Why Tanto?

stabman said:
Or cutting open boxes, cutting your steak, opening mail, cutting up vegetables(done that too), cleaning under fingernails, cutting thick plastic wrap...yep, doesn't seem to be anything they're good for.:rolleyes:
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You know...one day I will get a custom kitchen knife set made just with a tanto blade. :thumbup:
 
I love all the folks who say things like "a knife is not for stabbing, prying, scraping, self defense, chopping, throwing, poking, blah blah blah..."

That's just silly, a knife is whatever you need it to be. You paid for it, you can use it how ever you like.

Or you can take some peoples advice and just make sure you always carry a gun, an axe, a chainsaw, prybar, paint scraper, chisel, steak knife, screwdriver, ... oh and a regular knife, but you can only use it to carefully cut open your mail with it.

Seriously, for a place called BLADEforums, I can't believe how many people seem to be anti-knife.
 
I'm in with the tanto lovers,but only as my edc at for work...I run a printing press and as others have stated in this thread the different angles of the blade come in pretty darn handy for "non-cutting" tasks, like scraping & prying & other general knife abuse, and the 2 "points" of the blade actually both serve their own purposes for precision paper cutting tasks. Now, just make sure you bend the rules a little more and make sure you get a CE blade and you can saw through just about anything....
 
Has anyone actually found himself in a situation where they had a quality Americanized tanto blade and had a cutting job and thought "If this knife only had belly, I'd be able to complete this cutting task"? HAs anyone found himself unable to cut something solely because the blade was a tanto?

I find the comments about tantos being "useless" complete exaggerations.
 
As most of you know, the tanto was adapted to modern knives from an ancient pattern of sword. When considering the effectiveness of this blade type in an everyday utilitarian knife, most will quickly point out the extra features of the tanto (i.e. extra point, relatively flat forward edge, tip strength, etc), but will ovelook the feature that gives the tanto both its primary virtue and disadvantage. Its the lack of a pronounced belly that both enhances its penetration and impedes its sliceing ability. Imagine stabbing a deserving person. Which part of the edge creates the most resistance? The belly! Now imagine slashing a detested adversary. Which part of the blade accomplishes the most work? The belly.
 
Why let this thread die? Most folks don't know the history and function of the Japanese blades. This threads just go on and on about really nothing. BF has members schooled in Japanese blades; it would be helpful if they would chime in.
 
Uhh i don't know anything about Japanese blade's but i still like tanto's
I was just looking for a tanto blade and find this topic very convenient for the + and - points.

So no reason to close this.
 
beaverballs said:
As most of you know, the tanto was adapted to modern knives from an ancient pattern of sword. When considering the effectiveness of this blade type in an everyday utilitarian knife, most will quickly point out the extra features of the tanto (i.e. extra point, relatively flat forward edge, tip strength, etc), but will ovelook the feature that gives the tanto both its primary virtue and disadvantage. Its the lack of a pronounced belly that both enhances its penetration and impedes its sliceing ability. Imagine stabbing a deserving person. Which part of the edge creates the most resistance? The belly! Now imagine slashing a detested adversary. Which part of the blade accomplishes the most work? The belly.
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The secondary point on the tanto is devastating when making snap cuts and or slashing as it will really bite in deep. Really though it depends on the blade in questions as some tantos do have some belly like the CS Hatamoto and it's a real devastating slasher.




Or a little different type of tanto point like on this Strider SMF-T RW-1.



And again another type like on the CS Gunsite and Gunsite II pictured below.




Some people just don't like tantos and that is their opinion and that's fine, but don't fool yourself into thinking they are not useful for EDC tasks.

Personally I prefer drop points on folders, but that's my opinion. :)
 
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All this talk about the viability of tanto styled blades has left me curious to try one. Any suggestions for a folder with a 3½" blade somewhere in the neighborhood of $60? I prefer thumbstud rather than an opening hole.
 
rramjet said:
All this talk about the viability of tanto styled blades has left me curious to try one. Any suggestions for a folder with a 3½" blade somewhere in the neighborhood of $60? I prefer thumbstud rather than an opening hole.
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Kershaw Blur w/ tanto blade.
 
Lycosa said:
Why let this thread die? Most folks don't know the history and function of the Japanese blades. This threads just go on and on about really nothing. BF has members schooled in Japanese blades; it would be helpful if they would chime in.
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But folks have been talking about both the Japanese versions and the Americanized versions. Further, one doesn't need to know of the history of a blade to give feedback on whether it's effective for their uses or not.
 
beaverballs said:
As most of you know, the tanto was adapted to modern knives from an ancient pattern of sword. When considering the effectiveness of this blade type in an everyday utilitarian knife, most will quickly point out the extra features of the tanto (i.e. extra point, relatively flat forward edge, tip strength, etc), but will ovelook the feature that gives the tanto both its primary virtue and disadvantage. Its the lack of a pronounced belly that both enhances its penetration and impedes its sliceing ability. Imagine stabbing a deserving person. Which part of the edge creates the most resistance? The belly! Now imagine slashing a detested adversary. Which part of the blade accomplishes the most work? The belly.
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Many tanto designs have thicker tips which make it much more difficult to stab with. The biggest factor in how easily a blade will go into some soft tissue will be (assuming it's sturdy enough) how thin it is. The Japanese katanas were meant primarily for slashing movements and not stabbing movements.
 
Kaizen1 said:
Has anyone actually found himself in a situation where they had a quality Americanized tanto blade and had a cutting job and thought "If this knife only had belly, I'd be able to complete this cutting task"? HAs anyone found himself unable to cut something solely because the blade was a tanto?

I find the comments about tantos being "useless" complete exaggerations.
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not once, not ever.

i tend to use the right tool for the job and use knives mostly for cutting, so all i usually need is a sharp edge, all the tanto's i have edc'd have filled this need just fine.

that said i usually carry a bowie style nowadays.
 
Oh, me too! I'm just waiting for the day when a fellow mall geek desides to draw his fighting knife on me. I've studied up on the ancient art of mall combat and I feel that i'm ready for such an occasion. Don't worry America, i'll be there when some nut job decides to start slashing and stabbing his way through your local mall. I'll be there with my tanto folder in hand, ready to unleash the tanto's ancient slashing power. Even though my tanto's secondary edge lacks cutting edge compared to a drop point, lets face it........... magic will cary my "secondary point" deep into evil flesh and my tactical folder will unleash all the power of the ancient tanto sword.
 
To me the tanto design (especially the Westernized ones) is very visually appealing. Same reason I like claw-shaped blades and the besh-wedge. :D
 
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