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- Oct 3, 1998
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Japanese sword purists will note that the Tanto I is the blade shape known as "tanto" in English, which is a language with no owners or governing body, that has throughout its history taken words from various languages it has encountered without asking permission or advice, and adapted them to its speakers' own purposes.
In this case we have a hollow-ground blade with an angle instead of a smooth curve to the edge behind the point, but no thickening of the point as in the Cold Steel tantos, for instance, so that secondary front edge is quite sharp. Here is one serious slicer, and maybe that little secondary point would come in handy for disjointing the Thanksgiving turkey.
Like the Sable, the CRK Tanto has a single guard and a high hollow grind. The grind height in the Tanto I and the Shadow I is actually the same 7/8" (by my imprecise tape measure), and the Shadow I has more spine above it with its slightly wider blade. The Tanto I is about 1 3/16" wide at the base of the blade, and about 1/4" thick.
The Tanto I weighs in at a smidgenth of an ounce under one pound on my postal scale, versus 17 ounces for the Shadow I, and it balances about 1/4" farther back than the Shadow I, right at the front of the guard. I think it feels a little bit livelier in my hand than the Shadow I, but whatever I'm cutting would probably have trouble telling the difference.
The Tanto I, like the Sable, has a deep pouch type sheath (about 4.4 ounces), versus the heavier box/snap-strap sheath for the double guard types.
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- JKM
www.chaicutlery.com
AKTI Member # SA00001
[This message has been edited by James Mattis (edited 07-26-2000).]
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Japanese sword purists will note that the Tanto I is the blade shape known as "tanto" in English, which is a language with no owners or governing body, that has throughout its history taken words from various languages it has encountered without asking permission or advice, and adapted them to its speakers' own purposes.
In this case we have a hollow-ground blade with an angle instead of a smooth curve to the edge behind the point, but no thickening of the point as in the Cold Steel tantos, for instance, so that secondary front edge is quite sharp. Here is one serious slicer, and maybe that little secondary point would come in handy for disjointing the Thanksgiving turkey.
Like the Sable, the CRK Tanto has a single guard and a high hollow grind. The grind height in the Tanto I and the Shadow I is actually the same 7/8" (by my imprecise tape measure), and the Shadow I has more spine above it with its slightly wider blade. The Tanto I is about 1 3/16" wide at the base of the blade, and about 1/4" thick.
The Tanto I weighs in at a smidgenth of an ounce under one pound on my postal scale, versus 17 ounces for the Shadow I, and it balances about 1/4" farther back than the Shadow I, right at the front of the guard. I think it feels a little bit livelier in my hand than the Shadow I, but whatever I'm cutting would probably have trouble telling the difference.
The Tanto I, like the Sable, has a deep pouch type sheath (about 4.4 ounces), versus the heavier box/snap-strap sheath for the double guard types.
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- JKM
www.chaicutlery.com
AKTI Member # SA00001
[This message has been edited by James Mattis (edited 07-26-2000).]