Non-Cold Steel Tantos from the 1980s

[The Whip]

Over the years, I've gathered photos of various tantos sold during the 1980s, and I had been wanting to start a thread to share some of them. With G Gimmick 's recent inquiry about the tanto he saw in Amsterdam in the 1980s (Atlanta Cutlery claimed it was a Marto when they sold it) and jdk1 's statement about having only seen black-and-white ad photos of the tanto copies, I thought it was time to address the topic. Plus, this way we won't clutter up the Tanto history thread with images of imitations.

For those who didn't live through it, it might be difficult to grasp how much of an impact the introduction of the Cold Steel Tanto had on the knife industry. It was huge! There were imitators and copycats galore. Not all of the 1980s knives in this thread will look just like the Tanto (though plenty do, several a little too similar!), but they were all marketed because of the craze started by Cold Steel's Tanto.


C. Jul Herbertz

Coast Knives

Dacor

Edge Company (EdgeCo)

Gutmann (Explorer)

Marto

Parker Cutlery (Eagle Brand)

Taylor Cutlery (Taylor/Seto)

There were a lot more than these, as the flea markets and martial arts supply houses were filled with all kinds of no-name Asian knock-offs. Please add any pictures you may have of tantos from the 1980s.


-Steve

 

[Benjamin Liu]

Back in the 1980s I got the all black Taylor-Seto MCR-11 tanto, the camo handle Taylor-Seto mini-tanto, a Valor tanto (it had a Japanese-style wrapped handle but with no same,) and two tantos that were all black with rectangular metal tsubas and leather-wrapped wooden scabbards. A friend had the camo handle MCR-11.

I still have the Taylor-Seto MCR-11 tanto and the Valor sort of Japanese-looking tanto.

I remember that Parker camo handle tanto. It was on my list at the time but I moved far away from the store I bought most of my knives from in the 1980s.

I don't remember the Gutman tanto but remember a double-edged bootknife and a single-edged version with shoulder harnesses.

That Marto tanto looks like the strange one on a recent thread.

That micarta-handled Herberts would look much better without the word "tanto" engraved on the blade.

I think Parker, Valor, Frost, or Taylor, or maybe all or a combination of them, also had hollow handled tantos.

I always liked the look of the handle slab types sold at the time but with no guard they were impractical.

The non-CS tanto that was generally considered the best in the 1980s was the Kuzan Oda Tanto.

 

[Gimmick]

Wow, I am honored to be your muse Small correction: I did not see that Marto tanto for sale in Amsterdam in the 1980s, the guy who was selling it wrote he bought it in Amsterdam in the 1980s.

It's quite amazing that - I'm taking your word for it - the Cold Steel Tanto led to this Tanto Tsunami. It's like the Walkman of knives!

 

[jdk1]

Fantastic thread! I was spending almost every free dime (and there weren't many!) on guns, ammo and motor cycle fuel, with the exception of one bow and one blowgun, in the 80's I was an avid reader of just about every gun rag and Soldier of Fortune, so I probably saw all the knife ads, but was likely day dreaming of answering the ads to become a "Man Among Men" and be a mercenary in Rhodesia

I really didn't get bitten by the knife bug until the early 90's and I think most of these had come and gone by then. I was thoroughly into Cold Steel from the beginning. While I lusted after Gerbers, Bucks and every other brand as well, Ireally started with CS and all these years later, I'm still a big fan of CS, not quite so much the new owners, but some classics appear just as good still. Again, very cool thread.

 

[Vlade]

The Parker cutlery stands out to me. It seems very elegant the way it's made. I really like that type of tanto blade.

 

[The Whip]

Back in the 1980s I got the all black Taylor-Seto MCR-11 tanto, the camo handle Taylor-Seto mini-tanto, a Valor tanto (it had a Japanese-style wrapped handle but with no same,) and two tantos that were all black with rectangular metal tsubas and leather-wrapped wooden scabbards. A friend had the camo handle MCR-11.

I still have the Taylor-Seto MCR-11 tanto and the Valor sort of Japanese-looking tanto.

I remember that Parker camo handle tanto. It was on my list at the time but I moved far away from the store I bought most of my knives from in the 1980s.

I don't remember the Gutman tanto but remember a double-edged bootknife and a single-edged version with shoulder harnesses.

That Marto tanto looks like the strange one on a recent thread.

That micarta-handled Herberts would look much better without the word "tanto" engraved on the blade.

I think Parker, Valor, Frost, or Taylor, or maybe all or a combination of them, also had hollow handled tantos.

I always liked the look of the handle slab types sold at the time but with no guard they were impractical.

The non-CS tanto that was generally considered the best in the 1980s was the Kuzan Oda Tanto.

Thanks, Benjamin, how could I forget Valor?! They dominated the martial arts magazine ads throughout the '80s. In addition to the more traditional Japanese knives you described, they offered this weird-looking model with the bizarre cut-out through the handle.

Valor

I agree about Pacific Cutlery's Kuzan Oda being one of the only other quality tantos apart from Cold Steel's. Al Mar's Tanken (both versions) also fell into that category. But I didn't include them here because they followed the more historic lineage for tanto shapes rather than mimicking Lynn's American Tanto blade style. Al Mar, Les DeAsis, and Lynn Thompson all insisted on blazing their own trails, which is what made their products stand out.

Wow, I am honored to be your muse Small correction: I did not see that Marto tanto for sale in Amsterdam in the 1980s, the guy who was selling it wrote he bought it in Amsterdam in the 1980s.

It's quite amazing that - I'm taking your word for it - the Cold Steel Tanto led to this Tanto Tsunami. It's like the Walkman of knives!

Sorry for the error about your original post. Years ago, Atlanta Cutlery sold a small quantity of the knives you were asking about (that's where I located the picture I included). In the write-up, they said they found a batch of them tucked away in their warehouse in Spain. They identified them as old stock from Marto. It would make sense, therefore, that that model was more prevalent in Europe in the 1980s and explains why we had a harder time identifying it here.

As for the influence of the Cold Steel Tanto, it really was that significant. The only knives (fixed blades, that is) that I can think of that were copied more fervently during that time frame were these two.

-Steve

 

[killgar]

Cool topic.

I don't know if all the following are from the 80's, but the brands are period correct. I'm not showing the close-up pics of the brand logos because I don't want to post 20 pictures.

Valor 618 (Letter D in the Black Belt magazine ad below)

Valor 621 (Letter C)

Valor 622 (Letter E)

Pacific Cutlery Kuzan Oda (Letter F)

Various Parker tantos

Another Valor

Another version of the Pacific Cutlery Kuzan Oda

Fury

 

[tltt]

Here's the Parker #1938 Tanto, sort of a Cold Steel / Pacific mix. Pretty rare knife to find -

.

And the Parker #1939 model -

.

 

[Benjamin Liu]

The Valor tanto I mentioned is the one listed as 621.

The other two tantos I mentioned had handles like the 622 but rectangular tsuba, CS type blades, were all black, and had leather covered wooden scabbards.

 

[Benjamin Liu]

The Parker 1939 resembled the MOD Ayoob Razorback from the 1990s, but that was long after Parker closed.

 

[tltt]

Some of the United "Black Dragon" series -

# UC 437 Mini -

# UC 468 Mini -

.

# UC 248 Full -

.

# UC 238 Full with Leather handle -

.

# UC 634 Black Dragon Bowie -

.

 

[Gimmick]

Actually it's more like the Zippo lighter of knives than the Walkman of knives. Most of them I'd be just as happy to own though.

 

[The Whip]

K killgar and T tltt , you both managed to include some knives that I wasn't aware of (and I thought I'd seen them all over the years!). Excellent contributions, gentlemen, thank you!

Actually it's more like the Zippo lighter of knives than the Walkman of knives. Most of them I'd be just as happy to own though.

Hmm, perhaps an apt comparison. And like a Zippo, I'd much rather pay to own the real thing. An inferior lookalike might do the job, or it might fail you when you really need it. With the possible exception of the Pacific Cutlery Model 750, none of the knives in this thread comes close to Cold Steel's quality.

I found better images among my archives of a couple knives shown in my original post. I'll go back and swap them out. In the meantime, here, pictured next to the full-size model, is the mini version of the Taylor/Seto MCR-11 that Benjamin mentioned.

This is a fun stroll down Memory Lane! Please keep the photos coming.


-Steve

 

[KenHash]

I'm reading this thread with interest since I can remember many of these old Seki made models. The only ones I actually owned myself were the Cold Steel ones and the Pacific Cutlery Kuzan Tanto, the model with the guard and beveled spine.
Seeing all these photos, many familiar, made me think of where it all came from, before Lynn Thompson made it so popular.

The term" tanto" (pronounced like the Lone Ranger's sidekick) has evolved to mean a blade shape/profile and today includes both fixed blades and folders.
The original Tanto (literally Short Sword) was a fixed blade weapon and while usually carried by men as a backup on the battlefield, it was the main weapon for women.
A scene from a recent Japanese movie below shows training with Tantos circa 1550 Japan during the Sengoku Jidai (Waring States period).
Although some folks today have found the Tanto to have wide uses, maybe even batoning for all I know, it originally existed solely as a weapon. The correct grip is a blade out reverse, and the target was generally the neck area where the jugular vein and cartoid artery allows fatal slashing.

Tanto Training- The Legend & Butterfly (2023)

 

[Gimmick]

It wouldn't have crossed my mind to hold it like that, but I know zero about knife fighting.

 

[KenHash]

It wouldn't have crossed my mind to hold it like that, but I know zero about knife fighting.

It's not so important these days. But in 1551 it took 30 seconds for a gunner to reload his matchlock.
So the ability to neutralize an opponent with a bladed weapon was rather important.

 

[Gimmick]

Doesn't it give you a reach disadvantage? Aren't you supposed to slice the opponents hands before you start stabbing each other simultaneously?

Either way, are there still any branded (American) knife makers that make a Cold Steel Tanto clone, or have they all disappeared and is the China one the only one left?

 

[jlauffer]

Wow, what a collection...some I've seen before and some I have not. My contribution isn't a knife, but a box. I had bought this off ebay and it came with a generic tanto, which I sold. Ended up selling the box too later. But here it is with a CS Tanto:





ETA: Pretty sure it was this Fury 33052:

 

[Benjamin Liu]

Doesn't it give you a reach disadvantage? Aren't you supposed to slice the opponents hands before you start stabbing each other simultaneously?

There is more to tantojutsu than the reverse grip:

The American tanto, however, especially the types made by CS, is well suited for Filipino Martial Arts.

As for American brands making CS clones, Smith & Wesson (Taylor) have or had a copy of the Mini-Tanto, though it was weirdly shaped and looked like a drunk tried to make their older mini MCR-11.

Most American companies that make American tantos seem to prefer the angular type with little or no curve to the blade.

 

[The Whip]

Wow, what a collection...some I've seen before and some I have not. My contribution isn't a knife, but a box. I had bought this off ebay and it came with a generic tanto, which I sold. Ended up selling the box too later. But here it is with a CS Tanto:

View attachment 2212608
View attachment 2212610
View attachment 2212612

ETA: Pretty sure it was this Fury 33052:

View attachment 2212774
View attachment 2212778

Very interesting! The box looks to be production, though I've never seen another and it's odd that it doesn't have any markings. Still, so many attempts were being made to capitalize on the tanto craze in those years that any unusual configuration is possible, including special runs. For example, here's a "limited issue" that Taylor released of its bone-handled Stag Tanto shown in my first post, with an accompanying fancy box.

I'm glad that you included the photos of the Fury that came with it, as that's one we hadn't seen here yet.


Here are a few more vintage tantos that I've found. I believe the first two are European releases. I haven't been able to verify that they're from the 1980s, but they have the right look and "Ninja" printed on the blade was certainly an '80s trend.

This one is supposedly another Marto.

This one is interesting because its sheath mimics elements of the Glock 78 sheath. I had a Parker knife in the late '80s that was a Glock clone, so the Japanese manufacturers of the time had the tooling.

Like United, the Fury name survived well past the 1980s, and in fact I think some knives are still sold today under that brand. But in addition to killgar's and now jlauffer's above, I believe this one was released in the '80s.

-Steve

P.S. - I added more complete pictures of the camouflage MCR-11 and the MCR-18 in my original post.