So, What is a Tanto Blade Good for Anyway??

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Tolly

Tolly

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Okay guys, I have been wanting to ask this question for a long time so here goes. What the heck is a Tanto style blade designed to do exactly that other blades won't do better? Is it another one of those things that was made for the mall ninjas to clip to their black two-toed pajamas for that special night time mission? Really guys, I am not trying to offend anyone, I'm just kiddin' a bit, but it seems like the only guys I see carrying them are those same 18-28yr old black trench coat with 5.11 tactical pants wearing white males you see hanging out at the gun range in groups taking turns shooting the one "Glock" that one of them has and taking pictures of each other pointing the gun at the camera (so they have an avatar picture for all the gun/knife/survival forums they frequent) with finger on the trigger!!!:eek: :eek: . You know the type.. And the knife is usually a ridiculously large folder that costs about $10.

Okay, now that I got that out of my system, what is the Tanto blade designed for and what type of jobs does it excel at in say a small to medium sized folder, or fixed blade. Thanks.
 
the tanto tip you see on so many knives today is designed for penetration.it supposedly will take lots more abuse in penetration tests than more common blade tips.
 
Tanto points have a great place, on swords. If a stabing blade is needed a tanto point will do well but most people have little use for a stabbing implement. I dont think that the average person would get anymore use from a tanto point in a folder than any other design in any situation. If you need a flat blade edge you can get that with a wharnclife and if you need to get under ties or something a hawkbill is better imo. But if you like the look and the rest of the blade shape works for you, I dont see the tanto point holding you back in any way. I like the look of them but tend to cary recurve, drop point or bowie style blades over tantos.
 
As I understand it was introduced by Cold Steel first for marketing purposes. With a huge luck of general knowledge about Japanes knives plus huge interest based on marketing of all this sacral knowledge for eastern martial arts, it was OK for them to came up with this. It has huge success - see after almost anyone start making "tantos" (even some japanese). Same way Emerson later came up with "japanese" one side griind. I guess if you came up with something looks unusual and call it exotic like ultimate ninja weapon, everybody will buy it (after all ninja is also Hollywood invention). I guess exotic staff always good for marketing reasons.

From the functional point of view this "tanto" tip is just a chisel, sometimes it is useful, like Beker has exactely chisel tip for their police knive to cut thowgh locks ect. I may guess that with this kind of tip all initial impact goes into making instantely hole in the target which as wide as blade and after this hole made it is no any resistance for blade to goes into the target - so good for thin target like car door, but not for solid.

Thanks, Vassili.

Useful link:

http://www.swordforum.com/sfu/japanese/americanized.html
 
Generally not very usefull , mostly for mall ninjas . There are a few exceptions , my Emerson CQC7 makes a pretty good skew chisel . The Tanto point on the Strider is designed to take heavy abuse , such as puncturing things knives shouldn't be used on . It has some virtue if you need that type of capability .

YMMV,

Chris
 
I have a BM CQC7, and it's stout, but it doesn't show me that a tanto point penetrates more easily than others, just that it may survive the impact more often.

I think we miss this - a tanto's blunt point angle won't necessarily make it easier to push through objects, it will make it more difficult compared to a needle like tip. Saying "they're a good penetrator" is misleading.

What really should be said is "They are more likely to resist high impacts with less tip breakage comparing equal blade materials and heat treat." This can be an advantage in cheap imports as it suffers abuse more readily without tip breakage common in young knife users, supporting a "tough knife" reputation to go along with the impulse pricing necessary for that market.

Which makes it a little boy's first knife? :D
 
I purchased the Cold Steel Recon Tanto for my hunting trips, but not as a hunting knife. Specifically, it makes a good all around - hard working knife for building my blinds or hacking through some saplings. It was also pretty cheap. Don't get me wrong, I have other knives (Fallkniven, Rat 7, Benchmade, etc.) that can do the same. However, I just prefer to baby them a bit (they are too pretty) and use the tanto for the rough stuff. Just my opinion......
 
Tolly said:
Okay, now that I got that out of my system, what is the Tanto blade designed for and what type of jobs does it excel at in say a small to medium sized folder, or fixed blade. Thanks.
Click to expand...

None that I have ever figured out. Don't have one. Don't plan to have one.
 
I have several, and have used them for work knives extensively. They make great gasket scrapers and fair wood chisels. They don't penetrate on a stab nearly as well as a simple spear point. I broke the tip on my old Cold Steel Tanto (the first ones, when all this sillyness started) when I stabbed it into 5/16" sheetrock to start a hole for a light switch. I had to finish the job with my SwissChamp, then later regrind the tip on the Tanto.

So, if you are a painter, and would rather use a knife than a razor scraper to clean splatter off window glass, the tanto is just the ticket.:D
 
I used to carry a tanto Sahara Jr. with a chisle grind. It would have been better without the combo edge, but it faired quite well at breaking boxes down, and the chisle edge was ground left-hand so it worked great for whittling and such. But about the only thing it was "better" for me was for opening boxes (cutting the tape) since I could hold me finger along the blade to use as a guide and just run the tanto edge down the box... I liked it, but it was far from sheeple freindly. Only reason I'd like to get another sahara jr was because it was an exceptionally stout knife that held a great edge for under $20.
 
I have a small Fb tanto from Strider. It is a great knife for use on my job (firefighter) and off duty as well . I can hack,pry, punchure thick objects with little worry of breaking it .

Really for 90 % of the use guys on this forum say they do (opening mail and packages, cutting threads etc.) the blade shape is of little matter more of a personal choice.

Ya know what about a office worker that carries a Trapper , does that make him a "office mountainman" .
 
i dont like tantos, atleast not the "american tanto style" for penetration you could use whatever, especially penetrating humans. however i like real japanese tantos, ive seen sketches of those on swordforums, that blade design seems at least fairly useful, and the samurais thought so too, and they should know. imho tantos is a "design" just like ferraris look like they do, its for the eyes, fills no real function. most tantos are worse cutters than regular "utility" blades. they may be stronger, but who gives a F.. i want a knife i could use for lots of stuff not just penetrating car doors.
 
The appearance of a tanto tip is more tool-like than say drop point. I have no idea if it actually excels in penetration as I have never seen any test results between different tip geometries in knife sized blades.

But a tanto tip does provide an additional cutting edge which might be useful for some tasks.
 
they're much less useful than drop points, but they have their uses and are more versatile than you would think. I only have one tanto, a DB.

i used the dull secondary edge to scrape myself a clean firewall spot to fix a ground wire at the side of the road. Wouldn't have done that with ANY of my other knives unless it were a true emergency. also used it for a week when the can-opener went missing.

not saying drop points can't do that, but for metal it's nice to have a tanto nearby with a thick spine to nearly the tip, and a tip-section edge that you can abuse without guilt.

PS: they are also the best blade shape for sharpened prybars, which is essentially my need for a single tanto. I see much less of a use for thinner tanto's unless SD is primary.
 
They do make great can openers! Just two stabs and push the tab with your finger. They are nice for a 'tough use' blade, and of course the mall ninja. All in all, I wouldn't spend a fortune on one, but wouldn't mind another user-folder.
 
Back then it was used for harakiri by samurais if they felt that they have lost their honour. It is a durable knife that can disembowel someone, during rituals. Not sure if it's good for anything else.
 
When combined with a chisel grind such as a CQC-7 Emerson, particularly a zero grind chisel such as my Custom 7, it allows quite a number of tasks to be accomplished easily that are quite a bit more difficult with more traditional "v-ground" blades without the straight forward bevel of the tanto. In essence I am talking about chisel type usage, which is surprisingly useful when it is right in your pocket. Much like when you discover how often you can use a pair of narrow pliers once you start carrying a Leatherman (or the like) - that is when it is right there when you need it. Of course, if you think that type of need will never materialize and you think they look silly, then they certainly aren't for you. Mine OTOH is always by my side.





Edit to add: this is the most intuitive blade to sharpen I have ever, ever used. One other plus.
 
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