Tantos

I have several tanto blades, but mainly just for looks. I own a SOG Tsunami, which has really clean sweeping lines and doesn't have the dramatic angle of some tantos. The sharp angle on some does away with a lot of usefulness in my opinion. My favorite, most useful blade shape, is the "reverse tanto" found on the Benchmade 940. It is super strong, will pierce, but still has a belly for cutting.
 
razorsdescent said:
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Not my pic but a damn good one.

That answer one of your questions?

As for prying i gotta search for some more pics.

?If you doubt the power of the tanto go out an buy a strider BT right now. Then tell me that a tanto cant be used for prying:barf:
Click to expand...

I was never questioning their piercing ability I was already aware of that, only their prying ability but this picture does seem to indirectly indicate that it could be used for prying.
 
Mosey on down to the USN and ask for some prying pics in the strider forum. I gurantee that youll get some awesome usage pics.

I have a dalton combat tanto that i would trust to pry with. If i had to pry id use a tanto. They maintain there thickness near the tip.
 
Having made LOTS of tantos, some chisel ground, some not, here's my take. Tantos excell at many tasks. The tip is generally very strong due to the design. I grind all of my tip bevels convex for added tip strength. The secondary point where the two bevels meet is fantastic for precision work. As far as slicing ability, that depends entirely on the blade shape and grind. A longer, sweeping blade with some belly will definately slice and dice. A shorter, thicker blade with a sabre grind will be very strong when prying. I carry a small tanto necker I made almost every day. As far as I'm concerned, from a utility standpoint, it's one of the best blades out there. You just need to be aware of the variations, and buy accordingly.
 
I've got two tantos in my collection: Benchmade Mini Stryker and CRKT Lightfoot M1. I carry the Mini-Stryker often, being the perfect size for me. Big enough and comfortable enough to cut for a long time and reasonably lightweight too. The CRKT is a bit more stout, but will be a nice companion for some backpacking trips this fall.

For the day to day stuff I might do with a knife, the tanto is fine. Envelopes, cardboard boxes, strapping and occasional whittling, it works well. I don't hunt so skinning isn't on my agenda or any of the extreme things I've seen on the forum.

The part I like best on the Mini-Stryker is the edge by the tip. It's like a heavy-duty exacto knife, as was mentioned before. Clean push cuts are easy when sharpened well. I also like the looks a good deal and it's nice insurance knowing that they are generally pretty strong towards the tip, not that I'm expecting any extreme situations, but it's the unexpected situations that sneak up on you.
 
A modern tanto should have a nicely ground convexed primary edge/tip, it will really help in the push cut and prying. I think Bob Lum does that.
 
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