GI Tanto, my first tanto.

H

Houlahound

Joined
Aug 2, 2017
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Been carrying this knife for a few weeks, it is an extremely good value purchase with an awesome sheath.

This is such a fun knife to own, I have not been treating it well and it is so reliable.

The CS tanto point is way more pointy and sturdy than I ever imagined. It out-daggers most daggers and I'm a huge dagger fan.

I will definately play at being a knife maker and do some crazy mods because why not. Probs start by filing off the China sign.

TBH honest tho when I stop having fun I can't see myself using a tanto as an EDC, I just can't get the feel for them that way. Having said that I will eventually own a tanto folder and a recon 1 fixed blade in 3v because holy sh!t it looks soooo good and it's 3v.

For SD, I think a tanto would be great if you are into that sort of thing but as a practical EDC work knife, I can't see it.
 
Houlahound said:
Been looking at the war craft, trying to make up a reasonable sounding excuse to buy one, any tips?
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This is pretty much viable option for any kind of scenario.

Tanto as such is very good at penetrating, this knife is also good at slicing because of the slight curve it has, handle is super comfortable and this thing is an amazing chopper too. It is full tang, the tang is tapered to offer you better balance, but despite that it's super strong. CPM-3V is insanley tough, and retains crazy edge retention with that insane toughness, you can abuse the hell out of it before it even needs sharpening. The coating is very hard and schratch resistant, but also very smooth so it won't affect your chopping/slashing performance. And unlike plain carbon steel - CPM-3V is almost stainless.

3V can support finer edges that are still very stable and tough, and result of that is chopping performance that's just crazy for the knife of such size.

And 5mm thick 3V steel is something that I doubt anyone of us can break without doing so intentionally.

EDIT: Imagine something about as tough as S7, with edge retention and stain resistance of D2, that's about how I see CPM-3V.
 
Don’t give up on a tanto for a work knife. They work pretty well. At least in my occupation.
Just in my experience they took a little to get used to but once I did I found them very useful. There’s a lot of things a tanto does better than a drop point for me. I’d give it a little time and usage to see if you warm up to them
 
My work edc is a kershaw brawler. I think it was a combo flashlight deal a few christmas ago. Most cutting is small stuff like streach wrap or plasic strap. For cardboard boxes I cut tape, remove object, cut bottem tape, fold and int cardboard compacter. Tanto works well for scraping and light prying (opening metal paint cans etc) when sharpened more axe-like and the main edge being toothy makes the primary/secondary "point" useful for scoring and such. I dont have or carry a tanto in/for real life use but for work it is a good choice.
 
I have one of the originals. Was cord wrapped. Ive been using it as a thrower for years and years now. 13-15 years?

One tough bugger!!!
 
The CS tanto point is way more pointy and sturdy than I ever imagined. It out-daggers most daggers and I'm a huge dagger fan.
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Out-daggers most daggers? o_O:rolleyes: What does that even mean? Regardless I beg to differ. There was a period when I fell for all that tanto mighty unbreakable tip propaganda and I preferred buying tantos compared to spear point or dagger blades which I always liked. Ultimately I've seen as many broken dagger tips as tanto tips or other designs. Of most notice was that silly display by a Navy Seal on Deadliest warrior where he stabbed on a ballistic gel dummy with a recon 1 tanto multiple times. Knife came out tipless. I think there are many factors to consider like blade thickness, proper heat treatment, and proper use(you ain't gonna go stabbing car doors and rocks realistically speaking :D). Back in the day when somebody came up with an article criticizing Cold Steel's American tanto design vs the traditional tanto Andrew Demko did a comparison test between a cold steel tanto(either recon or cobun) a CRKT traditional tanto and a Gerber MK2 dagger. Demko was surprised of how well the MK2 handled the test, I guess he was expecting it to break real easy and that's why they used that model instead of one of their own daggers like the Tai Pan which would have given the Tai Pan bad press.

That being said, I've liked the GI tanto since I first saw it. I saw the knife destruction tests some dude used to do back in the day and it was very impressive the kind of torture the knife could endure. I would add it to my collection but 'Made in China' is a big no no for me. I hope one day they will move production to Taiwan at least.
 
By out dagger a dagger I mean it brings more steel closer to the tip without losing any piercing ability.

OK gonna straight up say it, I believe the design in general allows a stronger with at least equal or more piercing ability than traditional dagger designs.

I realise the above comment is going to cause much crying among the CS haters....so be it.
 
I will honestly say:
I would prefer dagger or spear point over tanto, but double edged blades, daggers and even knives with sharpened swedges are regarded as a weapon by law here.
 
I have G.I. Tanto. I like it enough that I'll never sell it or give it away, even though I rarely carry or use it. Honestly I prefer my (not a Bowie) Bushman over my G.I. Tanto, since the Bushman is more versatile.

I wouldn't call the Secure-Ex sheath "awesome" though, seeing as how it dulls the edge every time you take the knife out and put it back in.
A nylon or leather sheath ... or even a sheath made out of a cold cereal box cardboard and duct tape/gaffer's tape, would be much better.

I'll take a hard pass on any CS with the "Secure-Ex" plastic sheath now.
"Inexpensive" or not, I don't see why I should have to send even more of my limited funds for an accessory/replacement leather or nylon doesn't dull the blade sheath that can cost as much -- or more, than the knife.
 
Legendary_Jarl said:
Out-daggers most daggers? o_O:rolleyes: What does that even mean? Regardless I beg to differ. There was a period when I fell for all that tanto mighty unbreakable tip propaganda and I preferred buying tantos compared to spear point or dagger blades which I always liked. Ultimately I've seen as many broken dagger tips as tanto tips or other designs. Of most notice was that silly display by a Navy Seal on Deadliest warrior where he stabbed on a ballistic gel dummy with a recon 1 tanto multiple times. Knife came out tipless. I think there are many factors to consider like blade thickness, proper heat treatment, and proper use(you ain't gonna go stabbing car doors and rocks realistically speaking :D). Back in the day when somebody came up with an article criticizing Cold Steel's American tanto design vs the traditional tanto Andrew Demko did a comparison test between a cold steel tanto(either recon or cobun) a CRKT traditional tanto and a Gerber MK2 dagger. Demko was surprised of how well the MK2 handled the test, I guess he was expecting it to break real easy and that's why they used that model instead of one of their own daggers like the Tai Pan which would have given the Tai Pan bad press.

That being said, I've liked the GI tanto since I first saw it. I saw the knife destruction tests some dude used to do back in the day and it was very impressive the kind of torture the knife could endure. I would add it to my collection but 'Made in China' is a big no no for me. I hope one day they will move production to Taiwan at least.
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I seem to remember the guard breaking on the MKII during that testing. Not a blade failure, but still not good.
 
Every time there's a thread like this, we see the same sort of "discussions" about how tantos are inherently good for this task or innately bad for that task. This is a bad way to evaluate a blade shape, as performance depends entirely on the grind.

You can make a drop point, tanto, spear point, clip point, etc cut as well or as poorly as you want, stab as well or as poorly as you want, or be as rugged or as dainty as you want. The way cold steel does a tanto generally prioritizes tip strength over the ability to penetrate easily, including the GI tanto. There are other tantos that are so fragile that you could easily break their tip, but they'll stab like a needle.
 
jlauffer said:
I seem to remember the guard breaking on the MKII during that testing. Not a blade failure, but still not good.
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Yeah, you are correct. That is a flaw of the Gerber Mk 2 aluminum handle not daggers in general. It held up pretty well in my opinion to most tests except the "snap cut" test and the final tip strength test but I suspect they did something different to the base where the blade impacted. If you take a close look at the video that base jumps as the mk 2 hits it and the tip breaks off. The base doesn't move at all for either tanto. I think the base was purposedly placed at an angle to increase the chances of the tip breaking. I could be wrong. In general that specific tanto design is more useful than the MK2 as a cutting implement, not so much as a stabbing implement but to me these videos only show the Gerber Mk 2 is a good purchase. That Master Tanto is about an oz heavier than the MK2 which of course will have a direct impact on the types of tests he did and it costs about 100 dollars more than the MK 2.

 
Houlahound said:
By out dagger a dagger I mean it brings more steel closer to the tip without losing any piercing ability.

OK gonna straight up say it, I believe the design in general allows a stronger with at least equal or more piercing ability than traditional dagger designs.

I realise the above comment is going to cause much crying among the CS haters....so be it.
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And why have you come to this conclusion? Testing? Because just looking at the blade I would come to the opposite conclusion. Looks to me like actual daggers would be much better at being daggers (IE, a stabbing weapon).

Not sure why you need to stir the pot by throwing in a "Crying CS haters" comment. No doubt, cold steel fans would agree that cold steel makes far better stabbing weapons than the GI Tanto, including all of their daggers.
 
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