'splain me about tanto blades

[jtw2]

Those of you who like them, why?
I've personally never warmed up to them and find them annoying to use and sharpen. I've just always liked drop point blades better.
What am I missing with tantos?

 

[Mikewood]

They are good for stabbing people. The reinforced point and edge are designed for that purpose. But you are right. They are less than optimal for most any other task. I actually reworked a cold steel recon tanto to be a straight back style. It's about 100 times more useful know.

 

[vmax]

they are a pain to sharpen and useless unless you feel the sudden urge to poke a hole in an oil drum

 

[bones_708]

They are good for poking stuff. As for sharpening, if you use a stone the are actually easier to sharpen than a knife with a curve. You just treat it as two different edges that you sharpen separately.

 

[SIG_Fiend]

"Tanto" blade profiles are some of the most misunderstood. What everyone thinks is a "tanto" is probably more appropriately referred to as an American tanto style. Namely, the sharp and angular tanto point. This actually isn't a traditional Japanese design, but rather an American spin on some of the traditional Japanese designs. The American tanto style actually offers inferior penetration and inferior slashing ability in comparison to LOTS of other blade styles, which is exactly the opposite of the supposed benefits. In fact, the American style really doesn't take into account some of the intended uses of some of the original blade styles, and basically comes up with something of a less than ideal design if it were used in the same fashion, and then puts it in a format which would never even work appropriately for those uses (slashing and using just the tip to do a majority of your slashing, like a katana). Some of the traditional Japanese blade styles it came from do actually offer superior penetration and slashing ability to most other blade styles.

Here's an American Tanto style:

There are many traditional Japanese styles, but here's one of the more aggressive type, the Osoraku-Zukuri style (in a modern blade though):

There are a lot of other traditional "tanto" blade profiles out there that are quite a bit different from the American version. I'm not an expert, and I believe Joe Watson (Stalker19) knows quite a bit more on the subject. Here's one he built and that I carry every day:

2013-07-11 18.25.26 by Dillo Dynamics, on Flickr


Also, here's a pic of my favorite folder, also in the Osoraku-Zukuri style (the Otanashi Noh Ken from CRKT, designed by James Williams):

IMG_0625 by Dillo Dynamics, on Flickr

 

[Dredens]

Tanto blades have a very niche roll, and unless you're specifically taught how to use them, they'll seem pretty useless. Not a very wide range of applications for them, but they're good for what they're intended to do.

 

[bones_708]

Tantos are americain designed, I think cold steel started the trend in the 70's. The point is aligned with the blade's spine making it very strong, styled like a chisel giving it durability, and the large amount of material near the end reinforces those traits. It also originally had a full steel pommel tapering at the end allowing the butt end to be used as an effective striking tool. These knives take a bit of style from the japanese yoroi toshi tantō which was used as an armor piercing weapon not as a slashing or general melee knife.
While it is not necessarily better at piercing people it excels with harder materials that may defeat other knives. It also is easier to sharpen on a flat stone than curved knives and has two distinct cutting edges which can be sharpened differently for different tasks.

 

[F350-6]

The advantage is the stronger tip, especially if you're the type that tends to pry on things with your knife and bend the tip. It does take some getting used to as for daily use, and I keep switching back to a more traditional style, but I've got a drawer full of knives with a bent tip so I am trying to get used to this style.

 

[DamnYankee76]

Personally I like them just cuz they look cool. :-). Mine works great as a letter opener too. lol

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk

 

[Dawico]

Personally I like them just cuz they look cool. :-). Mine works great as a letter opener too. lol

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk

Same reason I bought one.

 

[BG1960]

I thought it was just me. I switched to a spear point auto and I can't do anything with it. My old tanto was way more useful.

 

[M. Sage]

... am I the only person who finds them easier to sharpen because of the two straight edges? I mean, that just makes life a lot easier.

Still don't carry them, and the only one I've ever owned was a Columbia River knife that was such a POS it literally wound up falling apart.

 

[Leper]

I prefer the tanto for several reasons. It is easier for me to strop. I can have two different edges one one knife. I find myself using the point of the tanto profile for precision cutting. Not the tip, the point. I usually get a partial serration because it is useful to me also. I carry a couple of knives on me most of the time anyway.

 

[London]

A little off-topic, but anyone interested in this conversation should also check out the "Besh-Wedge" dagger design.

 

[bones_708]

... am I the only person who finds them easier to sharpen because of the two straight edges? I mean, that just makes life a lot easier.

Still don't carry them, and the only one I've ever owned was a Columbia River knife that was such a POS it literally wound up falling apart.

They are easier if you use a stone but it can sometime mess with you because you are just so used to the motion used on reg knives

 

[bones_708]

A little off-topic, but anyone interested in this conversation should also check out the "Besh-Wedge" dagger design.

Like a weird shaped sharpened chisel. I'm sure it works well but I thought it was a bit too niche for me, but very interesting. Not often that you see something really unique.

 

[F350-6]

A little off-topic, but anyone interested in this conversation should also check out the "Besh-Wedge" dagger design.

I've got a besh wedge folder that has a bottle opener built in. Of course it's easy enough to pry a cap off a bottle with the thick part of any blade, but it was the novelty that got me.

 

[London]

Stabbing my Boker Besh Wedge into stacks of leather versus my other knives (clip point and tanto) revealed the profile really did gain a significant amount of depth (I did not test it versus a traditional dagger design). Too bad the knife is way too small for its intended purpose of self defense and to big for its purpose of comfortable concealment. That necklace holster only works if you wear baggy clothes or have a healthy pair of bologna tits.

 

[Andy]

My dad emailed me these pics of the tanto he had made for me back in the late 80s by a South African bladesmith called Peter Bauchop (since deceased).

This was the knife I used to defend myself in a 3-way mugging on a 3rd class train-coach in Cape Town a few years after he gave it to me, so it has some sentimental value:

Can't tell you much about how well it penetrates, but I do know it'll slash a bicep in half.

 

[London]

Can't tell you much about how well it penetrates, but I do know it'll slash a bicep in half.

That puts it in perspective. A friend of mine had the unusual fortune of watching two girls slash eachother to death with single-edged razors in front of an HEB. Prison inmates make knives out of anything metal, glass, or even plastic. A $3 ice-pick makes a nice scrambling tool when inserted into a human brain.

What does this have to do with the thread? Just pointing out people get WAAAAAY too analytical with knives. At the end of the day it is a sharp piece of metal. Yes, some have slightly better shapes, some have better metals, but a $3,000 blade is probably going to be pretty evenly matched by the dollar store box-cutter an attacking crack-head is swinging at you.

If knives are your thing and you know all the different aspects about them then more power to you. (My hobby of learning about different types of guns is only slightly less trivial). Just don't forsake the forest for the trees.

Are tanto blades less than ideal? I don't know. Let's ask the bicep guy what he thinks makes a good knife. He has unbeatable experience in the field. Well, maybe not "Unbeatable," but those who learned more than him aren't talking...