Practical Tanto?

[strategy9]

I have ano H&K dispatch, and must say it hasn't let me down yet in terms of how knifing goes. It cuts well enough, even nicked my finger once, and it bled pretty good for a tiny cut.

 

[Biginboca]

I'm really fond of the now discontinued ZT 0620 Tanto. I edc'ed one for about 6 months last year. That Tanto point is curved a bit, so the front of the Tanto has a little bit of belly while the long main edge is straight. Pretty much works same as a normal knife in edc tasks.

 

[Dadpool]

I'm closing in on five weeks straight EDCing my first tanto, an Emerson Mini CQC-7, and I like it in this role. As others have mentioned, the sub-tip works a lot like a sheepsfoot for zipping open packages. I've also found the blade shape handy for sharpening pencils.

I do occasionally miss having a bit of belly, but the flipside is true when I'm carrying knives that have belly: I sometimes wish I had the straight edge at the tip offered by a sheepsfoot/Wharncliffe/tanto/etc. The majority of the time, like any other knife in my collection, it works for almost everything I need to do on a daily basis.

 

[dogrunner]

I use the front edge quite a bit on my Medford 187DPT when I want to reach into a narrow space to make cuts. Came in very handy when I was cleaning out dryrot from barn framing.

 

[The Aflac Duck]

For my uses, the standard tanto we see so often is terrible.

Example:

Tantos like this are much better IMO. There is almost a curve between grind transitions and the forward grind has belly to it.

 

[ThePeacent]

For my EDC tasks, they excel at:

Digging and prying roots, wood, hard plastics,

Yokote (secondary point) is ideal for pressure cuts, package and box opening, tape cutting, straight precise cuts

Snap cuts, on bigger, heavier tantos, work great in wood (chopping, de-limbing, trimming small branches...) like a kukri

Straight and very easy to sharpen, I am very bad at sharpening but I can sharpen most tantos easily

Scraping, taking off paint/adhesive/dry silicone/etc. from surfaces

Stabbing hard gardening pots, flowerpots, thick plastic containers, cutting roots from pots and when re-locating plants

Opening fertilizer bags, netting, etc. neatly with the subtip

great for my EDC, but of course YMMV!

 

[Cryptyc]

Tops Sudden Impact. I love this knife. It always stays in my go bag. You can see that the tanto point has a rounded belly to it. I like that style of tanto.

 

[Rare blade]

My favourite knife is a tanto.

 

[Yo Mama]

Does the Emerson CQC 15 count? It's the best of 2 blade shapes to me, you also get the belly.

 

[crom]

I like the models with more sweep/belly and not as angular of a tip as well. My BM 760 LFTi cuts very well as a result of this.

 

[n7titan]

tanto's becomes top choice for whatever reasons they are marketed to represent.
affording some utility work, general cutting purposes but not quite the blade choice for brain surgery...
a kiridashi might work out better for that an EDCing
a cheap OLFA CK-2 heavy-duty craft knife with disposable blades works for me.

That's exactly how I use my tanto modified Leek! Thanks, I couldn't quite describe it right but yeah, a small acute tanto cuts like an xacto or kiridashi

It's an AFO

For example I cut this out with the tip and generally front fart of the blade

Impressive, I can't seem to cut anything but cheese when I use farts.

 

[Charlie_K]

My inner mall ninja loves tantos, but I can never justify buying one. Anyone EDC one? What does the blade shape excel at that you can't find better in another blade shape?

Fixed blade or folding?

I have a CS Kobun as a boot knife. Sometimes I EDC a CS Tanto Lite because it has a lot of positives to it.

 

[Wheeler80]

I've been carrying this one all week. Stripping wire, cutting insulation, all the usual hvac chores. It's done pretty well.

 

[dkb45]

The Americanized tanto is fun. Easier than crap to maintain because of basically combining a kiridashi and wharncliffe, 2 straight edges. Only difficult to sharpen with a clamp system. Tons of utility purposes, a decently fine tip, and many have pretty thin grinds. It kind of gives you the best of both worlds, with the precision edge of a kiridashi and the body of a wharncliffe (but no thin needle tip to get damaged from heavy use). It's also super tacticool!

 

[Jkjklkl]

Lots of great points, guys. Thank you all. I might have to pick up a tanto Blur or something in the future.

 

[oxman198]

Tops Sudden Impact. I love this knife. It always stays in my go bag. You can see that the tanto point has a rounded belly to it. I like that style of tanto.

That is awesome.

 

[Petunia D. Feeble]

I carried a Protech CQC7 tanto for a long time. It's great for stabbing obviously, but I really don't do any stabbing on a daily basis.

The most practical use it ever found for it was slicing open cardboard. You can use the center point of the tanto, where the grinds meet, to slice into the cardboard and control the depth. No need to worry about it biting in and accidentally making contact with the package contents.

Other than that, I wouldn't say it was either practical or impractical. It's just a knife. Same skill and dexterity needed for cuts as anything else.