it?

 

[WongKonPow]

Tantos! Although I am not a huge fan of this profile, I keep accumulating the things nevertheless.

Doesn't stab well? Maybe you're not using enough force there, kemo sabe. Tantos are made for penetration!

My bedside blade is a CS Magnum Tanto II. I believe these are CS's finest blades! Mine is sweet and it is 100% pure weapon. Believe it grasshopper...

A tanto will slice and dice as well as anything else you care to try. But my personal preference is for something that has one flowing line from tip to ricasso.

For example, see avatar!

That was my point exactly. A dagger shape will out stab an american tanto easily. The point of a good stabber is to not have to use as much force as a different shape. I can simply push many of my other knives into a tree and have them stay there, my tantos I have to wind up and back-hand them into the tree.
The attributes and abilites of an american tanto have been over-hyped. I own two, because I like how they look when I hold them, but I would choose most other blade shapes to EDC.

 

[nozh2002]

Its really rather arbitrary where you chose to put the line between short swords and long knives, but the tanto was the shortest of the three blades typicaly associated with the warriors of feudal era Japan (tanto-wakizashi-katana) and was normally seen in lenghts up to one shaku (about 12 inches) that most people would consider knives.


While the chisel grind is indeed common on a lot of "American-style" tanto's and some Japanese kitchen cutlery, I don't think I have ever heard anyone claim that they were common on Japanese bladed weapons.

Tan - short
To - sword
TanTo - short sword

May be this is why it is shortest of the three blades typicaly associated with the warriors of feudal era Japan?

Hocho - knife

Sword has different structure then knife, different meaning etc...

There is a huge difference between sword and knife - I guess even that "most people" would see some difference even if knife and sword have same length.

Thanks, Vassili.