Tanto Blade

[stonyman]

Hello all,

Just a quick post and I apologise if this has been posted all ready, I did search but couldn't find anything.

Is a Tanto style blade any good for bushcraft? By Tanto style I mean the angled katana style blade.

Regards

Stonyman

 

[Ogri the trog]

Hey Stonyman,
Sounds to me like you're offering to buy one, trial it and post up a review!

Then I suppose you'd have to also buy many other blade types to do a comparative test.
though it might get expensive in the long run. If you want to use a tanto, no-one here will stop you.

ATB

Ogri the trog

 

[stonyman]

I've always liked the look of the Tanto, mainly because I am interested in the history of the Samurai, my main knife is a cheap and cheerful Frosts Mora. If I could find a Tanto style with the right look and price to go with it I would probably be interested.

 

[litefoot]

If you are expecting a Ninja attack in the middle of the night it may be of some use.
I expect it will depend on how the edge has been made,most bushcraft knives seem to have a single bevel that is very good for use on woodcraft projects.You may also find a Tanto a bit long.Plenty of people have a lot of knowledge of cutting tools so you should get some well informed replies from this site.Hope that helps.
Litefoot.

 

[stonyman]

Looking into it further, I suppose the curve on the belly of the blade might also be a bit of a problem too. I think the original Tanto was never intended to be used for bushcraft but for another form of survival. It would definitely be defined as an illegal carry.

 

[Bushcraft4life]

Yes definately defined as an illegal carry i am afraid. I have one or many . And they would not really be suited to Bushcraft, not unless you wanted to butcher an annoying fellow camper . Plus to get a decent one such as a Paul Chen one your looking at £100 upwards.

 

[stonyman]

I think I will stick to my Mora, at least until I get the money to upgrade, I have always fancied making my own from a blade blank, can anyone recommend a good one, I quite like the scandi style blades.

 

[Singeblister]

I have been experimenting with a tanto...ish style blade some saw it at the delamere meet , its not a tanto in the way you think of a tanto , but the curve towards the tip straightens out , I have found it very useful indeed in bushcraft especially when harvesting bark also for carving ,,,, this isn't the type of tactical tanto blade with kydex sheath your all thinking about , there is a picture of it somewhere here it doesn't look scary in the least.
as a knife maker i have the luxury of being able to try out these things for myself , I think people should open their minds a bit more there is more to life than the "Bushcraft" style blade and a frost mora if you don't try new things you might miss out on something

Don't think i ever uploaded the image so here it is . You can just see what I mean at the tip of the knife I find it much easier to control when slicing into things like bark

 

[MattW]

Hmm, the tanto style blade was refined to do one job very well - putting neat holes in people. While the defined angular kick in the edge might possibly prove useful in another situation, I can't help but think that the con's would outweigh the pro's and that its versatility and use would be compromised for much of what we use the knife for in bushcraft.

To answer the other question, any fixed blade is illegal without good reason - the blade / edge profile makes no difference at all (a woodlore is just as illegal as an e-bay special 'serrated ninja death dagger').

cheers
Matt

 

[Andy]

Oddly enough when I was testing the strider GB (AKA the folding axe) the only tasks where the blade shape didn't cause a problem was when cutting wood. The edge angle wasn't as acute as I would have liked and the handle wasn't as good as my fixed blades.

food prep is dreadful and I would think skinning would be near impossible though so it wouldn't be my choice and there wasn't really any advantage in wood carving

 

[Tantalus]

Last time I used one was to help butcher a lamb

It was a Stiff KISS from CRKT and I wanted to give it a whizz though I really bought it because of its minimal space would make it ideal to dump at the bottom of a rucksack and keep there for emergency when all else is mislaid or broken.

I found it a lot of fun to use, long straight edge plenty good for cutting, and the front edge was nifty for getting fiddly bits out of awkward places to feed into the mincer, it made a smashing job of cleaning the ribs, with not one but 2 effective points.

I dont reccomend you carry anything for self defence even from imaginary ninjas, having said that a tanto can be usefull for everyday tasks if that is what takes your fancy.

Tant

 

[Colin KC]

Yes definately defined as an illegal carry i am afraid.

I think that people should be very careful not to make statements such as this without either knowledge of the subject or achully thinking about/researching the subject.

Tantos' are not, per se, an illegal carry!

 

[Tantalus]

There is a fine article stickied in here on the law

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8233



Should help clear up a lot of misconceptions, if people read it

Tant

 

[Colin KC]

Thanks Tant.

I'd've linked to it on BB but...

 

[Bushcraft4life]

I think that people should be very careful not to make statements such as this without either knowledge of the subject or achully thinking about/researching the subject.

Tantos' are not, per se, an illegal carry!

I got arrested for carrying one, In a box and with a receipt and it was hidden from view. I am not an expert on knife Law i'll admit it but like i said i got arrested for carrying one so does that not make it an illegal carry

 

[RobertRogers]

Yeah I do not think this would be my knife of choice for the bush.

 

[Tantalus]

I got arrested for carrying one, In a box and with a receipt and it was hidden from view. I am not an expert on knife Law i'll admit it but like i said i got arrested for carrying one so does that not make it an illegal carry

What did your lawyer say ?
What were you charged with ?
Was there a successful prosecution ?

Yeah I do not think this would be my knife of choice for the bush.

Would be a lot more helpfull if you were to give even one reason for this

Tant

 

[Bushcraft4life]

What did your lawyer say ?
What were you charged with ?
Was there a successful prosecution ?

Tant

I was let off the same day, they decided that i was not carrying the blade with the intended use of using it to butcher somebody, but that was only because i had the receipt and it was boxed in a bag. Complete waste of my time.

 

[Andy]

by the letter of the law a tanto is the same as any other fixed blade knife

i.e. you need a reson to carry it. Yours was that you'd just bought it. The fact they didn't get in any trouble in the end was that you weren't breaking the law so it is legal

maybe not as frienly looking as another knife but I don't think it's any more scarey then a kukri

 

[Tantalus]

I was let off the same day, they decided that i was not carrying the blade with the intended use of using it to butcher somebody, but that was only because i had the receipt and it was boxed in a bag. Complete waste of my time.

Apologies if I seem to be picking on you but there is a point for everyone in here too , you are just helping me to make it , thankyou

If you had been doing anything illegal you would have been arrested and charged , then perhaps offered a caution or have a chance to explain yourself in court.

The fact that they released you without charge means - you had not comitted a crime.

The arrest and loss of time PITA though it was will not constitute a criminal record.

Of course none of this proves or disproves the fact that a knife may or may not get you arrested, if anyone wishes to take the time to read

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8233

it should clarify things.

There are times when it is acceptable to have a fixed blade (tanto or otherwise) and there are times when it is not acceptable. The onus is on YOU to show you have good reason for having it with you in any place to which the public have access.

And up to the arresting authority to decide if your "good reason" is good or not.

Hope that helps someone.

Tant