What's the purpose of a tanto knife?

My main folder was a tanto for about 8 or 9 years and I rarely ever wished it had a different blade shape, most of the time they take care of business just like a wharncliffe. If you are always cutting things laying flat on a table/cutting board or skinning animals they won't be the best. For most work/field cutting tasks a more popular drop point or clip point really doesn't do any better. The actual design and grind of the tanto makes a big difference just like it does with other blade shapes.

They are a lot like serrations in that the majority of people who say they don't like them or they are not good have only used them on a cheap folder or two once upon a time or really not at all.
 
The tanto is great for penetration.I have the crk&t m16-04 and after 6 years with it i broke the tip. i was prying with it. it stood up to about 5 minutes of bending and it finaly snaped the tanto plus about .028 off. I regrided it, and now i have a sharoer tanto thn what the factory did..... and no i didnt mess up the HT.
 
powernoodle said:
A tanto is best suited for stabbing car hoods, and looking cool when you show your buddies what you are carrying.

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Don't stab the can!!! :eek: :D
 
No such thing as American tanto, the triangular version has been around a long, long time. Cold steel didn't invent it either. A while back a user posted pics of these extreme triangular tip tantos and they were quite old.
 
BePrepared said:
why does that guy look so angry at that car hood?
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It is a concept similar to some martial arts trainers- in order to be the tough bad a** martial artist you must make that face when sparring and fighting so that you don't look stupid (too much sarcasm?) cause apparently smiling and laughing are not allowed (personal experience).:D

I like tantos made for what they are used for. I don't know if any of you have held any older Japanese tantos but NONE of them have guards. Imagine if you will, stabbing into some-"thing'' and hitting something hard ...like a bone for instance. Immediate stop for your knife but NOT FOR YOUR HAND! Since Japanese swordsmanship rarely stabbed a sword into someone unless it was an "ie" cut (stab to the throat then out the side, taking out the carotid artery) I have serious doubts to the use of this small, guard-less weapon as a stabbing weapon. If you strike a sword on another blade or hard object near the tip you can get breakage, especially on a draw/slice cut normally made. An armored tip would be an advantage here. The only way any master I know/knew would stab is in a reverse ice pick method with thumb over the butt end. So, based on this, I would say the tanto is definitely NOT a stabbing weapon- it is a slashing weapon used against un armored samurai. Argue amongst yourselves here as I am sure you will.

As for Americanized tantos....meh...I can take em or leave em. Some I like, others I don't. They cut well and require more than a moron's level of sharpening ability.
 
The Spyderco Sprint Bob Lum Tanto looks like a very attractive knife, IMO.

I have one coming in tomorrow... excited to get it. Immediate entry into my EDC lineup.
Sonny
 
He had been checking the radiator fluid and his wife sitting in the car accidently beeped the horn causing him to smash his head into the underside of the *$%#@ing hood.
oops almost forgot-is it because they are an easy & cheap shape to manufacture ?
 
I've never owned one, but I always wondered if the secondary tip was useful, say for cutting things laying flat on a table, the way the tip on a wharncliffe is. That would increase its usability somewhat.
 
I always thought Phill Hartsfield did far more for the American tanto than CS ever did. Zero chisel grinds are pretty awesome cutters.
 
As a mechanic, the tanto comes in very handy. I used my Severtech daily for over 10 years. It is a great paint remover. It will scrape off half a layer of paint an inch wide. Keep it really sharp and the two points are quite useful.Pokes small holes to relieve pressure. I like Wharnies too, but for mechanicin' it is my tanto.
 
severtecher said:
As a mechanic, the tanto comes in very handy. I used my Severtech daily for over 10 years. It is a great paint remover. It will scrape off half a layer of paint an inch wide. Keep it really sharp and the two points are quite useful.Pokes small holes to relieve pressure. I like Wharnies too, but for mechanicin' it is my tanto.
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Yea, rub some salt in the wound why don't ya.
 
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