Warcraft tanto tang

Jack of All Blades said:
Tapered tang looks as full as can be. Be careful taking off your scales as only one side can turn and can easily result in stripped bolts. View attachment 2755002
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Awesome. Thanks a bunch for confirming this! I'm just going to assume that the cutouts were introduced after they got rid of the taper
jbmonkey said:
okay when you get yours if it has the weak tang as ya call it. hang a car from it and let's see......
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Whatever man. First you give wrong information stating the tang has not changed whether it was skeletonized or not since its creation. Then when shown evidence of contrary you became confrontational, mocking me for "taking Joe-X's advice". I only mentioned him because I came upon his 2 destruction videos when watching WCT review videos and they revealed a structural change in tang design under the scales of the post GSM models which I felt contradicted Cold Steel's website description of the item. I already mentioned in a previous post that I have zero interest in buying the Italian WCT if it had a cutout tang. I'm not here to debate the durability of a cutout tang vs solid tang. I don't care about Joe-X and his methods. His 2 videos simply provided me with new information regarding the tang design of the post-GSM variants.

Cold Steel's website still describes the current WCT models having "full tang". My interpretation of "full tang" had always been a solid full tang. Some people may use "full tang" to describe any tang that runs full width of the the handle extending all the way to the end of the handle thus skeletonized tangs would still qualify as "full tang". Since I could not rely on Cold Steel's description of the Italian made WCT, I came on here to see if any forum members on here owned the Italian made versions and could confirm the tang design by checking under the scales (thank you again, Jack of All Blades Jack of All Blades ). I'm not here to play keyboard warrior and argue with randoms on the internet over a topic that is completely irrelevant to my initial question. Now I have gotten the information I needed. Have a good day.
 
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I don't see it as a big deal. I would guess it would help with balancing the knife and keeping the weight down. And I'm sure it's easier to do than tapering the tang to get the same results.

I think strength wise it's not going to be noticeable. I do think they should at least throw some marketing jargon in there to let you know it's got a heavily skeletonized tang, but CS has never really been the most forthcoming with some of that stuff. I remember when people lost their minds about a cable tang on fighting bowie despite it never really being an issue and helping to balance it for its intended purpose...fighting. Still, that was a BIG deal to a lot of dyed in the wool CS fans.

Joe X is a dingus. The best way to glean any useful data out of his videos is to just see how winded he gets trying to break something. His tests are unrealistic, unscientific, and cater to the lowest common denominator of those expecting a knife to literally be unbreakable. I never got the point of taking a knife and stabbing and banging it into a piece of car steel for 5-10 minutes, then snapping the tip off it by leaning on it with full body weight while wedged in a stump, then smacking it into a brick...then throwing said brick at it, and THEN wanging it again a steel pole until it breaks then saying something like, "It only lasted about 3 minutes and 28 second on the iron rod....wtf is this 4hit?" Really?🤨

I do watch his stuff most of the time. I like to see how much it takes for him to break something just appreciate the engineering that went into something that he utterly destroys.
 
Steely_Gunz said:
Joe X is a dingus. The best way to glean any useful data out of his videos is to just see how winded he gets trying to break something. His tests are unrealistic, unscientific, and cater to the lowest common denominator of those expecting a knife to literally be unbreakable. I never got the point of taking a knife and stabbing and banging it into a piece of car steel for 5-10 minutes, then snapping the tip off it by leaning on it with full body weight while wedged in a stump, then smacking it into a brick...then throwing said brick at it, and THEN wanging it again a steel pole until it breaks then saying something like, "It only lasted about 3 minutes and 28 second on the iron rod....wtf is this 4hit?" Really?🤨

I do watch his stuff most of the time. I like to see how much it takes for him to break something just appreciate the engineering that went into something that he utterly destroys.
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I agree. Yes, I watch Joe-X's videos but also other many other reviewers when making purchase decisions. I check out Joe's channel for entertainment as well as curiosity to see how much abuse a knife can actually take before failing. By no means do I use his videos as a guide to what I buy. I have a 3V SRK and Outdoorsman lite which both "failed" by Joe's standards quite early in his tests and *gasp* a CIVIVI elementum! His destruction tests do sometimes provide some useful information absent from normal knife review videos (such this case where it revealed an undocumented change in tang design under the scales that many are unaware of). What's impressive are the CS blades holds up well to his abuse like the 4max, SR1 lite, blade of the air lite tanto.

For now, I'll stick with picking up CS blades designed and engineered from back when Lynn and Andrew were still involved with Cold Steel.
 
Until the late 1990s the term "full tang" often referred to full-length stick and rat tail tangs, not just full exposed tangs.

The original Tanto and Master Tanto , along with the Kobun have wide tangs running the length of the handle, and given the same quality and materials would be stronger than stick and rat tail tangs, and were also referred to as "full tang."

The use of the term back in the 1980s (when CS started using the term) in marketing was a response to hollow-handle survival knives and knives with cast aluminum handles that had maybe a 1/4 length tang.
 
Benjamin Liu said:
Until the late 1990s the term "full tang" often referred to full-length stick and rat tail tangs, not just full exposed tangs.

The original Tanto and Master Tanto , along with the Kobun have wide tangs running the length of the handle, and given the same quality and materials would be stronger than stick and rat tail tangs, and were also referred to as "full tang."

The use of the term back in the 1980s (when CS started using the term) in marketing was a response to hollow-handle survival knives and knives with cast aluminum handles that had maybe a 1/4 length tang.
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Cold Steel also makes the Drop Forged series of knives, which in my personal opinion, is the ultimate in tang design and construction!
 
Benjamin Liu said:
Until the late 1990s the term "full tang" often referred to full-length stick and rat tail tangs, not just full exposed tangs.

The original Tanto and Master Tanto , along with the Kobun have wide tangs running the length of the handle, and given the same quality and materials would be stronger than stick and rat tail tangs, and were also referred to as "full tang."

The use of the term back in the 1980s (when CS started using the term) in marketing was a response to hollow-handle survival knives and knives with cast aluminum handles that had maybe a 1/4 length tang.
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I think a lot of the stick vs full tang stuff came from, as you say, the old days. Stick tangs/rat tail tangs used to be thin rods spot welded on and secured with a nut.

CS was all about offering overbuilt and nearly indestructible knives. For me, even a skeletonized tang that runs the total length is full.

That said, many of the knives I have staked my life on are "stick tangs". My beloved khukuris are what we jokingly call a "crocodile" or "kangaroo" tang as opposed to "rat tail tang" as the tanger tapers from very thick down to a peened cap.

That said, there are khuks out there sporting a tang no more than 2" long that last for a generation of hard use held in with nothing more than natural glue. We often get caught up in the "what if", and forget all about the lived experience of those who actually use their knives to survive.

Cold Steel taught us that knives could be built to withstand a ridiculous amount of about and still function. The truth is many knives will get along just fine without being overbuilt.
 
It really depends on the design of the tang itself.

One of the Filipino bolos in my collection is a sangut (sp?) which is an inward curving blade similar in shape to a Japanese kama but instead of a short blade on a stick there is a regular handle and the rest is a blade, or I guess it could be called a hooked blade.

My dad had it since I was little, so he either brought it with him in the late 60s or when we went there in 1972, or my grandfather brought it in the late 1970s.

Anyway, it saw a lot of use and abuse (including being left outside with other garden tools lol) until maybe 1984 when the wooden handle rotted, and my dad just made a new handle for it out of a piece of sapling.

After our move to Phoenix in 1986 he no longer needed it so he gave it to me, and maybe in the late 1990s the handle broke.

The tang is sort of a rat tail, but thick, and maybe 2.5 to 3".

It is NOT, however, the weak partial tang type Lynn Thompson was responding to when he designed the CS Tanto.
 
The original Warcraft tanto's used handle screws that were entirely too small which resulted in the scales becoming loose very easily after any heavy chopping. The issue was particularly worst in the 12 inch version because of all the blade mass. If you look closely in the Cold Steel proof video for the Warcraft you can see the handle scales broke during the weight hang.
 
WMah said:
Yes, I'm not arguing about the fact almost all normal users of knives wouldn't even come close to breaking a civivi folder, let alone a cold steel blade. However, as I stated above, dollar for dollar I would rather pick the blade that doesn't have a potential weak point in the blade regardless if those weak points would ever be an issue with my use througout my ownership of the blade. I wouldn't be opposed to seeing a video on whether the current SM3 WCT can survive the same car hanging test as the Thompson era 3V versions.

That's all irrelevant anyways. My original question was about the 3v Italian made WCT tangs. I wanted to make sure that it was the Thompson era solid full tang design that was able to suspend a car and not the new GSM ones with the cutout tang. The question had been answer by Whip above (although not confirmed). I will remove the scales when I get mine and confirm the tang design when I get mine. Will likely exchange for an ak-47 blade if it turns out to have a cutout tang as I prefer to pay less for a solid full tang blade.


Hi Hawk, any chance you could take a peek under the scales by removing the 2 hex screws to confirm the tang design of the blade? This model is the same one I have on order
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Here you go. I just removed the handle. It has a full tang. I cannot figure out how to post a pic on here though. I'll work on it.
 
WMah said:
Yes, I'm not arguing about the fact almost all normal users of knives wouldn't even come close to breaking a civivi folder, let alone a cold steel blade. However, as I stated above, dollar for dollar I would rather pick the blade that doesn't have a potential weak point in the blade regardless if those weak points would ever be an issue with my use througout my ownership of the blade. I wouldn't be opposed to seeing a video on whether the current SM3 WCT can survive the same car hanging test as the Thompson era 3V versions.

That's all irrelevant anyways. My original question was about the 3v Italian made WCT tangs. I wanted to make sure that it was the Thompson era solid full tang design that was able to suspend a car and not the new GSM ones with the cutout tang. The question had been answer by Whip above (although not confirmed). I will remove the scales when I get mine and confirm the tang design when I get mine. Will likely exchange for an ak-47 blade if it turns out to have a cutout tang as I prefer to pay less for a solid full tang blade.


Hi Hawk, any chance you could take a peek under the scales by removing the 2 hex screws to confirm the tang design of the blade? This model is the same one I have on order
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I took the handle off. It is full tang. I am unable to get the picture on here. I'll keep trying.
 
The Hawk said:
I took the handle off. It is full tang. I am unable to get the picture on here. I'll keep trying.
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If you are just a regular member (like me) you can't post pictures directly and need to link to a hosting site or maybe Facebook or other social media.
 
DayofReckoning said:
The original Warcraft tanto's used handle screws that were entirely too small which resulted in the scales becoming loose very easily after any heavy chopping. The issue was particularly worst in the 12 inch version because of all the blade mass. If you look closely in the Cold Steel proof video for the Warcraft you can see the handle scales broke during the weight hang.
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I am pretty sure that the handle scales on almost any knife would break off or at least crack if you did that to it. As soon as I saw them drape the chain over the knife handle, I knew the scales were goners.
 
Damn it, the next time I lift up my car using a knife handle hook on my forklift I have to remember not to use my Cold Steel Warcraft Tanto.
 
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