Cheers!

I have read and re-read many FAQ’s from Joe Talmage. It’s the first time I have seen this one. One thing I find interesting is the timelessness of them. There’s really nothing new. Just different spins on the same designs.

That’s a good thing. Keeps things fresh. Knowing a real world foundation is a huge advantage in understanding the difference of what works best for you. Separating the hype and knowing that some knives may not be the ultimate do all utility blades but like Auto_luver you just like the way it looks. I have a number of Tanto blades. My favorite is the Elishewitz Strikers.

However tests show that while Tanto’s have stronger tips and are made for strength in stabbing, they rarely penetrate as deep as many other styles. There is more drag and surface area at the tip. This increases friction and reduces penetration.

Po, do you stay in touch with him?

Long before the tanto blade shape the ancient romans figured out what penetrates better and the design they used in close battle to penetrate chain mail(sp?) was something very differant.
Usually a two edged dagger with a thick reinfored spine in the middle, more shaped like a spike but with sharpened blade edges to cut, taking into account that metalurgy was not very developed but still the design made sense.
Saying that a tanto balde tip is stronger and yet requires more force to penetrate and does NOT have better penetration is counter productive of itself which brings me back to my original statement that it's a gimmicky hype to cash in on the ninja, samurai, bushido whatever mystique.

I'm a big fan of history and just picked up a book called "Warrior, a Visual History of The Fighting Man" by R.G Grant. (Courtesy of Costco.)

The roman soldier always carried two blades, a short 8 to 12" dagger with a heavy reinforced point, and the famous Gladius...this short sword, normally being 28" in length, was designed with a sharpened and reinforced triangular point, which was considered ideal for stabbing.

If you look the edges that lead to the point, it's very nearly the same as that used on the American (Lum) Tanto blades (Stryker and the rest.)

It was the dagger that was used on chain mail and not the Gladius.

You move up the timeline and find the Japanese sword design didn't have the triangular tip seen on our Strykers...instead it was a gentle transition to the hardened tip from the main edge so to increase the power of a thrust.

The 760 Lum design and the earlier 700 Tsunami knives are both much more traditional in design than most of what we now see today...not to say they're not bad in form and function...just that it's interesting that aside from minor changes our knife blades haven't changed all that much in, say 800 years.

I like 'em all. Hawk's, drop points, Tanto's you name it!

I got to be me!

quote:

Originally posted by joe_karp:


It was the dagger that was used on chain mail and not the Gladius.


.

That's what I thought I said.
Excuse my autisim Joe but I just do not see any resemblence between any tanto Lum or non Lum and
an ancient roman dagger or sword.
Not in shape or design or use, but I must be missing something.
I thought that the whole Samurai doctrine was based on slashing as opposed to stabbing.
Let's keep it real and honest, there are so many blade shapes a knife maker can design and the tanto just increases the market by that much more, in other words it's all about marketing.
And the Roman Empire was at it's hight a little over 2000 years ago and so was it's weaponary design.
The decline started around the time of the spread of Christianity.

#1. No worries, those were just my thoughts.

#2. You're missing nothing since those are just my thoughts.

#3. It IS marketing, I agree completely.

#4. My decline started around the time of the spread of Christianity too. Us Jewish guys never get an even break.

I heard the tanto as ideal for cutting off fingers from enemies taken in battle. Never checked it out, but I like the idea and just propagate it as truth. The first (tip) edge cuts to the bone, the point grabs the wood beneath, then the knife is rocked and the second tip cuts off the finger. Some old Marine told me.

In practice, that works great with hot dogs, I have no experience with anything else...

I enjoyed this discussion. I've no experience using a tanto, but have occasionally considered one for utility work. Someone early in the disc. said they had no use for one because he used the upswept end of the knife for 80% of his chores- I'm sure he does- but for me, 99% of the time the upsweep just gets in the way. Frankly, you take the tip off a tanto, you'd have a wharncliff- that (or better still, a semi) is my favorite blade.

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