Tantos: do you love/hate ‘em?

What do you think about tanto blades?


  • Total voters
    243
This is the only tanto knife (one of two in a combo set of tanto blades, the smaller one I gave to my daughter) I got at a clearout price, but I never use it. I doubt I'll ever be tempted to buy any more tanto blade knives as I much prefer the old boring drop point.

Subject to change at any time though.

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I don't live near the ocean (salt water). Is corrosion a really big problem for HVAC systems or is it just the outside units?
Generally it's just the stuff that's outside. But there's salt air going into the home everytime they open the door as well. Most of the beach houses I work on are vacation rentals and the door gets opened a lot,
all day long...
Down here on the beach condensers are usually falling apart around 7-10 years and air handlers in the attic are finished around 10-15 years.
For a point of reference, the condenser in the photograph is around 3 years old.
 
I don't hate them but I also don't like them. I think I only have the one right now and it is not overly Americanized.

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It really doesn't fit with your collection, I'll tell you what, since we have been best buds for the past 5 minutes, you send it to me and I'll get rid of it for you. Then you won't have to worry about it anymore. I know, I'm taking one for the team, but that's what friends do.
 
Years ago when I just got into knife hobby and saw some pictures and videos, I thought tantos are the best. Then I bought one and instantly hated them and won't ever buy another one. Slicing with it was awkward and thick blade with low grind felt like it was designed to be dull.

You do realize that different knives have different profiles, right? It's like saying you bought a cheap 4 door car with an alignment issue and then swearing off all cars because they always steer left...
 
I don't love them or hate them but they are one of the last blade shapes I'd pick. I voted "don't particularly care". I don't hate any blade style except for maybe Persian or Talon. I'd pick a reverse tanto over a regular tanto too.

1. Drop point
2. Wharncliffe/Sheepfoot
 
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You do realize that different knives have different profiles, right? It's like saying you bought a cheap 4 door car with an alignment issue and then swearing off all cars because they always steer left...

I know there are different profiles and anything with thick blade and low grind will most likely be a bad cutter. I got my first one, it was a failure so I don't want risk being disappointed again in the same way. I prefer to try something new I might like or get something that worked well before.
If my car had issues, of course I wouldn't hate all cars and eventually I would buy another one. But it definitely wouldn't ever be the same company or type, depends on issues.

I guess I actually like tantos. But when I think tanto, the first thing on my mind is some tacticool garbage with sharply angled front section. And I hate these.
But I like traditional fixed tantos. Gently curved tip without that secondary point, ray skin with silk wrap handle, clay tempered real hamon. Too bad things like that are expensive, hard to get here and useless for low profile edc.
 
I voted Love em, but I would have to qualify that vote by saying that I don' like very many modern adaptations of a tanto design and I rarely like tanto folders at all. Here are a couple from my collection that I do like. I probably only own about half a dozen tanto bladed knives and none are folders.

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I realized recently that a good chunk of my collection is Tanto blade. I have an affinity to the aggressiveness of the style. I have a few really nice ones and some old beaters. The M&P at the top is in my pocket when I am doing yard work. The CRKT Shizuka noh Ken is one of my "gentleman's carry" knives. The Zero Tolerance Emerson collab and the Emerson ProTech collab are probably tied for my favorite knife...

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I sure see a lot of people extolling the virtues of a tanto for "piercing". Tantos aren't inherently better or worse at piercing than other blade shapes, as it all depends on the specifics of the knife design and blade grind. Some tantos, like as cold steel does them, are worse at piercing tasks (ie. require more effort to pierce) than blade designs like Cold Steel's own spear or clip point blades. Those tantos are optimized for tip strength, not for piercing. Other tantos, like some seen in this thread, are very thin at the top and have little in the way of reinforcement; these might be very good at penetrating but are generally less robust.

I like tantos a lot when they're smartly done. I like having a reasonably robust tip (the thing that's most likely to break) combined with a very thin, hollow-ground primary edge (where I do most of my cutting tasks). I also like having that secondary tip for general EDC use.
 
Wouldn't the logical thing be to then look for one that met the specifications you desired? Take a look at the CRK tanto Umnumzaan. Great knife.

I agree CRK are nice, but when I got that tanto it was my first year in the hobby. So mostly $30 range with some occasional high end $60. I don't remember if I knew about CRK back then, but if I saw the price, I would have probably thought it is a typo or a joke. And to be honest, given the CRK choice I would instantly pick insingo.

Maybe because I have never looked very hard, but I haven't found folding tanto I liked and I don't need fixed. Blade shape like Cold Steel Emperor or Warrior O Tanto is nice, but not those sharp angled triangles that look like part of the blade broke off.
 
The only tantos I have now are one large fixed blade and one small fixed blade. If there was ever a blade shape that my feelings towards couldn't be more bastardized it's the tanto. I see some designs I really like, some I think are alright, and others that make me think I hate tantos. I think my opinion of them varies too much for me to say I really have one solid opinion.
 
I shouldn't have read this thread. Now I'm itching to try a tanto folder. Dcdavis Dcdavis , how do those CRK tantos fare in this kind of work?
 
Tantos are fantastic IMO.

In many ways they are the combination of a wharncliffe and a kiridashi.

There are a lot of interesting design variations you can experiment with.

I generally prefer a thin hollow ground kissaki over the more reinforced style.
 
I shouldn't have read this thread. Now I'm itching to try a tanto folder. Dcdavis Dcdavis , how do those CRK tantos fare in this kind of work?
They’re not bad. They’re good for light scraping and draw cuts. Stripping cable they’re good. I wouldn’t say they’re better than Insingo tho. You have to raise the angle a little higher than if you were using an insingo. Scoring Sheetrock they work well. Every now and again I’ll use a knife to make a hole a little bigger in a circular drilling motion. They don’t work very well at that. That’s not a real common use tho. All in all, they’re not bad. I’ve seen at some supply houses, maybe it’s Milwaukee that makes a tanto spring assisted pocket knife. Could be a cheap way to try one out just for the shape.
 
I used to like them when I was much younger, but learned to dislike them when someone asked me to try sharpening one. Too many angles to keep track of.

Back in the old Usenet days I posted a question on rec.arts.knives asking about the Americanized Tanto blade shape. I still remember the one reply where the person asked when was the last time I was attacked by a car door or 55 gallon drum where I needed to carry that type of blade. :D
 
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