Tanto vs. Drop-Point

R

rob5

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Jul 10, 2006
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I am a new knife owner and with the eagerness of a newbie have been looking at and reading up on a whole host of knives . I took up hunting late in life (30's) and bought the SOG Seal Pup, which I really like for my duck hunting trips.
I am now looking at everyday carrying/utility folding knives (SOG Trident, Emerson CQC line, Cold Steel RECON 1, CRKT My Tighe). My question is, what are people's opinions when faced with the option of a tanto blade style. From what little I have read, it seems that it is a choice of greater tip strength vs. sacrificed cutting surface. Is this the case? Is the tip strength on a drop point so weak and do you find yourself needing the puncture strength of a tanto point?

Thanks in advance for any answers. This is a great forum.
 
Hi and wellcome to the forums! :)

I'd get a drop point over a tanto for edc. It's true that tanto points are stronguer but that doesn't means a drop point is weak. If you are not going to stab really hard materials a drop point will make it great (even if the materials are really hard a drop point will work fine but a tanto will probably work better).

For edc I find much more useful a drop pointknife, not only because of the cutting surface, the shape of the blade make slicing easier and is more versatile than a tanto.

Of course it depends of your knife preferences too.
 
SanShou covered my opinion in a lot less words than I would have used (nice job).

Basically, if you need your knife for a whole bunch of cutting, slicing, chopping, and scraping tasks, the clip point is a better way to go. You're right to think there's a functional difference between the tanto and the drop points. The tanto point, typically being a little bit thicker, forces a slight change on the bevel angle of the blade. Works well for tip-work: stabbing, puncturing, digging, etc. The drop point can do those things pretty well, too, but handles all other tasks very well.

Good luck.
 
I personally find Americanized Tanto blades to sacrifice in a full cutting edge. The tip is really only useful for thrusting stabs, or as a chisel tip for scraping. The shape of the blade tip doesn't really offer much more than that.

It creates a separate edge to sharpen instead of a flat blade belly. The tip isn't really useful as for slicing along with the belly, so you are shortening the blade somewhat

I find that drop points to be a more practical all-around blade. Unless you are attempting to thrust your blade through a car door or pry wood off a log with the tip, a drop point offers a better belly for EDC.

I own a couple of tantos which I bought when I first started collecting mostly because of the "cool" design, I don't plan to ever aquire any more.
 
A thick drop point blade which doesn't tapered too much behind the point can be every bit as strong as a tanto.
 
I would vote for the drop-point for EDC practical applications. As everyone pointed out, unless you're going to be thrusting the blade through some highly resistant material, a tanto tip is pointless. (pun intended!:p)
 
drop point! even though i do own a cs recon tanto; if things get a little sporty in town.
 
What everyone else has said:) I was curious about a tanto and seeing as I didn't really own one, I bought a BM Mini-Grip with a tanto tip. My conclusion was pretty well what everyone else has said - a drop point, clip point, wharnie, whatever was more versatile more often than not. That's also for the things that I do. Now, I'm not saying that it couldn't be used, it can - if you are used to a drop point type blade, how you use the tanto is just different. One thing that I did find neat with the Mini-Grip tanto, which I think the tanto is called the American Tanto because of the sharp point before the extra bevel, was that for something like boxes, you could use that "secondary" point easier than a drop point. If you need to do some scraping, yes, the tanto shape lends itself well to that. One thing that I did find with the tanto was the lack of extra cutting edge that drop points offer. I found that when making a hard pull cut on heavier rope or cord, because you have less cutting surface, you have to exert a bit more pressure and if you are not paying attention, when you run out of edge, the knife releases quite quickly. With a drop point, you get a bit of warning. It does take a bit more work in sharpening them as well because of the extra edge. Bottom line for me - I do prefer a blade edge other than a tanto. It was interesting carrying mine for a few weeks, though:)

Just my $0.02 CDN - gord
 
I personally like American tanto blades. I like the front edge for boxes and scraping. I like that extra tip strength because I somehow manage to have to do alot of light prying. A drop point might be alittle better for slicing, but the difference is so in sugnificant to me I'd rether sacrifice that tiny bit to have the prying ability and tip strength.I mean like Emersons type and maybe cs recon 1 when I say american tanto. I also find that blades like those tend to be WAY thicker and hence tougher for what I use a knife for. Just my .03.
 
Sorry to hijack, but since the discussion is involves tip strength, how do you all compare a recurve blade to a tanto for tip strength? Recurve blades tend to be a bit wider than drop points. I'm wondering if that additional width makes up for the tip strength while still providing plenty of cutting edge.
Thanks.
JSR
 
I bought a benchmade cqc7. Very rarely do I brake blades, especially ats 34 , but I did brake the tip off. I was able to fix it, but what a pain. The tanto blade was designed to puncture. As a hunting knife, the tanto blade isn`t the easiest to skin with. But if you are hunting the game with a knife, the tanto will work just fine.
 
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