Tanto Blades love em or hate em.

I just got one. Just need to learn how to sharpen it. It just looks so cool I had to get it.
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For me it really depends on the knife. I like a tanto blade, but on some knives it is just not aesthetically pleasing and on some knives it looks great. My Buck 626 looks great with a tanto and I don't think it would look nearly as good with a drop point (normally my favorite blade style).

Sharpening is no problem and the design is actually superior for some uses. If you're going to have some variety in your collection then you need a few tantos. ;)

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Only thing they are good for is scraping stuff off tables
They are not stronger than curved points, unless made so
They do not penetrate better than curved points, unless made to do so
 
You are right, a long straight-ish blade with a round tip is most useful, i have a knife like that made by Tirtha at Himalayan imports, slowly curved tips limit your use
Martini is a budget company however, they are in every hunting shop here
 
Vicarious Reality said:
Only thing they are good for is scraping stuff off tables
They are not stronger than curved points, unless made so
They do not penetrate better than curved points, unless made to do so
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Or ice off your windshield... unless made to do so. It's night outside, unless you are in Asia, where it is daylight...
 
I've found I quite like tanto blades, and can use them as easily for every EDC task I have as any other blade shape. I just got a new Benchmade AutoStryker 9101 from a fellow forum member yesterday, and it is proving to be a very nice, utilitarian blade.
 
While I can't say that any one blade design is my favorite, my first "good" knife and first fixed blade was an Explorer tanto that my dad bought me on a family vacation in the late `80s, so I've remained partial to the general shape. I occasionally EDC a Gerber Armor, and while it's not a particularly well-made knife, the blade has been every bit as useful as others in that role, if not somewhat more so.
 
I absolutely despise the "tantos" that are seen on most American folding knives to a point that I don't even buy or trade for them as I think they make great knives a lot less useful. I think they cut poorly, are difficult to do delicate tip work with, have a shorter service life, are a pain to sharpen, and use angles which makes it difficult to position the tip and often requires the knife be held on a more awkward angle to do certain types of cutting. I also don't think they offer any stronger tips than a few other grinds with a helluva lot more practicality, and I find them to be poorer penetrators compared to some others. In other terms, I see them as having zero value when compared to something like a drop point or spear point because there is nothing the tanto does as well or better IMO.
 
evanPGH said:
...Huh?
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Many Americanized tantos have insanely thick tips (think Cold Steel Recon 1 tanto) and thus have the penetration power of a brick. The tanto was designed specifically to pierce armor, so that thick tip removes the one thing it was made for. There is a fine balance between penetration power and tip strength. Many Americanized tantos lean heavily in tip strength, basically making the knife a pry bar, or at least making the purpose of the tanto nil.
 
dkb45 said:
Many Americanized tantos have insanely thick tips (think Cold Steel Recon 1 tanto) and thus have the penetration power of a brick. The tanto was designed specifically to pierce armor, so that thick tip removes the one thing it was made for. There is a fine balance between penetration power and tip strength. Many Americanized tantos lean heavily in tip strength, basically making the knife a pry bar, or at least making the purpose of the tanto nil.
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Mostly what dkb45 said.
Americanized is great for cutting sheet rock and chipping paint mostly, The Japanese style is a fine versatile blade pattern.
 
Rhinoknives1 said:
Mostly what dkb45 said.
Americanized is great for cutting sheet rock and chipping paint mostly, The Japanese style is a fine versatile blade pattern.
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A traditional tanto is pretty much a spear point blade with a flat spine even with the tip. Definitely a versatile design (otherwise it wouldn't be in damn near every knife). I just hate when folders do blade shapes like what the Lion Steel SR1 has. Put a corner on and it is an Americanized tanto.
 
dkb45 said:
Many Americanized tantos have insanely thick tips (think Cold Steel Recon 1 tanto) and thus have the penetration power of a brick. The tanto was designed specifically to pierce armor, so that thick tip removes the one thing it was made for. There is a fine balance between penetration power and tip strength. Many Americanized tantos lean heavily in tip strength, basically making the knife a pry bar, or at least making the purpose of the tanto nil.
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My fault, I must have gotten confused up by the modified Wharncliffe comment. Yes sir, you are correct.

Keep in mind though that the blade design wasn't solely based on piercing power but to find a balance between it and cutting ability. There is, however, a yoroidoshi geometry with a thicker cross section that was more or less designed exclusively for piercing.

Rhinoknives1 said:
Mostly what dkb45 said...The Japanese style is a fine versatile blade pattern.
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It is indeed! I wish more people knew that.

The one in traditional mounting that I posted on the first page is 5mm thick at the mune machi but it still slices with the best of them.
 
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I'm no tanto expert, but from the few that I have handled I can say they are very easy to sharpen. Having no or very little belly makes it damn near impossible to mess up, which is always good for beginners. I'm a solid sharpener, no expert, but the majority of my work has been with kitchen knives. I've noticed I've been struggling with the smaller pocket knives, largely in part due to recurves, and tons of belly. I use traditional Japanese whetstones and their large surface area makes it difficult to sharpen these smaller blade that don't have much of a flat section or any at all. When I sharpened my first tanto folding knife, it was just as easy as any of my kitchen knives, which was a nice change of pace.

In terms of functionality, I use folding/pocket knives for opening up packages, cutting tape, the occasional piece of cordage and the Tanto blade has executed those tasks just fine.
 
stereo.pete said:
I'm no tanto expert, but from the few that I have handled I can say they are very easy to sharpen. Having no or very little belly makes it damn near impossible to mess up, which is always good for beginners. I'm a solid sharpener, no expert, but the majority of my work has been with kitchen knives. I've noticed I've been struggling with the smaller pocket knives, largely in part due to recurves, and tons of belly. I use traditional Japanese whetstones and their large surface area makes it difficult to sharpen these smaller blade that don't have much of a flat section or any at all. When I sharpened my first tanto folding knife, it was just as easy as any of my kitchen knives, which was a nice change of pace.

In terms of functionality, I use folding/pocket knives for opening up packages, cutting tape, the occasional piece of cordage and the Tanto blade has executed those tasks just fine.
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In regard to your difficulty with sharpening smaller blades with little straight area, try working in sections instead of doing the whole blade in one sweep.
 
It all depends on the shape/grind. I've used both good and bad tanto knives, and even though the bad ones were all but useless the good ones made up for that by having 2 different edges that could be ground differently and used for different things. A thicker grind at the tip makes into a cutting prybar without sacrificing the main edge, a thinner grind makes it useful as a scalpel with a straight edge for the times you need to be able to cut completely straight without having to worry about the edge messing with your perception. The main grind can be thick or thin depending on what you want to use that for, but you can have it independent of the tip, making it more versatile that way.

I like drop point blades, sheepsfoot blades, tantos, clip point, and many other blade shapes, but they all have their uses. Some things I'd do with a sheepsfoot that I wouldn't do with a drop point, other things almost require a clip point and the thin, sharp tip that it has. Sure, you can get through most things with just one blade, but why make things hard when we live in an age when you don't have to stick to one cutting tool for everything?
 
Neutral, they are just different. I figured that I was getting two cutting tips (peeling bark off a tree) with a Tanto (Cold Steel Voyagers) which seemed practical to me. I also saw the Tanto tip on these knives as being sturdier for moderate prying. What immediately came to mind was prying sap out of tree crevices for fire starting etc. I was borderline on the look of them initially, but I'm ok with them today.
 
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