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The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
Price is$300$250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
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Paul Chen Tactical Tanto
- Thread starter NRG
- Start date
stilgar said:I've also been curious about that one. The pictures at all the sites that sell it are small and blurry. If anyone owns one it would be great if you could post some decent photos along with a review!
I know what your saying about the pics...I bought one for he hell of it though. The sheath does look odd but I don't really plan on carrying it anywhere so it doesn't matter. There's actually a seller on eBay who is selling one and he has some kick ass pictures of knife. All different angles and views and stuff.
- Joined
- Sep 22, 2002
- Messages
- 400
I don't have a camera, so I can't provide pics - here's a mini-review, though.
I've owned the Tactical Tanto for about a year, and like it a lot. Living in NYC, I don't get to use it much, or even wear it outside, but now and then I get to put it to a few light tasks. I suppose I should go over the negatives first:
The blueing on the blade is useless - first, my knife was showing dark spots out of the box, and second, a few sessions with Metal-Glo took the coating right off. It looks much better with a nice polish, though, so it's not really an issue.
No mention of blade steel - if it really is made from the same stuff as the Hanwei katanas, it might be railroad track steel. I have no idea.
The blackened finish on the sheath and the fittings is not particularly durable - this is no presentation knife, it'll look nice and pocketworn after a few days, regardless of how you treat it.
The rayskin wrap on the handle is brittle, and may show cracks, either out of the box, or after some use (particularly if exposed to large amounts of moisture.
Next, the positives:
The blade is as nice as anything Hanwei puts on their swords. I know a lot of people consider the Hanwei swords to be the lowest common denominator when it comes to (semi) functional swords, but many of the quibbles people have with their swords come down to details of fit and finish that martial arts practitioners find to be less than optimal for actual sword work. I don't know if the blade is forged, but it wouldn't surprise me. The hamon is not etched, but is distinct, and shows a nice wave pattern. The overall aesthetic effect is very Japanese - subdued and elegant.
The entire thing can be taken down by removing a screw in the pommel. It's put together almost exactly the same way the Benchmade Rant is - a threaded nut is welded to the base of the tang, and the guard, handle collar, handle, and pommel are slipped onto the tang. The whole thing is held together by the aforementioned screw. Very strong, and very easy to take down for maintenance.
The sheath deserves it's own section, so here it is:
The clip on the sheath is really interesting - it reminds me of the clips on the suspenders I had as a child. I've found retention to be excellent - with the caveat that you have to find a piece of clothing that is (a) stable enough to act as a support for the knife and (b) thin enough to slip into the jaws of the clip. The waistband of my jeans do well, as do most belts. When I do carry it, I prefer to have the sheath slipped into my belt, with the clip clamped to my waistband.
The blade locks into the sheath by means of a small button-actuated clasp lock. The button is on the handle, underneath the guard. The setup looks like it would release easily, but in informal testing (light pulling, holding the thing upside down and shaking vigorously) the sheath didn't let go of the knife.
The blade is lined with leather strips to keep the blade from rattling and to protect the edge from the metal sheath. Hanwei needs to use a better adhesive, because one of my strips fell out. Other than the rattle, however, this does not seem to be adversely affecting the blade.
Some personal observations:
This knife takes a truly badass edge. Being plain carbon steel, it sharpens up easily, and responds well to just about everything - diamonds, ceramic, stones, strops - whatever you've got. It's also very pointy. I measured the thickness to be just a bit more than 3/8", so it's also quite beefy. The edge is a standard beveled edge, not a convex ground zero edge. I suppose you could reshape it to a zero edge, but I never felt the need. The things I've done with mine include: hacking a mattress to pieces, taking out my aggressions on several layers of corrugated cardboard, and chopping through tree branches of various sizes. I encountered no difficulty whatsoever, and only needed to touch up the edge after I hit a few springs in the mattress.
Hope this helps!
Andrew
I've owned the Tactical Tanto for about a year, and like it a lot. Living in NYC, I don't get to use it much, or even wear it outside, but now and then I get to put it to a few light tasks. I suppose I should go over the negatives first:
The blueing on the blade is useless - first, my knife was showing dark spots out of the box, and second, a few sessions with Metal-Glo took the coating right off. It looks much better with a nice polish, though, so it's not really an issue.
No mention of blade steel - if it really is made from the same stuff as the Hanwei katanas, it might be railroad track steel. I have no idea.
The blackened finish on the sheath and the fittings is not particularly durable - this is no presentation knife, it'll look nice and pocketworn after a few days, regardless of how you treat it.
The rayskin wrap on the handle is brittle, and may show cracks, either out of the box, or after some use (particularly if exposed to large amounts of moisture.
Next, the positives:
The blade is as nice as anything Hanwei puts on their swords. I know a lot of people consider the Hanwei swords to be the lowest common denominator when it comes to (semi) functional swords, but many of the quibbles people have with their swords come down to details of fit and finish that martial arts practitioners find to be less than optimal for actual sword work. I don't know if the blade is forged, but it wouldn't surprise me. The hamon is not etched, but is distinct, and shows a nice wave pattern. The overall aesthetic effect is very Japanese - subdued and elegant.
The entire thing can be taken down by removing a screw in the pommel. It's put together almost exactly the same way the Benchmade Rant is - a threaded nut is welded to the base of the tang, and the guard, handle collar, handle, and pommel are slipped onto the tang. The whole thing is held together by the aforementioned screw. Very strong, and very easy to take down for maintenance.
The sheath deserves it's own section, so here it is:
The clip on the sheath is really interesting - it reminds me of the clips on the suspenders I had as a child. I've found retention to be excellent - with the caveat that you have to find a piece of clothing that is (a) stable enough to act as a support for the knife and (b) thin enough to slip into the jaws of the clip. The waistband of my jeans do well, as do most belts. When I do carry it, I prefer to have the sheath slipped into my belt, with the clip clamped to my waistband.
The blade locks into the sheath by means of a small button-actuated clasp lock. The button is on the handle, underneath the guard. The setup looks like it would release easily, but in informal testing (light pulling, holding the thing upside down and shaking vigorously) the sheath didn't let go of the knife.
The blade is lined with leather strips to keep the blade from rattling and to protect the edge from the metal sheath. Hanwei needs to use a better adhesive, because one of my strips fell out. Other than the rattle, however, this does not seem to be adversely affecting the blade.
Some personal observations:
This knife takes a truly badass edge. Being plain carbon steel, it sharpens up easily, and responds well to just about everything - diamonds, ceramic, stones, strops - whatever you've got. It's also very pointy. I measured the thickness to be just a bit more than 3/8", so it's also quite beefy. The edge is a standard beveled edge, not a convex ground zero edge. I suppose you could reshape it to a zero edge, but I never felt the need. The things I've done with mine include: hacking a mattress to pieces, taking out my aggressions on several layers of corrugated cardboard, and chopping through tree branches of various sizes. I encountered no difficulty whatsoever, and only needed to touch up the edge after I hit a few springs in the mattress.
Hope this helps!
Andrew
- Joined
- Sep 22, 2002
- Messages
- 400
Thanks for the compliment, Stilgar. Actually, there isn't too much about this knife that's "modernized" - the blade shape is fairly traditional - reminiscent of a shobu zukuri sword blade. Also, the handle is wood wrapped with rayskin - also fairly traditional. Yet the overall impression is very modern. That's one of the things I like about this knife.