Tanto Blades

longbeachguy

longbeachguy

Joined
Oct 11, 2005
Messages
2,533
I've never been a huge fan of tanto blades. I have only one knife with a tanto and I must confess it doesn't see much use.

My question is, is the tanto specially designed for certain specific applications? I think my lack of enthusiasm is mainy the result of aesthetic considerations, not practical ones.

I know there are a lot of tanto fans out there. Can you tell me what you like about them and what they do particularly well?

Thanks!

Jim
 
They're made to be stabby, they tend to have a lot of "meat" behind the point that would lend itself to heavy thrusting. Cold Steel's DVD shows some guy using one of their knives to stab through a car's hood. :rolleyes:

On a more practical note, it does have 2 points, useful when you cut a lot of tape sealed boxes and a point totally gums up with adhesive.

That's about the only advantage that I know of.

Lack of belly is a huge down side, although I do find the wharncliffe pattern aesthetically pleasing. :p
 
There is not a whole lot of practical uses for a tanto blade. Perhaps scraping, but that's a stretch.
 
i would say I prefer the tanto

i think it is a matter of preference, it is very appealing to my eye

stabbing through car hoods? I dunno if thats anything i would want to try!

:eek:
 
I like the tanto blade shape. I find it useful for scraping soft-ish stuff (I just scraped a bunch of paint off the edges of a window tonight) and for making straight slices on paper. It's a surprisingly versatile blade shape, it just takes a bit of imagination and a willingness to try something different :)
 
I like Tanto blades, as it drives people who don't know how to sharpen 'em correctly totally nuts.:D.
 
yer a funny guy glockman.
Ok, tanto...
check this out (quick little diddy): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanto
Though I find their note of "these blades lacked artistic qualities and were purely weapons" to be pretty subjective - because I find the katana and wakishazi to be aesthetically lovely. Functionality though... mine don't see much use. I just really like to have 'em around.
 
BTW...If (you) were to look at my profile, (you) would notice that my favorite fixed-blade knife is my 6" Cold Steel (new-style, stainless) Tanto...That is one awesome knife.:).
 
Tanto blades have advantages and disadvantages, just like any other blade shape. I think the main advatage of them is that the shape allows for a lot of metal at the tip of the blade. In general this makes the tip of most tanto blades really tough.
 
Basically it's a fighting shank, the little Cold Steel Kobun might be a handy camp knife though.
 
I used to like tantos alot when I did alot of work around machinery.

My favorite was the BM/Emerson CQC-7. The chisel grind was awesome for scraping gaskets, the partial serrations did great cutting hose, and the tanto tip was handy for light prying (ie: staples, small horseshoe nails...common sense and limitations are highly applicable here)

Ironically, I've never really considered the tanto blade as a fighter. Maybe if I were trying to penetrate body armor or some silliness? (When the hell would I ever do that??) But overall, hypothetically even if I were interested in it from a defensive perspective I'd feel much more confident with a spear point or bowie blade.
 
to post a link to my absolutely GORGEOUS new Stryker 910 ...TANTO.

http://img47.imageshack.us/img47/8422/stryker6ox.jpg

Oooooh, that felt good. Now...if you're still concerned about "belly" take your finger and cover up just a .....leeeeetle.....bit of that angle part and see how very very very close it comes to being a "bellied" blade with an extended straight cutting edge.

As to "stabby" yeah yeah yeah yeah.... Great fer watchin ACTION moovies. And ....lookin...at. As Col. Bowie used to say, "Sure it's big. I like to LOOK at it." (he said that on the sandbar, by the way)

Tantos, tantos, YAAAAY tantos!!!!!

:D :D :thumbup:
 
Remember first year French classes? Le tanto de ma tante ... (Don't mess with my aunt ...)
 
Well, sure. But who ya gonna lissen to? Me or some Testergebnisse from GERMANY who we beat all to pieces in WW2?

An that's a SERRATED 910. Weak sister. Had one. Broke it cleanin a fingernail. That's why I got a REAL tanto. The 910 PLAIN EDGE samurai inspired tactical knife that outshines ALL of em. I even busted one of Ernie's junkers with a cutting torch that I lit from scrapin a magnesium rod with MY ...Benchmade... superior 154CM cutting devil.

In fact, I'm hanging from it right now as I post. Drove it into the cliff face (not Cliff Stamp's) and rappeled down to the keyboard on a line and have been hangin here for over 3 days now.

You want TESTS? Ask a American. We can lie better'n any Kraut.

:D
 
 
I recently purchased a CRK NICA 1 of 200 tanto Sebenza. It's intended use was as a safe queen due to it's limited production but when I got it and checked it out I really liked it. It has a certain Je ne sais qua (sp?) that I find appealling. And it's super sharp all the way to the tip. And yeah I believe that the tanto lends itself to aggressive stabbing. It has a perfect point for inserting chest tubes.
 
I like the traditional tanto, but have no use whatsoever for the modified tanto. I have owned just one and foung that it did not perform as well in any of the basic cutting that I did as did my knives with drop or clip points.
 
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