Advantages of an American Tanto in fighting?

B

Beast Steel

Joined
Jul 10, 2015
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11
ok so the thing only thing i can find is that the american tanto when fighting is that it is good at doing snap cuts.

now i understand that the design of the tanto may make it easier to do snap cuts but you could do snap cuts with a bowie knife too........the bowie is not designed to do snap cuts but you could still do it........

so the rest information i hope to get from you guys. what are the advantages of an american tanto in fighting?

thanks!
 
To find out what a tanto is, find out what a tanto isn't.
Or something like that.
Rolf
 
Tanto ?? I thought that was made to regrind a blade whose tip had broken off ?
 
I would LOVE to know how many knife fights occur a year in the world, the duration of encounter, and the knife used, and if both parties had knives, or it was one sided, and of course the injuries incurred.

I think we get way too involved in knife design and blade geometry as it pertains to combat.
 
Slashing and stabbing. Which is what it was designed for in the first place.
By adopting the katana-like chiseled front end LT added "piercing". Like car hoods etc.
 
I have no idea on this (not personally interested in knife combat at all honestly). You might have more success asking this in the practical tactical forum. This seems more "their speed", and I bet the answers/responses would reflect that.

Good luck getting the answer that you're looking for :).
 
As they said, it would be better to ask such question in "tactical" forum ( if such forum exists...) but generally speaking you are interested how well a blade perform in penetration and how deep it'll go.
In terms of "American" tanto, whatever that means too, I'd say that 90% of people talking about it don't make difference between "american" ( or I should say "americanized") tanto tip designed for better penetration vs tanto tip with lesser angle, as CS knives i.e.
Example of the first could be Benchmade Rant which is not a good slasher/snap cutter but it is excellent penetrator...
IMHO Cold Steel's well known tanto profile for me is a blade combining mostly features you'll find in utility blades but well suitable for self defense - it is an outstanding slicer, you can chop and use the secondary tip for cutting, preserving the sharp end of the primary tip for whatever you need it and it'll stab very well...

In terms of comparing "Americanized" tanto to the classic Japaneze profile, they all perform fine in stabbing or penetration, trust me... :D

kwtEQh.jpg


The best tanto "penetrator" I have so far is surprisingly a folder, Kershaw Groove... This thing goes trough any material effortlessly

zT1i0m.jpg


...and it's BLACK (tactical) :D
 
I've noticed when looking at profile views that the angle of the cutting edge to the axis of the handle varies from one knife style to another. A lot of past knives are straight- the cutting edge is in line with the axis of the handle. In fixed blade tantos the cutting edge is angled up, similar to a Katana. If you are slashing, swinging the blade like a baseball bat, the edge would slice across something more than impact it straight on and this might provide more penetration of a soft target or allow the edge more time to slice through outer armor. (This is my theory of course.)

Other styles I've noticed- a lot of Spyderco folders have the cutting edge oriented the other way, slightly pointing downward when you are holding the knife in your hand. I've noticed when cutting something hard, such as cutting a cardboard box while holding the knife, the force of the cutting causes the handle to rotate a bit in your hand and a cutting edge in line with the handle will tilt in the cardboard and the blade can slide out of the cardboard. A Spyderco Military for instance has the cutting edge angled so that when the handle rotates in your hand the cutting edge is more perpendicular to the cardboard and the edge doesn't try to slide out. I noticed this in particular when I was doing some informal cardboard cutting tests of my own.
 
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