Tanto Blades love em or hate em.

Joined
Sep 12, 2013
Messages
1,337
Been reading the archives, and from what I gather a Tanto blade to many is a very limited application design.

What do they do well, what are the totally useless for IYO?
 
Depending on the angle of the tanto, it may be the only blade you need. Only thing I've had trouble with is draw cuts in cardboard since the knife falls out quicker then say a recurve.
 
Tantos are good at many things. I know they don't get a lot of love around here but it's my experience that anything I can do with a drop point, wharnie, clip point, etc. I can also do with a tanto.
 
Depends on the user. I used my CS tanto, one of the originals with the brass fittings, to butcher a moose one time. The curved portion of the blade sliced extremely well, and the tip did a great job cutting through joints. Perhaps not the best knife for the job -- I prefer my Master Hunter for that -- but it worked. I've seen dry wall guys and painters use (OK, abuse) tantos, by cutting dry wall, prying open paint cans, etc.
 
I just bought a 7b sf plain edge off the bay for dirt cheap from a vendor just because it was the price it was. The thing with the American tanto point is that the thing will cut long and deep due to the acute edge where the leading edge and cutting edge meet. It just digs deep. The Japanese tanto if made correctly is extremely robust and made for piercing and it works very well for that. keepem sharp
 
Not for me. I like the spanto on the XM-18 because it retains the strength at the tip but still has a rounded belly.
 
Tantos are good at many things. I know they don't get a lot of love around here but it's my experience that anything I can do with a drop point, wharnie, clip point, etc. I can also do with a tanto.

Same here.

I'm not sure why someone would dismiss an entire blade shape based on a poorly executed example or two.

I've had crappy tanto bladed knives, and great ones. I hated my Cold Steel Voyager, but love my Emerson CQC-7 with the chisel grind. The best example of an American Tanto I've used is the Terzuola designed Spyderco Double Bevel. The thin, full flat ground tanto slices like nothing I've ever used.

So it all depends on the execuation, not all tantos are created equally.
 
Love em.







Also have three more on the way and have sold off a few more.
 
Last edited:
I happen to like them for the most part, but there are a few that don't appeal to me. I have not yet found something that I cannot easily do with a tanto that I can with a standard drop point blade. Dismissing a bladshape outright as being useless is as much an overall lack of skill as it might be unfamiliarity with certain blades. It's not the knife, but how you use it.
 
There is a learning curve as with all things that are different
from what you normally do. I find that using the secondary point
(don't know what it's called) for my initial entry when cutting things like cardboard.
I love'em also and can't wait for the ZT 620CF comes out

 
super 7, my edc... love them.
2sb4fib.jpg
 
^^^ Nice.

My first tanto was a Benchmade CQC7 in 1999, ultimately gifted it to a good friend, and replaced it with a smaller Benchmade 722, also a tanto. I carried that for a few years and replaced it with something that wasn't a tanto, but I can't remember what it was. That was the last one I bought, but lately I've been thinking of getting another CQC-7, tanto of course.
 
I have several good tants and like them all. A lot of negative hype around here but I don't pay attention to it. Never had a situation not 'suitable' for the blade. MAYBE not the best for box cutting, I wouldn't know.

My next one will be an Emerson Super 7. Already have it picked out.
 
It really depends on the shaping of the tanto for me. Something like the Recon 1 blade is just stupid looming (I don't plan on using a folder like a spear, so the thick stabbing tip is just dumb looking), but I have also seen tanto blades where the tip edge is almost half the length of the primary edge, giving it an insanely thin tip and, again, really stupid looks. A nice balanced tanto done how Emerson does it is fine with me.

Now for real tantos, I love a nice gentle slope to the tip. I don't understand why some tantos are done to look like a skinning blade, where the slope is so abrupt there is almost a corner. A tanto is designed for piercing, the tip needs to be nice and thin (like the CRKT Hissatsu but without the corner). It almost needs to be like a heavily modified Wharncliffe.
 
I love Tanto blades. Again , it depends on the specific shape of the Tanto. BM made one in their HK line years ago that had what I think was called a "reverse Tanto" blade shape. Model number BMHK-14255. And that one was my favorite.
 
I personally prefer Tanto blades. They work very well for how and what I use my knives for. My absolute favorite is my SOG Vulcan. I use the front edge a lot for scraping and precision cutting. The re-curve on the belly makes it an awesome slicer. So much so that I have thought about getting my BM-583 reground to have a re-curve. Below you can see exactly how much I use and abuse my Vulcan.

14313712116_8882bd98c8_c.jpg
[/url]Vulcan by Leroy9669, on Flickr[/IMG]
 
As an afterthought, truth be told, the profile I prefer most (especially for bush use) is a leuku, which was designed by the Finnish reindeer herders. It's sort of a hybrid or evolution of a tanto. You might check it out. J. Martinni Knives offer the best true leukus IMO.
 
Back
Top