Tanto

Right, but how do you rip somebody's design that was around hundreds of years before? What goes around comes around, I'd say both CS and Lum borrowed one of the Japanese shapes and ran with it, no harm no foul.
 
abbydaddy - " Cold Steel essentially ripped off his design and called it a Tanto blade."

Seriously? like Lynn Thompson has only ripped off other "makers" designs.
 
crom said:
Right, but how do you rip somebody's design that was around hundreds of years before? What goes around comes around, I'd say both CS and Lum borrowed one of the Japanese shapes and ran with it, no harm no foul.
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I think "borrowed" might be stretching it a little bit. Japanese blades moved away from the angled tip style over a thousand years ago.
 
The inventor of the pizza cutter ripped off the inventor of the wheel. I refuse to own a pizza cutter.
 
evanPGH said:
I think "borrowed" might be stretching it a little bit. Japanese blades moved away from the angled tip style over a thousand years ago.
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Hold on a minute. By "angled tip" are you referring to that "chiseled" front end that is made up of the
Kissaki with Yokote on a Katana?
 
well back to op you have seen and been explained the look per se.. i bought my first cold steel tanto in the '90's before i went bear hunting in fly to zone in canada..i wanted a "beat blade" somthing i could use if stranded and not break and used for chopping or skinning or anything...when i was at this camp it was there first year offering bear hunts from there traditonal fishing guide service...they showed us there stands and locations ...well i didnt bring a hatchet and used my tanto to make blinds and secure the sites and had to use there stones after a couple days of use...i would not have gotten along with any other blade..i used it for steps even...the carbon V steel used then i dont think is even available today.. i would not part with it.and yes second to last day of hunt i got my cinnamon brown bear and very big my partner got a saller black bear...jeff
 
Much like you rc4u12, I had a CS tanto way back when CS was considered great quality. I used the knife for everything for many years, long before knowing its supposed design inadequacies.

It rode with me many a mile in many places. It has been a wonderful companion.
 
To the OP. I like the Cold Steel American style tanto because the design actually gives you a secondary tip. This has many uses such as scratching or scoring. It can also be used when you don't want to cut too deep into a box or other material. Also the squared off secondary edge can be used as a scraper. All being said there is no universal perfect blade shape. like tools in a tool box. I would suggest trying one. You can get a Cold Steel Medium Voyager for $40 or so.
 
The tanto is a knife...it's designed to do knife tasks.
I didn't know I wasn't supposed to use it as a knife until joining this forum...so I used it as a knife (and it worked just fine). ;)

But those who don't like how it looks will try to convince you that it's only good for stabbing (daggers are actually better) or that it lacks belly (some have belly), or that it can't cut wood (it does), or that it makes you a ninja (which it sadly fails to do).

So yeah, it's only a knife, nothing more, nothing less. Suck on that all you haters and fanboys. :D
 
Here is my Bob Lum Tanto. It was one of my earliest buys...a great knife...beautiful, but I wouldn't use it, so I sold it.
 
KenHash said:
Hold on a minute. By "angled tip" are you referring to that "chiseled" front end that is made up of the
Kissaki with Yokote on a Katana?
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No, I am referring to its predecessor, the chokutō.
 
It all depends on what you use your knives for. When cutting through a box, the tip gives you a pierce cut that you can make without having to worry too much about putting torque on the tip since it is thick. The secondary "tip" where the two edges meet helps to bite into the material. Then once the knife is inside the material, the main edge functions similarly to a wharncliffe blade and is very good at slicing through the box. The tip with its short straight and thick edge is great for things like wire and cord. The secondary "tip" is also better for scoring and precisely cutting a fibrous material (e.g. cutting a section of fabric or paper) than other blade profiles - even the wharncliffe, because if you have a wharncliffe with a tip of any significant thickness, that tip won't make a clean initial cut through the paper or fabric.

Tantos are inept at slicing, peeling, chopping, skinning and food prep, and they are ugly. But they make a great utility knife.
 
asdf12345 said:
Tantos are inept at slicing, peeling, chopping, skinning and food prep, and they are ugly. But they make a great utility knife.
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I'v carried tanto's for years & used them for everything including slicing, peeling, chopping and food prep, always worked fine & there's never been a point where I wished I had a different knife.
 
Yext said:
I'v carried tanto's for years & used them for everything including slicing, peeling, chopping and food prep, always worked fine & there's never been a point where I wished I had a different knife.
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Which knife did you use? I find that the secondary tip on mine always gets in the way. So far I've tried Emerson, Benchmade and Microtech tantos in a variety of knives from each maker.
 
Scattergun2570 said:
Can someone explain the Tanto Blade Style? Is it just simply another design,or is it intended for a specific use?
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The literal translation for the Japanese words "Tanto" means short knife. The Japanese short knife blade style is a shortened version of their sword.

Edit: I think a little more explanation may be in order. In Japan before the introduction of firearm the warriors carry different edged weapons. The long sword is the well know Katana. The smaller sword is the Wakizashi or "companion" sword. In Kanji the word knife is synonymous with sword. The shortest edged weapon is the "Tanto" which is really a short sword/blade/knife. So the construction and style is very similar between these fighting edged weapons.
 
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asdf12345 said:
Which knife did you use? I find that the secondary tip on mine always gets in the way. So far I've tried Emerson, Benchmade and Microtech tantos in a variety of knives from each maker.
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CQC-7, Recon 1 & CQC-8K (Kershaw), can't say I've ever found the secondary tip a problem.
 
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