Tanto Blades

What kind of tanto are u talking about ? Americanized tanto or traditional tanto ?

Americanized tanto is good for stabbing stuffs because of the wide point. Disadvantage : you need 2 step sharpening method. First, you sharpen the 'belly', then you sharpen the 'point'.

Traditonal tanto is good for slashing or utility blade. But it can also be used for stabbing even though it's not as tough as the americanized version. Disadvantage : not too tough for stabbing compared to the other version.
 
That's the funny thing, what we call a "tanto" point was apparently very rare on classical Japanese short-swords ("tanto"). I have several, and they all have what some have called a "plain" blade - cutting edge curves up to meet a straight spine -- a weapon to slash or stab rather than a can-opener.
 
Interesting link about real tanto and what they trieing to sell as tanto in US.
http://www.swordforum.com/sfu/japanese/americanized.html

This is american P.R. fenomen. I think initially it was all about simplifieing production, but now it is like valid and respected shape, every respected knifemaker must has in his models line.

Stabbing part: best stabbing tool - chisel. Force applied even over the blade front and makes hole at once for all blade width, and whole blade goes in easy - especially for hard but thin things like car door. American tanto very close to chisel, but I prefer Lightfoot version - CRKT M1. It has good "attack" angle, almost flat but you may also use it for cutting, slicing and other usuall knife works.

Oh, yes american Tanto looks cool! Check out SOG X42 Recondo!

Thanks, Vassili.
 
My EDC happens to be a tanto blade (BM722S)
The tip section is good for anything you would cut with a scalpal or boxcutter. Tip strength is GREAT, I imagine a stab would be devastating to any soft targets. Without the "belly" curve, you have to use the knife differently, that's all.
 
Most production tantos seem to be optimized for stabbing by having minimal distal taper, that is, the blade keeps its full thickness until just before the point, when it tapers rapidly to an obtuse tip.

Many of them are chisel ground, also, but this is not necessary. Cold Steel makes hollow v ground tantos.
 
Americanized tantos have very few advantages besides extraordinary tip strength.
If you stab through a lot of plate armor and car doors a tanto would be your best bet. ;)

For most other purposes, one of the various incarnations of the clip point blade shape (possibly the most versatile blade style out there) will serve you better.
 
Without an Americanized tanto,
you can't be a MALL NINJA!!!!
HI-YA!!!!!!
KA-POW!!!!
ZING!!!!!
OUCH!!!! (I think I hurt myself)
Don't try zealous sound effects at home kids,
I'm a professional.
.
But seriously.....
My Sog Vision has excellent stabbing insertion geometry, as do many other Americanized tantos. To give you an example, I was able to use it to cut open a solid chocolate easter bunny without it shattering all over the place. You just can't do that with most knives.
 
The secondary edge, the bit from the "belly" to the tip, is great for scraping a flat surface.
 
I've used tantos for years. I like them alot, but prefer a drop point design, like on my sebenza. I think overall it's more useful.
 
To go to the extreme, look at the Busse PT-5, which was mission specific designed to penetrate body armor. A few over runs were released, so if you want to poke someone wearing kevlar...
A very 'stabbie' knife indeed.

Rob
 
I do find it annoying that people use "tanto" this way since it creates too much confusion with real tanto (especially if you are surfing trying to find info on the history, or pictures, of real tanto). They are actually shaped more like the Hollywood "mall-ninja" swords, which most closely resemble the primitive hira-zukuri chokuto swords that were used in the pre-Heian era, before 700-800 AD when the tachi style appeared (don't know where they got that big square tsuba... maybe the prop people used to be ship welders and had a lot of plate iron laying around?)

Not that I hate the style, I have a BM910HS and a SOG x42 autoclip that I picked up since I lost the old chef's slicing knife I'd ground into a chokuto point for digging up dandelions etc. in the garden. Don't really have a need for stabbing things but the chisel tip is useful for scraping things and for cutting small tough things in confined places (i.e. 2 or 3 good pushes will slice through the toughest little roots without having to dig a humongous hole to get to it with a regular knife). I just wish they'd have used a different name.
 
Ascoe said:
My EDC happens to be a tanto blade (BM722S)
The tip section is good for anything you would cut with a scalpal or boxcutter. Tip strength is GREAT, I imagine a stab would be devastating to any soft targets. Without the "belly" curve, you have to use the knife differently, that's all.
Click to expand...


Mine is a 722 (PE). One plus is if you cut tape on a lot of boxes, you get two points for the price of one. ;) It is strange though because of the lack of belly, you'll have to use it slightly differently, and may take a while to get used to it.

I was interested in a tanto just because I was getting bored with clip points.
 
underaged! said:
Mine is a 722 (PE). One plus is if you cut tape on a lot of boxes, you get two points for the price of one. ;) It is strange though because of the lack of belly, you'll have to use it slightly differently, and may take a while to get used to it.

I was interested in a tanto just because I was getting bored with clip points.
Click to expand...
Wow we bought the knife for the same reasons. The 722's just eat up boxes, plastic bags, tape, whatever, it's great :]

How do you like the plain edge? I've found the serattions useful every so often, but they're so big i have almost no plain cutting space.
 
I don't really care for CE. Not enought of both edges. I usually don't have a use for SE, and if I do, a course ground PE, will do the trick.
 
Well...I know that my mini cqc went through a metal door once...no problem hands down. I former spyderco of mine did not fare such good luck under similar circumstances. I beleive it was do to the blade cut...but I do not reccomend putting any knife through a metal door.
 
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