I have thought long and hard or retiring my 910 for a 913 any thoughts on this...
I hope the tip is better on the 913 as I found my 910 did not penetrate for beans in some application.

-B Shaw

they are the same blade shape

That's what I thought at first too, M2, but the 913 is actually the spear point blade shaped Nitrous Stryker. I can't really comment on the penetration abilities of the spear point compared to the tanto point though.

While I like my 910 my 913 gets a lot more use. The drop point works better for general utility work.

But I sure wouldn't get rid of the 910 either, it's great for spearing strawberries and hot dogs...

Spear point blades can piece a lot. I can't compare the two items directly but I can compare a spear point to an Americanized Tanto from a demonstration I watched but did not partake in. It involved two of Cold Steel's fixed blades; one was a spear point and one Americanized Tanto. Both faced off against Kevlar from an older Kevlar vest. The knife which would penetrate Kevlar with consistency was the spear point. Then a double edged spear point was brought into the equation. It penetrated the Kevlar as if it was a hot knife through butter. Now here is the limitation...how often are you faced with penetrating Kevlar or do you have heavy piercing applications? The utility application of a single edged spear point IMO is more useful than the Americanized Tanto...BUT...

I like the traditional Stryker design more than the Nitrous Stryker as I like a manual system and the thumb disc more. I also like the 910 HSSR which is the M2 steel version of the Stryker which I like more than D2. I bought a Nitrous system and wound up selling it as it just wasn't for me. My point on this is that the manual and assisted version look similar but are really worlds apart so I would play with it before buying. Hope this helps.

I have never based the decision of whether or not to use a knife upon respective penetration ability.

What media are you penetrating?

Basic geometry pretty much determines penetration ability; the more material per unit of length, the less ability to penetrate, assuming the same edge angles and same degree of sharpness.

I reprofiled the edge on my 910HSSR to a more acute angle - penetrates well. Yet my P'Kal penetrates more, due to the P'Kal having the above mentioned less material per unit length.

So, to me, the decision between the 910 and 913 comes down to blade shape. Do you use the straight edge and point of the 910 or will a curved tip be more useful?

BTW - I don't own a 913 and I couldn't find a picture to compare the 910 blade tip to the 913 blade tip. Such a picture would be handy.

IMHO tanto is just not all that pratical for everyday cutting applications and a bit more of a pain to sharpen and maintane the tanto profile.
I reprofiled my 910 by rounding off the bottom
corner and now it looks more like a regular spear or drop point and I don't have to take botton corner into consideration when sharpening.
As far as piercing goes, I think the tanto was designed for strength as opposed to penetration, the point just wont break as easy.

quote:

Originally posted by orthogonal1:
BTW - I don't own a 913 and I couldn't find a picture to compare the 910 blade tip to the 913 blade tip. Such a picture would be handy.

I'll get a couple of pics up later today.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by archer:
IMHO tanto is just not all that pratical for everyday cutting applications.[QUOTE]

+1 on this...I carried a tanto for 4-5 months as my edc and while it was ok it wasn't nearly as versitile as a D/P blade.