Your thoughts on tantos?

[Evil D]

This is sort of off topic a bit, but I've always wanted a sort of reverse tanto...or more like a wharnie with a fat strong tip. The Yojimbo 2 for example, I wouldn't mind if that tip was literally twice as thick, because the nature of the blade shape would still allow it to pierce pretty well but it would make the tip so much stronger.

[PayneTrain]

I own two tanto blades, a CRKT M16 and a Benchmade Mini Auto Stryker. For a while I fell out of love with the tanto shape and stopped using them at all, but I've since realized their utility. Sometimes that corner edge can be really helpful in breaking through something to begin a cut, where with a belly you'd probably have to nose down and use the tip. My concern is that when I use my tantos, the corner is usually the only section of the blade that gets used and will round out quickly if I'm not careful to keep it pointy in my sharpening. So far so good, but I know it's only a matter of time (for the CRKT, it's illegal for me to carry the Benchmade so it gets very little use which makes me angry since it's such a handy little knife).

I yearn for a Lum Tanto folder. It seems to have less of that corner that I like so much, but it's just gorgeous and I'm sure it does just fine with more of a radius there.

[Tagir]

[Tagir]

[Tagir]

[Surfingringo]

Excellent photos Tagir! Welcome to the forum!

[Tagir]

Excellent photos Tagir! Welcome to the forum!

Thanks!

[spyderwolf]

Too specialized,hard to sharpen,and without utility in real life.Great collectibles.

[Tagir]

It is easy to sharpen. It is convenient to use. The tip is very strong. Very charismatic.
The quality is high. My favorite Spyderco knife.

[SpeedHoles]

I never realized they changed the grind for the Sprint.
Cool photos!

[DRKBC]

I owned a Spyderco Lum tanto and although I am sure this would be a great knife for self defence, as that was not my intended use it didn't really work that well for me (beautiful knife though) For my work I find a chisel ground tanto such as the Emerson CQC7 works well. They are very robust and the chisel grind makes them very handy for scraping, getting into corners, digging in material and such. The blade stock is thick, the knife is fairly light and the G10 is grippy. In addition the tanto tip gets sharp and is fairly easy to sharpen. In comparison to Spyderco's line up, the chisel ground tantos aren't the worlds best slicers nor or they precise cutters but ... they are very robust and they will take a lot of abuse.

[Able Dog]

I'm not the biggest fan of Tantos. At least not highly exaggerated Western Tantos or Kamasu-kissaki style Tantos. I had too many cheapo tacticool Tantos during the 90s. I also find them more trouble than it's worth to sharpen.

But when the kissaki has some belly to it I find Tantos to be an incredibly attractive blade shape. The Lum Tanto is one handsome looking tactical knife.

[JD Spydo]

Until I got my first Spyderco LUM tanto I never really cared much for the Tanto design as far as being useful for everyday cutting chores. But when I got my Spyderco C-46 Lum Tanto folder I totally changed my mind. The LUM design has a more streamlined point which I actually find advantageous for certain cutting jobs.

I don't currently own the Spyderco LUM fixed blade but now they are available in VG-10 blade steel I do plan on getting another one of those. I had the original AUS-8 version of the fixed Lum Tanto model but I never ever used it>> I basically had it as a collector piece. Now I have owned other Tanto blades other than Spyderco's and even used some of them at times. The one Cold Steel Kobun model I had I used it for a lot of different food jobs. On the funny side I found that Cold Steel Kobun great for cutting plugs out of watermelons :o :D >> I also found it useful for other food type jobs.

I do very much like the aesthetics of the Tanto designs but most of them I don't find practical for EDC cutting chores. The swords with tanto points on them just look really elegant IMO. I would love to see a Sprint Run of the Lum fixed blade in one of the supersteels. I also believe that the Lum fixed blade tanto could serve well as a survivalist knife.